SystemC-AMS Simulation of Conservative Behavioral Descriptions

SystemC has recently been extended with the Analog and Mixed Signal (AMS) library, with the ultimate goal of providing simulation support for analog electronics and continuous time behavior. SystemC-AMS allows modeling of systems that are either conservative and low level or continuous time and behavioral, which is a limited range compared to other AMS HDLs. This work addresses this challenge by extending SystemC-AMS support to a new level of abstraction, namely Analog Behavioral Modeling (ABM), to cover models that are both behavioral and conservative. This leads to a methodology that uses SystemC-AMS constructs in a novel way. Full automation of the methodology allows proof of its effectiveness both in terms of accuracy and simulation performance, by applying the overall approach to a complex industrial Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) case study. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is further highlighted in the context of virtual platforms for smart systems, and adopting a C++-based language for MEMS simulation reduces the simulation time by about 2x, thus enhancing the design and integration flow.