Digital Electronic System-on-Chip Design: Methodologies, Tools, Evolution, and Trends

This paper reviews the evolution of methodologies and tools for modeling, simulation, and design of digital electronic system-on-chip (SoC) implementations, with a focus on industrial electronics applications. Key technological, economic, and geopolitical trends are presented at the outset, before reviewing SoC design methodologies and tools. The fundamentals of SoC design flows are laid out. The paper then exposes the crucial role of the intellectual property (IP) industry in the relentless improvements in performance, power, area, and cost (PPAC) attributes of SoCs. High abstraction levels in design capture and increasingly automated design tools (e.g., for verification and validation, synthesis, place, and route) continue to push the boundaries. Aerospace and automotive domains are included as brief case studies. This paper also presents current and future trends in SoC design and implementation including the rising, evolution, and usage of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, techniques, and tools, which promise even greater PPAC optimizations.