Abstract

Synchronous Dataflow (SDF) graphs are a convenient way to represent many signal processing and dataflow operations. Nodes within SDF graphs represent computation while arcs represent dependencies between nodes. Using a graph representation, SDF graphs formally specify a dataflow algorithm without any assumptions on the final implementation. This allows an SDF model to be synthesized into a variety of implementation techniques including both software and hardware.

This thesis presents a technique for generating an abstract hardware representation from SDF models. The techniques presented here operate on SDF models defined structurally within the Ptolemy modeling environment. The behavior of the nodes within Ptolemy SDF models is specified in software and can be simple, such as a single arithmetic operation, or arbitrarily complex. This thesis presents a technique for extracting the behavior of a limited class of SDF nodes defined in software and generating a structural description of the SDF model based on primitive arithmetic and logical operations. This synthesized graph can be used for subsequent hardware synthesis transformations.

Degree

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Electrical and Computer Engineering

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/