Monitoring transaction level SystemC models using a generic and aspect-oriented framework

Transaction level modelling (TLM) is gaining acceptance as a way to create hardware designs at high abstraction levels. It allows better simulation performances and early prototyping for system-on-chip (SoC) designs. Transaction level models are therefore increasingly being used as golden references. In this paper, we present a new framework for the verification of properties of SystemC transaction level models during simulation. Functional as well as performance properties are addressed. Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) techniques are exploited to monitor the design under verification in an automated way and to write assertion checkers that fit TLM requirements. In addition, we propose a generic SystemC implementation approach that allows the specification and validation of fully-parameterisable transaction level properties. We illustrate our work on a realistic multi-level SoC platform based on the TLM-2.0 standard and including Open Core Protocol (OCP) interfaces.