Dataflow Interchange Format and a Framework for Processing Dataflow Graphs

Abstract

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications are often designed with tools based on dataflow graphs and the increasing number of such tools shows the need for a common intermediate graph representation for exchanging dataflow information. In this work, we present the dataflow interchange format (DIF), a platform-independent textual language that is geared towards capturing the semantics of graphical design tools for DSP system design. A key objective of DIF is to facilitate technology transfer across dataflow-based DSP design tools by providing a common, extensible semantics for representing coarse-grain dataflow graphs, and recognizing useful subclasses of dataflow models. This thesis also develops the framework for a Java-based software repository that provides dataflow analysis and optimization algorithms for DIF representations. The featured framework is accompanied by toolboxes for hierarchical design support and visualization of graphs.