Defining platform-based design

Abstract

Platform-based design is a powerful concept for coping with the increased pressure on time-to-market, design and manufacturing costs. The idea has been exploited for years in the design of personal computers. Here, we present a generalization and formalization of this approach for the design of electronic systems that consist of software and hardware components and integrated circuits. This approach has been vigorously pursued by the MARCO Gigascale Silicon Research Center (GSRC) as a foundation of its efforts. In addition to a formal definition of platforms and platform stacks, we present examples of this concept at the most important articulation points of the design process - the hand-off between system level applications and implementation, and the hand-off between circuit design and manufacturing. We also introduce the concept of a "network platform" to show how to extend this concept to higher levels of abstractions, demonstrating its general applicability