ESSP: An Embedded Software Synthesis and Prototyping Methodology

Abstract

Due to rapid technology progress, there has been a significant increase in design complexity, decrease in time-to-market, and growing demand for embedded systems. Further, with the integration of computer technology, consumer products, and communication facilities, the software in an embedded system now accounts for as much as 70% of total system functionalities. Though there are some tools available for the design of embedded software, yet there is a lack of a general design methodology. Most engineers still invent their own design methodology, as a result of which design experiences are not passed on from generation to generation. In this work, we propose a complete methodology called ESSP (Embedded Software Synthesis and Prototyping) for the automatic design of embedded software. Several issues are solved, including software synthesis, software verification, code generation, and system emulation. To avoid design errors, a formal approach is adopted because glitches in embedded software are intolerable and very expensive or even impossible to fix. Complex-choice Petri nets are used to model embedded software, which are then synthesized using an extended quasi static scheduling algorithm. The final generated C code is prototyped on an emulation platform, which consists of an 89C51 microcontroller for executing the software, an FPGA chip for programming the hardware for different applications, and some input/output devices. Two application examples are used to illustrate the feasibility of the ESSP methodology.