Introduction

Figure 1.1 provides a schematic representation of the embedded design life cycle (which has been shown ad nauseam in marketing presentations).

Figure 1.1: Embedded design life cycle diagram.

A phase representation of the embedded design life cycle.

Time flows from the left and proceeds through seven phases:

• Product specification

• Partitioning of the design into its software and hardware components

• Iteration and refinement of the partitioning

• Independent hardware and software design tasks

• Integration of the hardware and software components

• Product testing and release

• On-going maintenance and upgrading

The embedded design process is not as simple as Figure 1.1 depicts. A considerable amount of iteration and optimization occurs within phases and between phases. Defects found in later stages often cause you to go back to square 1. For example, when product testing reveals performance deficiencies that render the design non-competitive, you might have to rewrite algorithms, redesign custom hardware such as Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for better performance speed up the processor, choose a new processor, and so on.

Although this book is generally organized according to the life-cycle view in Figure 1.1, it can be helpful to look at the process from...