ARM Community: SoC Design - ARM Community

I hate reading manuals. Maybe it’s a guy thing or maybe it’s the engineer in me, but it’s pretty rare that I’ll bring home a shiny new device and then sit down and read the manual. Give me a few pictures or examples on how something should be used and I’m good to go. Not surprisingly, a lot of customers take this same approach with our software products. Immediately after installation they’ll start things up and look around for an examples directory long before they’ll ever click on the “Help” button.

This approach works well for a lot of tasks but when it comes to more complex tasks that example needs to be very sophisticated to be of value. System on chip (SoC) performance analysis, certainly meets that “complex task” threshold. The best way to analyze the performance of an SoC before it is built is by using a virtual prototype. Before any performance analysis work can be performed however, there is a long list of tasks to be performed. Models need to be assembled and configured for all of the important design elements, or even written if the models don’t already exist. These models need to be pulled together into a system configuration which matches the end design. Finally, software must be written to initialize all of the components in the system and then generate some meaningful traffic. Hopefully your virtual prototyping tool has some good data visualization tools. If not, you can add data extract...

Transcending “Reality” with Virtual Platforms
"Virtual reality is the first step in a grand adventure into the landscape of the imagination.”
--Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality by Frank Biocca, Taeyong Kim and Mark Levy

So what is the reality, and virtual reality, for embedded software developers? Virtual platforms will be increasingly important, especially for multi-core designs. The April 2012 EE Times Embedded Software Survey reported that 33% of software developers say virtual platforms are becoming more important to accelerate their schedules.

Why Use Virtual Platforms?
When hardware is not available, you can still start software development early and with confidence. Virtual platforms can be programming-model hardware accurate, and allow you to run the exact binary you code for the real device. They deliver the level of abstraction and performance needed to run operating systems and application software and integrate external system components and interfaces.

Even when hardware is available, virtual platforms offer significant advantages. Virtual platform changes can be instant...