TransModeling tool supports SystemC

TransModeling tool supports SystemC
CAVE CREEK, Ariz. — TransModeling Inc., a tiny system-level simulation and model-generation company, has become the first EDA company to introduce a tool supporting SystemC, a system-level language backed by the Open SystemC Initiative.

The company's SystemModeler, a system-level entry and verification environment, now generates C++ code based on SystemC, according to Chip Weeks Jr., vice president of sales and marketing at the three-person startup, based here.

While the first version of SystemModeler generated a proprietary C++ class library, the tool now also generates libraries for SystemC, said Steve Westfall, president and chief executive officer of TransModeling.

Companies can use their legacy C or C++ library models in the environment by dragging and dropping them into SystemModeler's library tree. The tool supports graphical, textual or mixed graphical and textual entry.

"We focused on automation with SystemModel," said Westfall. "The best thing about the tool is what you don't have to do."

Westfall said SystemModeler's text entry does not require a comprehensive knowledge of C++, just the basics: assignments, conditionals, and loops.

The company said it can simulate C-class models one-hundred times faster than HDL simulators can simulate HDL models.

The tool can also be linked to HDL simulators from Cadence, Synopsys and Mentor Graphics for co-simulation. Similarly, the tool can generate an HDL wrapper around the SystemC block so it can be used in an HDL simulation.

"We make design navigation simple and easier to understand, document and debug," said Westfall.

Weeks said SystemModel will also support other system languages, such as SynAps, in the near future.