In this post we talk about the SystemC scheduler which forms the core part of the simulation kernel. As part of this post, we will consider the four main stages of the scheduler – evaluate, update, delta notification and time…
In this post we take a closer look at events in SystemC. This includes a discussion of the sc_event class, the notify method and event queues. SystemC is actually a set of classes and libraries which are built on top…
In this post, we talk about the different types of primitive channels that we can use in SystemC. This includes a discussion, as well as examples, of the most popular primitive channels in SystemC – sc_fifo, sc_mutex and sc_semaphore. SystemC…
In this post, we build on our previous discussion of SystemC primitive channels to show how we use hierarchical channels to create our own, custom channels. This includes a discussion of the sc_interface class, writing hierarchical channels and connecting to…
In this post we look at some of the most popular open-source tools for FPGA design and verification. Traditionally, when we create an FPGA design we have to use proprietary software tools to simulate and build our design. For example,…
In this post we look at how we can write a basic test bench using SystemC. We start by looking at the architecture of a SystemC test bench before considering some of the key concepts in the design of simple…
In this post, we introduce the three basic SystemC processes – methods, threads and clocked thread. We also show how we use the SC_METHOD, SC_THREAD and SC_CTHREAD macros to register a SystemC process. Finally, we give an example for each…
In this post we take a look at the some of the basic data types which are included in the SystemC library. This includes a discussion of the sc_logic and sc_lv data types. In the next post in this series,…
In this post, we talk about the different numeric data types which are included in the SystemC libraries. This includes a discussion of the sc_int, sc_uint, sc_fixed and sc_ufixed data types. In the previous post in this series, we talked…
This post is the first in a series that looks at how we can use SystemC in the design and verification of FPGAs. We begin by discussing how we structure our designs in SystemC. This includes a discussion of the…