SUAVE

SAVANT and University of Adelaide VHDL Extensions

Background

VHDL is an IEEE-standard hardware description language used in the design of digital electronic systems. Designers use the
language to develop models of systems, to verify their correctness using simulation, and to refine them using synthesis.

As integrated circuit complexity extends into the millions of gates, designers must increasingly rely on use of hardware
description languages for high-level design early in the design flow. High-level design involves description of the system at a
high-level of abstraction, ignoring lower-level details of implementation. At the high level, the designer makes decisions about
the algorithms to be used and explores alternative architectures for implementing the algorithms.

VHDL originated in the early 1980s, and provides very good facilities for modelling at the gate and register-transfer levels of
abstraction. Its facilities for high-level modelling, however, are less than satisfactory. The SUAVE project, a collaborative
project between Dr. Peter Ashenden at the University of Adelaide and Dr. Philip Wilsey at the University of Cincinnati, has
extended VHDL to improve its support for high-level modelling. Extensions include object-oriented features for improved data modelling, type generics for improved reuse of model components, and message-passing communication via channels for
improved system-level modelling. These extensions are currently being implemented in experimental tools for design analysis
and simulation. The extensions have also been presented to the IEEE as a candidate for standardisation.

Work is in progress to implement the SAUVE extensions, and a SUAVE analyzer (version 0.9.02) is available. The analyzer is built on top of the SAVANT software and is limited by the license restrictions of that software.

For more information about the SUAVE project, see a more detailed project description, or contact Peter Ashenden.

SUAVE Tutorial (updated 17 March 1999)

A tutorial presentation is available in the following formats:

The source code examples from the tutorial are also available:

Publications

P. J. Ashenden, Robert Esser and P. A. Wilsey, "Communication and Synchronization Using Bounded Channels in SUAVE," Proceedings of International Hardware Description Languages Conference, HDLCON '99, Santa Clara, California (April 1999), to appear. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "Protected Shared Variables in VHDL: IEEE Std 1076a," IEEE Design and Test of Computers (1999), to appear. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "Principles for Extensions to VHDL for High-Level Modeling," VLSI Design (1999), to appear. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden, P. A. Wilsey and D. E. Martin, "SUAVE: Object-Oriented and Genericity Extensions to VHDL for High-Level Modeling," Proceedings of Forum on Design Languages (FDL '98), Vol. 1, Lausanne, Switzerland (September 1998), pp. 109-118. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "Extensions to VHDL for Abstraction of Concurrency and Communication," Proceedings of Sixth International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS '98), Montreal, Canada (July 1998) pp. 301-308. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden, P. A. Wilsey and D. E. Martin, "SUAVE: Extending VHDL to Improve Modeling Support," IEEE Design and Test of Computers (April-June 1998), pp. 34-44. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, Proposed Extensions to VHDL for Abstraction of Concurrency and Communication, Joint Technical Report, TR-97-11, Dept. Computer Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia, and TR-210/12/97/ECECS, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of Cincinnati (December 1997). [PostScript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "Considerations on System-Level Behavioural and Structural Modeling Extensions to VHDL," Proceedings of VHDL International Users Forum Spring-98 Conference, Santa Clara, California (March 1998), pp. 42-50 (winner of Best Paper prize). [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "A Comparison of Alternative Extensions for Data Modeling in VHDL," Proceedings of Hawai'i International Conference On System Sciences, Kona, Hawaii (January 1998). [Paper: Postscript, PDF. Slides: Postscript, PDF.]

P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey and Dale E. Martin, "SUAVE: Painless Extension for an Object-Oriented VHDL," Proceedings of VHDL International Users Forum Fall-97 Conference, Arlington, VA (October 1997), pp. 60-67. [Paper: PostScript, PDF. Slides: Postscript, PDF.]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey and Dale E. Martin, "Reuse Through Genericity in SUAVE," Proceedings of VHDL International Users Forum Fall-97 Conference, Arlington, VA (October 1997), pp. 170-177. [Paper: PostScript, PDF. Slides: Postscript, PDF.]
P. J. Ashenden, P. A. Wilsey and D. E. Martin, SUAVE: A Proposal for Extensions to VHDL for High-Level Modeling, Joint Technical Report, TR-97-07, Dept. Computer Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia, and TR-207/08/97/ECECS, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of Cincinnati (August 1997). [PostScript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, Principles for Language Extension to VHDL to Support High-Level Modeling, Joint Technical Report TR-03/97, Dept. Computer Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia, and TR-204/05/97/ECECS, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of Cincinnati (May 1997). [PostScript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, A Comparison of Alternative Extensions for Data Modeling in VHDL, Joint Technical Report TR-02/97, Dept. Computer Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia, and TR-203/05/97/ECECS, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of Cincinnati (May 1997). [PostScript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "Considerations on Object-Oriented Extensions to VHDL," Proceedings of VHDL International Users Forum Spring-97 Conference, Santa Clara, California (April 1997), pp. 109-118. [Paper: PostScript, PDF. Slides: PostScript, PDF.]

Publications in Preparation

Workshop Presentations

P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, "Extensions to VHDL for Abstraction of Concurrency and Communication",Proceedings of Forum on Design Languages (FDL '98), Vol. 2, Lausanne, Switzerland (September 1998), pp. 121-136.
P. J. Ashenden, Abstraction of Communication and Concurrency in VHDL, CERC/VIUF/IEEE Computer Society Workshop on 21st Century Electronic Systems Design: Breakthroughs in Quality and Productivity, Dayton, Ohio, December 1997. [Postscript, PDF]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, Abstraction of Concurrency and Communication in VHDL, Third Workshop on System Level Design Languages, Barga, Italy, July 1997 [Abstract: Postscript, PDF. Slides: Postscript, PDF.]
P. J. Ashenden, P. A. Wilsey and D. E. Martin, SUAVE: Extending VHDL to Improve Modeling Support, Second Workshop on the Future of VHDL, Paris, France, July 1997 [Abstract: Postscript, PDF. Slides: Postscript, PDF.]
P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, SUAVE: Extending VHDL to Improve Modeling Support, IEEE DASC OO-VHDL Study Group, Anaheim, California, June 1997. [PostScript, PDF]

Panel Presentations

P. J. Ashenden, Panel on OOVHDL, VHDL International Users Forum Fall-97 Conference, Washington, DC (October 1997). [Slides: Postscript, PDF.]
P. J. Ashenden, Panel on Systems Level Design and VHDL, VHDL International Users Forum Fall-97 Conference, Washington, DC (October 1997). [Slides: Postscript, PDF.]

Seminars

P. J. Ashenden and P. A. Wilsey, SUAVE: Extending VHDL for High-Level System Modeling, presented at University of Missouri-Rolla (April 1997). [Postscript, PDF]