CSR: Small: Collaborative Research: Synthesis of Time-Controllable Digital Mockups of Physical Systems

嵌入式计算机与物理系统交互的情况越来越普遍。例如医疗设备、工厂设备、汽车和卫星。在开发过程中测试嵌入式软件是很困难的。与真实的物理系统互动，就像与人类互动一样，可能是危险的或成本高昂的。将嵌入式计算机连接到物理模型，如机电心脏，受到模型行为范围的限制。模拟整个系统是不准确和缓慢的，并且不能测试实际的嵌入式计算机。将嵌入式计算机连接到物理系统的数字模型，其中嵌入式计算机的传感器/执行器被绕过，而与物理系统计算机模型交互，仍然存在建模部分不准确和缓慢的问题。该项目通过使用现代现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)芯片来创建准确和快速的数字模型。它是第一个开发自动综合技术的公司，用于将构成物理系统模型核心的众多微分方程转换为现场可编程门阵列上的电路。该项目评估了各种微分方程解技术在现场可编程门阵列中的适用性，并开发了一个互连的处理单元目标架构。该项目通过在这些处理元素上定义轻量级内核来支持实时执行和时间可控的执行。它开发了一种系统综合方法来探索给定物理模型和FPGA器件的解空间。该项目包括扩展现有的嵌入式系统教材，并培养大量的研究生和本科生。最终，该项目将促进数字模型的使用，从而带来更好的嵌入式计算机。

Embedded computers interacting with physical systems are increasingly common. Examples include medical devices, factory equipment, automobiles, and satellites. Testing embedded software during development is hard. Interacting with real physical systems, as with humans, may be dangerous or cost-prohibitive. Connecting the embedded computer to a physical mockup, like an electromechanical heart, is limited by the mockup's behavioral range. Simulating the entire system is inaccurate and slow, and does not test the actual embedded computer. Connecting the embedded computer to a digital mockup of the physical system, wherein the embedded computer's sensors/actuators are bypassed and interact instead with a physical system computer model, still suffers from the modeled part being inaccurate and slow.This project creates digital mockups that are accurate and fast by using modern field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chips. It is the first to develop automated synthesis techniques for converting numerous differential equations, forming the core of physical system models, into circuits on FPGAs. The project evaluates various differential equation solution techniques for FPGA suitability, and develops an interconnected processing element target architecture. The project supports real-time execution and time-controllable execution via lightweight kernel definition on those processing elements. It develops a system synthesis approach to explore the solution space for a given physical model and FPGA device. The project includes expansion of existing embedded systems educational material, and trains numerous graduate and undergraduate students. Ultimately, the project will catalyze use of digital mockups and hence lead to better embedded computers.