Mittuniversitetet

In this thesis, noise coupling simulation is introduced into the behavioral level. Methods andmodels for simulating on-chip noise coupling at the behavioral level in a design flow are presentedand verified for accuracy and validity. Today, designs of electronic systems are becoming denserand more and more mixed-signal systems such as System-on-Chip (SoC) are being devised. Thisraises problems when the electronics components start to interfere with each other. Often, digitalcomponents disturb analog components, introducing noise into the system causing degradation ofthe performance or even introducing errors into the functionality of the system.Today, these effects can only be simulated at a very late stage in the design process, causinglarge design iterations and increased costs if the designers are required to return and makealterations, which may have occurred at a very early stage in the process.This is why the focus of this work is centered on extracting noise coupling simulation modelsthat can be used at a very early design stage, such as at the behavioral level and then follow thedesign through the various design stages. To achieve this, SystemC is selected as a platform andimplementation example for the behavioral level models. SystemC supports design refinement,which means that when designs are being refined and are crossing the design levels, the noisecoupling models can also be refined to suit the current design.This new method of thinking in primarily mixed-signal designs is called Behavioral levelNoise Coupling (BeNoC) simulation and shows great promise in enabling a reduction in the costsof design iterations due to component cross-talk and simplifies the work for mixed-signal systemdesigners.

I denna avhandling introduceras brussimulering i mikrochip på en beteendenivå. Metoderoch modeller för brussimulering i chip presenteras och verifieras för noggrannhet och funktionalitetpå en beteendenivå i designflödet. I dagsläget blir elektroniska system tätare och tätare på chippenoch fler och fler system görs med både analog och digital elektronik såsom System-on-Chip (SoC).Detta skapar problem när komponenter börjar störa varandra. Oftast är det digitala komponentersom stör de analoga, vilket introducerar brus i systemet som reducerar prestanda eller till och medinför fel i funktionen hos systemet.Idag kan dessa effekter simuleras i ett mycket sent skede i designflödet, betyder att om felupptäcks måste designern kanske gå tillbaka många steg i flödet. Detta kostar mycket tid ochpengar.Därför ligger fokus i detta arbete på att extrahera brussimuleringsmodeller som kananvändas i ett tidigt skede såsom på beteendenivå och sedan följa designen genom senare skeden idesignflödet. För att realisera detta har SystemC valts som en plattform och som ettimplementationsexempel för beteendenivåmodellerna. SystemC har stöd för förfining av designervilket betyder att ett system kan börja beskrivas på en hög nivå för att sedan förfinas för att nå lägrenivåer. Detta gör det möjligt för brusmodellerna att också förfinas i takt med systemdesignen.Detta nya sätt att tänka på i designprocessen av i huvudsak analog/digital-integreradesystem kallas Behavioral level Noise Coupling (BeNoC) simulering och bådar gott för att reducerakostnader för designiterationer på grund av brus mellan komponenter, och gör arbetet enklare föranalog/digital- (mixed-signal) designers.

In this thesis, noise coupling simulation is introduced into the behavioral level. Methods and models for simulating on-chip noise coupling at a behavioral level in a design flow are presented and verified for accuracy and validity. Today, designs of electronic systems are becoming denser and more and more mixed-signal systems such as System-on-Chip (SoC) are being devised. This raises problems when the electronics components start to interfere with each other. Often, digital components disturb analog components, introducing noise into the system causing degradation of the performance or even introducing errors into the functionality of the system. Today, these effects can only be simulated at a very late stage in the design process, causing large design iterations and increased costs if the designers are required to return and make alterations, which may have occurred at a very early stage in the process. This is why the focus of this work is centered on extracting noise coupling simulation models that can be used at a very early design stage such as the behavioral level and then follow the design through the various design stages. To realize this, SystemC is selected as a platform and implementation example for the behavioral level models. SystemC supports design refinement, which means that when designs are being refined and are crossing the design levels, the noise coupling models can also be refined to suit the current design. This new way of thinking in primarily mixed-signal designs is called Behavioral level Noise Coupling (BeNoC) simulation and shows great promise in enabling a reduction in the costs of design iterations due to component cross-talk and simplifies the work for mixed-signal system designers.