CSR---EHS: Component-Based Hardware/Software Co-Verification of Embedded Systems

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

Building power-efficient and high-performance embedded systems demands hardware/software (HW/SW) co-design and, therefore, co-verification. The growing complexity of embedded systems generates an acute need for scalable co-verification. The central objective of this project is to develop a unified approach to component-based HW/SW co-verification of embedded systems, which effectively integrates model checking into component-based development of embedded systems and leverages component-based system architectures for scalable co-verification. The core of this approach is the synergistic integration of three innovative concepts: (1) a unified property specification language that supports uniform and coherent property specification for hardware and software, thus enabling compositional reasoning across the HW/SW semantic boundary; (2) a unified component model that provides a uniform representation for hardware and software components, thus enabling component-based abstraction and refinement; and (3) a platform concept that captures domain-specific knowledge, in particular, architectural patterns, which provides support for automatic formulation and decomposition of system and component properties. This integration has potential for substantially advancing the state of the art in scalable co-verification of embedded systems based on effective leverage of component-based architectures and systematic reuse of verification effort. This project has broad impact through two separate venues: (1) technology transfer to industrial partners and (2) dissemination through course delivery to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to traditional outreach efforts to recruit minorities and women through lectures and science fairs, opportunities for internships are provided to students participating in this project.