Actor-Oriented Design of Embedded Hardware and Software Systems
Edward A. Lee, Stephen Neuendorffer and Michael J. Wirthlin
Invited paper, Journal of Circuits, Systems, and Computers , Version 2,
November 20, 2002.
(see
published version)
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earlier version
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berkeley.edu/image/PDF.gif)
still earlier version
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we argue that model-based design and platform-based design are two views of the same thing. A platform is a set of designs. Model-based design is about using platforms with useful modeling properties to specify designs, and then synthesizing implementations from these specifications. A design language, such as SystemC or VHDL, defines a platform. Any valid expression in the language
is an element of the set. Viewed from below, the language provides an abstraction of implementation capabilities. Viewed from above, the language provides a set of constraints together with benefits that flow from those constraints. It provides a conceptual framework within which a design is crafted. An
actor-oriented platform lies above the program-level platforms that are widely used today. It orthogonalizes the actor definition language and the actor assembly language, enabling domain-polymorphic actor definitions, multiple models of computation, and hierarchical heterogeneity. Actor-oriented platforms
offer compelling modeling properties. Synthesis into program-level descriptions is possible. We illustrate these concepts by describing a design framework built on Ptolemy II.
