SystemC Power Profiling for IoT Device Firmware using Runtime Configurable Models

In IoT domain energy aware firmware development is critical for applications that run on mobile or battery constrained devices. Virtual system prototypes (VSP) empower developers to assess the application power consumption behavior before actual hardware prototypes become available. The SystemC modeling language has become the widely adopted industry standard for the implementation of such VSPs. In this paper, we present a novel approach for extending SystemC based VSPs with pluggable, pre-compiled power models that can be configured during runtime to generate accurate power profiles for the simulated firmware. The necessary modifications to the VSP are kept minimal. We demonstrate the application of our approach by instrumenting a pre-existing SystemC model for a state-of-the-art MEMS-based inertial sensor with a power model and show that the generated power profile estimation matches closely the energy consumption measured from its hardware prototype. As an additional advantage of our proposed precompiled approach, manufactures can ship their power models to costumers without disclosing implementation IP.