For years, the industry has advocated for “shifting left” in software development. This methodology allows software teams to begin their work earlier, leveraging virtual platforms for algorithm and application development. By aligning hardware and software teams from the start, the process becomes more efficient, catching specification vagaries early. Instead of waiting for hardware to be built, software teams model it, while hardware teams focus on implementation.
This approach ensures that by the time hardware is ready to run software, discrepancies are minimal, reducing the need for late-stage rework. A quick fix in the model or an RTL update keeps development on track, allowing hardware and software to reach the finish line together.
The Missing Piece: Performance Modeling
Despite these advances, a critical gap remains: How well does the software actually run on the hardware? Traditional virtual platforms focus on functionality but often lack performance insights. Meanwhile, cycle-based models provide accuracy but are too slow for large-scale workloads.
What if software teams had access to not just a functional model, but a performance model of the hardware as well?
Introducing MIPS Atlas Explorer
MIPS Atlas Explorer is a software development and optimization platform designed for the MIPS Atlas portfolio of compute subsystems. It combines the strengths of virtual platforms with micro-architectural performance modeling, enabling software teams to optimize workloads while hardware is still being designed.
This approach provides crucial insights, allowing hardware teams to understand how real workloads perform. Rather than theoretical estimations, developers gain direct visibility into workload execution, facilitating a data-driven partnership between MIPS and its customers.
Key Benefits for Developers
With Atlas Explorer, software teams can optimize applications in parallel with hardware design teams, ensuring a more cohesive development process. The platform enables the generation of detailed performance reports that provide micro-architectural insights within real application contexts, allowing for more informed decision-making. Additionally, Atlas Explorer captures execution traces from key workload regions, offering valuable data that would be impractical to collect in silicon. By facilitating report sharing with colleagues and domain experts, it enhances collaboration and fosters a more efficient workflow.
A Flexible, Insight-Driven Platform
Unlike rigid, opinionated workflows, Atlas Explorer focuses on flexibility. Delivered as a Visual Studio Code Extension, it allows developers to visualize performance data in a way that highlights critical optimization areas. Custom reports filters zoom into problem spots, making it easier to diagnose and resolve inefficiencies.
Additionally, because performance data generation is decoupled from software development, even those outside the core team can contribute to optimization efforts without rebuilding software from scratch or migrating to different platforms.
Driving the Future of Semiconductor Design
Virtual platforms have already improved software developer efficiency, especially in DevOps and quality assurance flows. Now, MIPS is pushing the boundaries of team collaboration and productivity across the semiconductor value chain.
With MIPS Atlas, we are redefining the status quo—creating a future where software and hardware co-evolve seamlessly, delivering cutting-edge, domain-optimized computing solutions. There are additional long-standing challenges in supporting products for decades-long lifecycles. Too often, software tools used during design become obsolete, unable to run on newer operating systems or reproduce past results. More on that later.
To register interest in experiencing Atlas Explorer with the upcoming MIPS M8500 real-time compute subsystem, please contact us here. MIPS is an exhibitor at Embedded World 2025 from March 11th – 13th, in Nuremburg, Germany. To request a meeting, please contact us here: MIPs.com/events.
