3 Ways Simulation Contributes to Modern Embedded System

By Embedded Advisor | Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Advancements in the simulation are enabling modern embedded systems to achieve the unprecedented design and operational efficiencies.

FREMONT, CA: With the demand for high-quality, sophisticated, and compelling applications, embedded systems are also getting more powerful than ever. Apart from demands, fierce competition in the embedded device market, manufacturers are aiming for improved devices targeting shorter sales cycles. Thus, these challenges have led to a transformation in the way embedded systems are designed. Virtual labs are being set up to leverage simulation while designing embedded systems. Further, virtual platforms are easier to incorporate, use, and reduce the effort and time required for embedded application development.

Virtual platforms such as host simulation are also crucial advancements in the space of embedded simulation systems. The embedded application code is compiled for the host processor using native compilers and executed directly on the host machine. The host simulation platform’s designs can be reutilized to simulate other reference boards with similar peripheral devices. Here are some of the ways in which simulation can address the operational challenges of the embedded systems.

Software Simulation

Modern simulation software has grown in terms of its capability to imitate and predict actual device performance. Such simulation software can automatically convert block diagrams and state diagrams to the micro-controller unit (MCU) hardware-ready code. They can also be used to simulate dynamic systems, including event-based behaviors as well as continuous or discrete-time behaviors.

Complex Simulation

Although hardware simulation is not a new concept, technological advancements have enabled the embedded device manufacturers to achieve complex design simulations. The latest hardware simulations can simulate systems of any size ranging from a single microcontroller to large-scale networks containing hundreds of nodes.

Productive Modeling

Manufacturers are gradually moving towards productive modeling to achieve a higher degree of simulation. Such systems include multiple combinations of devices, architectures, as well as operating systems. It also offers the ability to simulate systems that don’t exist by mimicking the activities of peripherals and boards.

Advanced simulation techniques have gained popularity in the embedded systems manufacturing space. Such advancements will result in significant gains in terms of efficiency and capability.