Towards a Python-Based One Language Ecosystem for Embedded Systems Automation

Design productivity remains a big problem in current embedded system development. Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) are a promising measure to accelerate the development cycle. However, the inconsistent syntax in various DSLs, during system development and manual DSL development negatively impact any gained productivity. In this paper, we propose a metamodel-based framework for the generation of Python-embedded DSLs. A target metamodel abstracts models by defining elementary building blocks. With an additional configuration, our framework generates an expressive DSL which automates model construction and enables dataflow programming. By applying the proposed framework on different target meta-models, a “One Language Ecosystem” is formed with the generated DSLs describing RTL, firmware and formal properties. As a proof of concept, a System on a Chip (SoC) consisting of RTL code and a firmware stack is generated, and formal properties are automated to verify the hardware components. To develop the RTL DSL, a time reduction by a factor-of-six is observed by using this generative approach. Furthermore, by comparing the DSL description to the generated target code, a code reduction by a factor-of-eight is given.