Introduction to co-simulation of software and hardware in embedded processor systems
From the dawn of the first use of microprocessors and microcontrollers in embedded systems, the software has been blamed for products being late to market, This is due to software being developed after hardware is fabricated. During the past few years, the use of Hardware Description (or Design) Languages (HDLs) and digital simulation have advanced to a point where the concurrent development of software and hardware can be contemplated using simulation environments. This offers the potential of 50% or greater reductions in time-to-market for embedded systems. This paper is a tutorial on the technical issues that underlie software-hardware (swhw) co-simulation, and the current state of the art. We review the traditional sequential hardware-software design paradigm, and suggest a paradigm for concurrent design, which is supported by co-simulation of software and hardware. This is followed by sections on HDLs modeling and simulation;hardware assisted approaches to simulation; microprocessor modeling methods; brief descriptions of four commercial products for sw-hw co-simulation and a description of our own experiments to develop a co-simulation environment.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 288313
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-96-0322C; CONF-9609213-1; ON: DE96011676
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 8. embedded systems conference, San Jose, CA (United States), 16-20 Sep 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
An Embedded System for Safe, Secure and Reliable Execution of High Consequence Software
Rapid prototyping of hardware/software systems