( DAC 04 Item 4 ) ---------------------------------------------- [ 02/09/05 ]
Subject: Celoxica DK Handel-C and Synfora Pico
DUCK, DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE! -- Forte does SystemC in Cynthesizer to get RTL.
Mentor does its own flavor of C/C++ for Catapult to make RTL. Old timer
Celoxica chows its own special Handel-C to crank out RTL. And just to
be different, the Synfora Pico tool instead maps sequential C into
pipelined RTL.
Celoxica sells tools that go from SystemC or their own Handel C to
either RTL (VHDL or Verilog, preserving signal names) or directly
to an EDIF netlist for some FPGAs. They help automate what-if
analysis and hardware/software tradeoffs. They can also co-simulate
VHDL, Verilog, SystemC, and Handel C as well as Matlab models.
Synfora sells a tool that goes from C to RTL. They can use algorithmic
C where loops of C turn into pipelines in the RTL. Unlike Forte and
Mentor there are no registers in the code; pipeline states are added
based on a constraint file and they claim they can guarantee timing.
It is also the only tool I'm familiar with that can extract testbenches
from C code.
- John Weiland of Intrinsix Corp.
Celoxica has no scheduler --> not a high level synthesis tool
(1 line in C gives one process!!!). It's a translater from C to RTL.
I do not need such a tool. Long to simulate. Too old technology.
Synfora Pico: very promising. Done large designs with this tool but
no silicon. Lot of pragmas... but evolution in the right direction.
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
I and my small company are in the video processor IP business. We
talked to Synfora when we were starting up, but never had a chance
to move forward with an evaluation. That is partly due to my
skepticism over those C-to-RTL or C synthesis tools' capability
to come up with an efficient implementation from a C description
of a complex algorithm.
About 6 months ago, Celoxica came in to an important potential customer
of my IP company and spoiled the deal for us by offering the customer
a tool that would create a video processor from freely distributed
C code. The customer was unhappy with our at-the-time incomplete IP
product but admitted that the Celoxica result had no better performance
and so the customer bought neither.
Since that time I've heard that Celoxica is working on improving its
results for video algorithms by optimizing the video algorithm in
SystemC. If a standardized algorithm (such as a video codec) requires
a lot of optimization work in SystemC before the tool can produce good
results, then Celoxica is essentially acting like an IP company for
those standard algorithms.
- Jonah Probell, Consultant
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