TechnoSap

Abstract
Systems engineering is not a quiet backwater. It is an arena of political and economic
realignment and foment. And like any revolution in-progress it is the harbinger of great
and unpredictable change bringing with it huge opportunities hand-in-hand with equally
impressive threats. Nothing less than corporate power and bureaucratic structure are
being reordered by the new realities of engineering systems on silicon. The 30 years of
hardware dominance in silicon electronic engineering is being torn apart by the
recognition that the complexity of modern systems is determined by its multifunctionality,
adaptability and flexibility – attributes that, in an economic sense, are best realized in
software…….systemsengineering010916.pdf

Article Overview
Developing a complex multi-core wireless system is a major challenge, especially when
the cores include both a high-performance processor and a leading-edge digital signal
processor (DSP). Waiting until hardware prototypes are available is unacceptable:
important hardware/software tradeoffs must be made long before the chips are fabricated.
The traditional approach has been to rely on instruction-set simulator (ISS) models for
the cores to perform pre-silicon verification and debugging. Unfortunately, ISS models
can be too slow and lack the timing accuracy needed to interact with the RTL models for
the hardware portion of the system.
The problem is worse in a multi-core environment, since individual emulator tools often
lack synchronization mechanisms in debug mode. The result is that some aspects of the
software development and hardware/software integration must wait until the wireless
hardware prototypes are ready. The process of development and debugging on expensive,
scarce hardware prototypes delays project schedules and increases the risk of chip turns.
This whitepaper presents a method for system-level debugging of a multi-core system
using a virtual system prototype, which allows a cycle-accurate simulation of a complete
system to execute in real time on a PC. This is a much faster solution than ISS-based
simulation. Complete system-level single-stepping can be performed, providing the
debug mode a level of timing accuracy that matches the real-world setup. Further, virtual
system prototypes provide flexibility during development by enabling developers to
experiment quickly and accurately over multiple system setups and scenarios. An
example of a multi-core wireless system containing two ARM processors and a StarCore
DSP demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach……..ex-wsdwhitepaper.pdf

Abstract
Concurrent hardware and software development for embedded systems has progressed from discussion to deployment at leading electronics companies worldwide. Texas instruments, ST, Samsung, Infineon, and others have gone on record with their experiences – the results have been mixed. This paper identifies the first order factors that drive a high performance concurrent hardware and software design flow. This paper
begins by examining design team interactions and requirements for a software-driven concurrent hardware and software design flow. Software use cases are then analyzed with the goal of understanding the timing requirements of the virtual prototypes used in the concurrent design flow. Meeting the defined flow and timing requirements yields an improved design flow and virtual prototype that present a single coherent view of
design functionality and timing to all members of the design team. Furthermore it is shown that the virtual prototype must be capable of inheriting the timing attributes of all sub-designs of the embedded system. Meeting the requirements of coherency and inheritance supports the larger design flow goals of improving schedule, minimizing software rework, and enables the early and accurate optimization of performance, power, and costs…….softwaredrivenembeddedsystemsdesign.pdf

Introduction
Today’s automobiles are experiencing a rapid rise in features
and functions delivered through electronic systems. These
complex systems are comprised of numerous electronic control
units (ECUs) containing embedded processors that perform
dedicated functions and communicate through complex layered
networks. The steep growth in the number and complexity of
ECUs is due to larger economic forces that make the underlying
semiconductor process technology ever more capable and ever
more affordable. Unfortunately, as electronic content rises, so does
design complexity. What’s more, competitive forces are driving
shorter design cycles and higher quality, so manufacturers must
deliver product improvements such as better safety, improved fuel
efficiency, and sophisticated infotainment systems in much less
time. The combination of increased design complexity, reduced
time-to-market, and higher quality imposes a difficult design
challenge that often exceeds the capabilities of conventional
design methods…..white_autooct05c.pdf

Abstract

This paper describes the traditional, sequential development environment and its shortcomings with respect to true concurrent hardware and software development and verification; outlines the concurrent development process and the use of virtual systems prototyping; describes a virtual systems prototype in depth; and shows how a virtual systems prototyping development process helps to ensure the business goals of maximizing time to market through platform-based design. The paper concludes with a look at several examples of projects that have benefited from the virtual systems prototyping development process.reusabledesigns041213.pdf