Compiler/simulator aids multicore design

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Oct 12, 2006

IntellaSys Corp has a freshly minted compiler/simulator to support its recently introduced SEAforth multicore processors for embedded applications.

IntellaSys Corp has a freshly minted compiler/simulator to support its recently introduced SEAforth multicore processors for embedded applications.

The novel T18 compiler/simulator, which is now available to registered users as a free download on the company's website, leverages fully the efficiencies inherent in the company's VentureForth software.

"As a key development tool for our SEAforth family of multicore processors, our T18 facilitates the design of embedded solutions that exploit the performance-per-watt benefits of our Scalable Embedded Array (SEA) platform", said Chet Brown, President and CEO of IntellaSys.

"Our T18 can be used to view a compelling simulation of how we deploy a test crawler to completely tour all 24 cores on a single chip and rapidly perform extensive processing on each".

Brown noted that testing multicore solutions requires new approaches to high-speed testing, and that the crawler technique is just one of the methods his firm is using to validate the performance of SEAforth multicore devices.

The simulated crawler program is included with the free download of the T18 so that registered users can immediately operate the simulator without having to write their own program.

Formally launched earlier this year, the SEAforth family of multicore solutions employs an innovative dual-stack architecture that is both asynchronous and scalable.

Extending the power of the company's VentureForth software (RISC derivative of Forth) is the Forthlet Code Library.

Unlike conventional code libraries that require linking the entire library into the applications program if just one routine is used, the Forthlet Library links only the routines used.

In this system, there is no penalty for building a large, comprehensive library.

Routines in the Forthlet Code Library take the form of Forthlet code objects that can be moved around the chip from core to core to do special processing.

Forthlets are the basic building blocks of code on the SEA Platform.

They are used in the ROM BIOS in each core, and in the library of pre-coded functions.

Even the user written program takes the form of a large Forthlet code object that calls the others.