This question is related to the software modelling(Virtual Prototyping).
I do not understand fully why there is a need for a faster virtual prototype. I mean a module which simulates the required functionality in less time as compared to an RTL module.
I can understand the need for a cycle accurate software module but not a faster module.
Any light in this direction ? Thanks!
I would say that the faster the model the more useful it is in the Virtual Prototyping domain of ESL. More iterations in less time. If I understand you correctly you object against modelling efforts that take the model beyond the performance of RTL ASIC realization not RTL simulation performance? RTL simulation performance usually sucks due to the level of parallelism that needs to be simulated and may be in magnitude 1000000th of the speed of ASIC. To be able to accomplish faster than real-time is not commonly something an ESL designer is challenged with but he's rather challenged to accomplish a reasonable speed from a user experience point of view. Read more about Programmer View virtual prototyping and the theories in levels of abstraction. Faster than real-time is easily achieved in SystemC when modelling technique is abstract enough and high speed may be just an artifact of implementation :)
