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Notations | Abstractions | More Information
The technology at the heart of CoFluent Studio™ results from French public research within the Ecole polytechnique of the University of Nantes (EPUN).
It represents 20 years of research by Professor Jean-Paul Calvez on a methodology for the design of electronic systems called MCSE (French for Méthodologie de Conception de Systèmes Electroniques) which is in public domain (5,000 books sold, more than 1,500 engineers trained).
Jean-Paul Calvez and his research team developed a software toolset called MCSE ToolBox which third generation code base served for creating the CoFluent Studio product. It is composed of multiple elementary tools and supports the MCSE hardware/software co-design methodology.
Developments were done in close cooperation with major OEMs who actively used and validated the concepts and technology in various European research projects including MEDEA+ MESA and in more than 20 industrial projects.
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The MCSE design process |
The MCSE methodology (Méthodologie de Conception des Systèmes Electroniques, also known as CoMES – Co-design Methodology for Electronic Systems) is based on a top-down design process.
A design process consists of a series of steps that transform an input (specifications) into an output (solution) passed as input to the next step.
The MCSE design process organizes the required steps in a top-down manner. Designers can work simultaneously on several steps given that they respect dependencies between steps and design choices. The flow is not continuous as additional verification activities, resulting in a backward flow, are necessary to correct and/or enhance solutions.
System designers proceed according to a minimum of 5 steps:
1. Requirements definition
2. System specification
3. Functional design
4. Architectural design
5. Prototyping |
| Design steps | Purpose | Inputs | Outputs | | 1. Requirements definition | Understanding all interested parties' needs and documenting these needs as written definitions and descriptions. | Customer needs | Requirements document | | 2. System specification | Representing a purely external view of the system. Completely modeling the behavior of the system within its environment and listing all non-functional constraints. | Requirements document | Specifications document | | 3. Functional design | Finding a suitable internal logical (or functional) and technology-independent representation of the system from an application-oriented viewpoint. | Specifications document | Functional model | | 4. Architectural design | Defining the detailed system's physical (or hardware) architecture and the organization of the software application on each programmable processor. | Functional model Performances/cost constraints | Architectural model | | 5. Prototyping | Developing an operational system prototype in terms of hardware and software implementations. | Architectural model
Technological & economical constraints | Prototype |
The 5 MCSE design steps |
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In addition, the MCSE design process enables design traceability as well as IP capitalization and reuse at every design stage.
Forward and backward traceability between steps is enforced to:
- Capture the relations between initial requirements and all subsequent design models;
- Manage potential changes in requirements.
Capitalization and reuse are essential activities for a correct and efficient use of IP components. Reusing components is useful during functional and architectural design, but also during prototyping. It helps designers shorten the design process.
It is facilitated in two ways:
- Outside-in: identifying external functional or architectural components that satisfy the required functionality and are interconnectable;
- Inside-out: identifying internal components of the solution under design to be reused in other projects.
To be reused, a component needs to be well-defined, correctly encapsulated, validated and conform to an interchange standard.
Requirements traceability is potentially a one-to-many relation between a requirement and elements of the design. It implies the ability to follow the whole design process in forward and backward directions. A correct record of traceability between requirements and system components enables customers and project managers to monitor progress in the project.
Requirements management deals with evolutive requirements. Modifications, changes, improvements and corrections in requirements are inevitable. Taking modifications into account is facilitated by a clear procedure applied to the whole design process and by appropriate tools. |
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