Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Engineering Science Building,
The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, TX 78712-1084
bevans@ece.utexas.edu -
arslan@ece.utexas.edu
Signal processing systems are inherently heterogeneous. They often contain a mixture of filtering, communication, and control algorithms implemented by a variety of technologies such as digital hardware, software, and analog circuits. Modern system-level design manages heterogeneity by first decoupling specification from implementation and then decomposing the specification into a hierarchy of simpler block diagrams. Each block diagram can be associated with a different set of formal rules governing its behavior, so the hierarchical composition becomes heterogeneous. The same system specification can be executed for simulation or synthesized into a variety of implementations. In this paper, we describe a graduate-level signal processing system design course that presents this modern approach. The course covers block diagram modeling, algorithm specification, system simulation, and system synthesis. Students gain hands-on experience by modifying university and commercial system-level CAD tools. This paper proposes steps to transition this course into the undergraduate curriculum.
The paper is available in PDF and GNU compressed Postscript formats.
The talk is available in PDF format. Notes
EE382C-9 Embedded Software Systems course.
Last Updated 07/17/99.