TOOLS FOR SYSTEM LEVEL MODELING OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS

MTL SYSTEMS, INC. AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY DESIGN APPROACH FOR, AND FEASIBILTY ASSESSMENT OF, A TOOL FOR SYSTEM-LEVEL MODELING OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS. THE TOOL WILL BE BASED UPON A VERSATILE, STANDARDIZED AND PRELIMINARY-TESTED METHODOLOGY CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT, NAMED PDL (PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE). PDL IMPLEMENTS VHDL AS THE FUNDAMENTAL SIMULATION MEDIUM, WITH TRANSLATORS TO PERMIT THE DESCRIPTION, SIMULATION AND TRADEOFF OF PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTES EFFICIENTLY AND EFFECTIVELY UNDER THIS COMMON SIMULATION STRUCTURE. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE TO QUANTIFY ALL ASPECTS OF THE REQUIRED TOOL, DETERMINE WHICH PORTIONS OF THE EXISTING PDL MAY BE APPLIED AND WHICH PORTIONS REQUIRE ADDITIONAL DESIGN, AND FORM A PRELIMINARY DESIGN APPROACH USING STRUCTURED DESIGN TECHNIQUES. FEASBILITY WILL BE ESTABLISHED AS A FUNCTION OF ASSESSED DESIGN CAPABILITY THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION, DEMONSTRATION AND ANALYTICAL MEANS. TASKS INCLUDE REQUIREMENTS DEFINITION, PDL ANALYSIS, OTHER CAPABILITIES DETERMINATION, DESIGN APPROACH PRODUCTION, FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT, CRITICAL ASPECT DEMONSTRATION AND FINAL REPORT PRODUCTION. THE APPROACH OFFERS AN INNOVATIVE MEANS FOR CAPITALIZING ON THE EXISTING PDL TOOL, ITS INHERENT STANDARDIZED STRUCTURES, AND THE SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH BEHIND ITS DEVELOPMENT, TO ACHIEVE THE PROGRAM OBJECTIVES. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: THE BENEFIT OF THIS TOOL WILL BE TO PROVIDE AN EASY-TO-USE PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE TOOL BY WHICH DIVERSE COMPUTING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTES MAY BE SIMULATED. THE TOOL WILL PERMIT TRADEOFFS TO BE CONDUCTED, TO ACHIEVE OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE BALANCE IN COMPUTING SYSTEM DESIGN. APPLICABILITY WILL ENCOMPASS THE FULL BREADTH OF COMMERCIAL AND MILITARY COMPUTING SYSTEM DESIGN NEEDS.