What is processor design automation?
Processor design automation is a special case of electronic design automation (EDA).
Processors differ from other forms of digital circuitry because they run software. Therefore developing a processor not only involves developing the processor hardware but also the software toolchain to develop the software.
Processor design automation starts with a description of a processor including its architectural resources, instruction set, instruction semantics, and microarchitecture. This is usually done with an architectural or processor description language such as Codasip CodAL. A processor design automation toolset such as Codasip Studio can generate the software development kit (SDK) including compiler, assembler, disassembler, linker, debugger and profiler. The processor description can be iteratively refined by profiling software. Lastly a hardware development kit (HDK) including RTL, testbenches, and EDA scripts can be generated.
