230740-7475/01/$10.00 © 2001 IEEENovember–December 2001
THE ESSENCE OF embedded-systems design
is implementing a specific set of functions while
satisfying constraints on characteristics such as per-
formance, cost, emissions, power consumption,
and weight. The choice of implementation archi-
tecture determines whether designers will imple-
ment a function as a hardware component or as
software running on a programmable component.
In recent years, the functions demanded for
embedded systems have grown so numerous
and complex that development time is increas-
ingly difficult to predict and control. This com-
plexity, coupled with constantly evolving
specifications, has forced designers to consid-
er intrinsically flexible implementations—those
they can change rapidly. For this reason, and
because hardware-manufacturing cycles are
more expensive and time-consuming, software-
based implementation has become more pop-
ular. Processors’ increased computational
power and correspondingly decreased size and
cost let designers move increasingly more func-
tionality to software.
However, along with this move comes increas-
ing difficulty in verifying design correctness.
This verification is critical due to safety consider-
ations in several application domains—
transportation and environment monitoring, for
example. In traditional, PC-like software applica-
tions, these safety issues typically don’t come up.
In addition, the software world has paid little
attention to hard constraints on software’s reac-
tion speed, memory footprint, and power con-
sumption—all crucial issues for embedded
systems—because they are relatively unimportant
in traditional software development. In embed-
ded-systems design, such hard software charac-
teristics are unavoidable. It is no wonder, then,
that there is a crisis in embedded-software design.
Along with the pressure on system designers
to choose flexible implementations, the indus-
try is also witnessing IC manufacturers’ growing
preference for chips that will work for several
designs. This lets manufacturers amortize devel-
opment cost over a large number of units, as
discussed in the sidebar, “Motivations for plat-
form-based design.” This alignment of designers
and manufacturers has resulted in the birth of
platform-based design,1,2 in which reuse and pro-
grammability are key.
We believe that addressing the embedded
Platform-Based Design and
Software Design
Methodology for
Embedded Systems
Embedded products have become so complex
and must be developed so quickly that current
design methodologies are no longer adequate.
The authors’ vision for the future of embedded-
system design involves two essential components:
a rigorous methodology for embedded software
development and platform-based design.
Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli
University of California, Berkeley
Grant Martin
Cadence Design Systems