Hardware synthesis in ForSyDe: The design and implementation of a ForSyDe-to-VHDL Haskell-embedded compiler.

Abstract

The ForSyDe (Formal System Design) methodology is targeted at modelling systems, with the goal of using a high level of abstraction in the specification of its models.

Although it is a general system modelling methodology, the initial scope of ForSyDe has specifically been Synchronous Systems (systems in which a global clock is used to synchronize the different parts of the system). A well-known type of such system is synchronous hardware, which is the main subject of this thesis. A synchronous system in ForSyDe is based on the concept of processes which “map input signals onto output signals”.

Currently, the software implementation of ForSyDe is based upon the Haskell programming language. The designer specifies the system model in Haskell as a network of cooperating process constructors with the assistance of the ForSyDe Library.

Until now, there has not been an automated way to synthesize ForSyDe models (i.e. generate an equivalent low-level implementation from which to build real hardware). However, as a result of this thesis, hardware synthesis is now a feature of ForSyDe, enabling ForSyDe designs to finally reach silicon. That is possible thanks to the development of a ForSyDe-to-VHDL compiler. By using this compiler, a ForSyDe model can be first translated to synthesizable VHDL93 (one of the two most common hardware design languages) and then, the designer can use any of the existing VHDL-tools to synthesize the model.

This thesis report is aimed at documenting the background, design, implementation
and use of the compiler.