  This paper gives an overview of a transaction level modeling (TLM) design
flow for straightforward embedded system design with SystemC. The goal is to
systematically develop both application-specific HW and SW components of an
embedded system using the TLM approach, thus allowing for fast communication
architecture exploration, rapid prototyping and early embedded SW development.
To this end, we specify the lightweight transaction-based communication
protocol SHIP and present a methodology for automatic mapping of the
communication part of a system to a given architecture, including HW/SW
interfaces.
