Carbon Unveils TLM-2.0 Kit for AMBA Protocol Solution

To allow virtual mode reuse in any SystemC environment, Carbon Design Systems announced that it has launched a TLM-2.0 solution for the AMBA protocol to enable modeling the widely adopted AMBA (Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture) protocols with SystemC TLM2-0. SystemC is a set of C++ classes and macros that provide an event-driven simulation kernel in C++. Generally associated with Electronic system level (ESL) design, and with Transaction-level modeling (TLM), it is applied to system-level modeling, architectural exploration, performance modeling, software development, functional verification, and high-level synthesis.

"Many designers encounter compatibility problems when attempting to reuse TLM-2.0 models for the AMBA protocol from other companies or even within their own company," said Bill Neifert, chief technology officer at Carbon Design Systems, in a statement.

Neifert added, "The market has needed an accessible, non-proprietary solution that provides a set of definitions for TLM-2.0 for AMBA to run in any SystemC environment. With this solution, Carbon's continues to deliver tools to ease the process of virtual platform model reuse for all designers using AMBA protocols, regardless of their EDA vendor."

Available for immediate download from Carbon's IP Exchange web portal, the TLM-2.0 for the AMBA protocol solution is offered at no cost. The solution contains definitions and extensions for AMBA 3 AXI3, AHB, AHB-Lite and APB protocols at the loosely timed, approximately timed and cycle-timed levels of abstraction.

Officials with Carbon said that the adapters are provided to bridge between abstraction levels and to connect directly to the AMBA Programmer's View (PV) interface used by ARM's (News - Alert) Fast Models. 

Executable in any SystemC environment, the TLM-2.0 for the AMBA protocol solution contains no runtime licensing. With the help of source, examples and documentation that is provided in the kit, designers can create models representing AMBA intellectual property (IP) blocks at any level of abstraction, said officials with Carbon in the release. 

Alain Clouard, manager of System Platforms Group, Home Entertainment and Displays, STMicroelectronics (News - Alert), said in a statement, "We welcome protocol owners, such as ARM, teaming with partners to define SystemC representation of their protocols.”

Clouard added, “Model suppliers adopting a unique and TLM-based cycle-accurate (CA (News - Alert)) definition of the AMBA protocol, is making it easier for IP users to integrate, where needed, various CA models for AMBA, such as 'Carbonized' IP models, in higher-level simulation platforms such as ST's TLM_TAC virtual SoC. Enabling the communication of such CA model with higher-level TLM AT or TLM LT models in this virtual SoC, is facilitated by the common base TLM standard."

Jayashree Adkoli is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Jayashree's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell