Ralph von Vignau, Philips
Gary Dare, Mentor Graphics

This tutorial will introduce the concept of tool, design-language, and IP generic XML descriptions for system design. The specifications of the SPIRIT Consortium provide a standard machine-interpretable way to express design configuration. Linked to design filesets, this meta-data can describe IP interfaces, component instantiation and connectivity, synthesis design constraints, register maps, and memory maps. This tutorial will discuss the deliverables of the SPIRIT Consortium and show these specifications in practice in a working example and in industrial design flows.