Hardware Software Co-design and Embedded

Product development lifecyle management:

 Hardware Software Co-design
• Design of ES involves two essential parts of design i.e.
Hardware and software, both are equally important

• Because in complex system, hardware and software

design influence each other and therefore should be in
done in structured and systematic way.

• Co-design implies that hardware and software design

be considered concurrent and be done together
 Hardware Software Co-design
• Different from thinking that hardware should
be designed first and software should be taken
care of later and then ported into hardware.

• Because of growing complexity of ES,

techniques for supporting hardware software
co-design have been developed in order to
permit the joint specification design and
synthesis of hardware software systems.
 Factors in current design scene which
support co-design

• The availability of hardware components like

processors which are programmable-MCUs, DSP
processors etc. –fall in this category

• The availability of re-configurable hardware like

FPGAs and CPLDs.

• Design is made easy because of efficient C compilers

and hardware description languages that automate
design using synthesis and simulation tools.
 Steps in Codesign
1. Functional Design
2. Mapping/Partitioning
3. Design of hardware and Software
4. Co-simulation and co-synthesis
Co-design illustrated with steps in
development process
 Functional Design
• A system should be functionally correct.

• For this to be ensured the behaviour of system should be

specified correctly.

• Behavioural model should be made first .

• A set of inputs, set of outputs and mapping between two

constitutes the behaviour and is equivalent to defining the
system.

• This description is independent of HW and SW, several

representations may be utilized.
 Mapping/ Partitioning
• The next step is to divide the functionality into two parts
for implementation into hardware and software called
partitioning.

• Decision on which parts are best implemented in

hardware and which in software , makes an impact on
factors like speed, power, performance etc.

• Partitioning also means that design is broken down into

smaller units each of which has defined ‘functionality’.
This idea applies to hardware as well as software.
 Mapping/ Partitioning
• Mapping also implies that a particular
function is mapped to that is assigned to be
performed by specified block.

• There is continual interaction between two

partitions as illustrated by integrated
modeling.
 Design of Hardware and Software
• Hardware and software design proceed in
two separate directions. But there is
continuous interaction between two design
teams such that feedback, correction and re-
design is done.

• Once hardware and software designs are

completed, the system is integrated and
tested and then put into operation
 Co-simulation and Co-synthesis

• Simulation implies testing of functionality

without actual implementation

• Synthesis means the final realization of

designed product.

• Co-synthesis means that software and

hardware are to be integrated and realized
 Modeling of system
• A model is conceptual notion for expressing
function of a system

• Embedded systems are reactive systems which

respond to events.

• Systems can be designed using many techniques

i. Data/ control Diagrams
ii. Concurrent Models
iii. Finite States Machine
 i. Data Flow Diagram/DFD
• In such a model, it is flow of data alone that is taken
into consideration.

• It is a data driven model

Fig: Flow of data in communication system

 DFD
• Each box is subsystem
which is data driven.

• A particular box obtains

data as input from
previous block

• Each functional block may

need to wait till it gets
processed data from
previous block
Data flow Diagram for A=xy+yz
 Control/Data Flow graph
•This is data flow graph with control added to it.

•Conditional processing activities fit into this type of

graph
 Do we realize DFDs into Hardware or
Software
• They can be realized either ways and that
would have been decided at time of
partitioning in first level
How flow chart different from DFG
• Flowchart represents ‘control flow’ only,
while a DFG shows ‘data flow’
 ii. Concurrent Processes
• These are the processes in which activities are
scheduled to happen concurrently.

• Activities are performed actually in parallel or it is

‘pseudo parallelism’ that occurs, depends on the system

• Concurrency is to be thought of software, then tools for

software design should ensure the correct
implementation for inter-process communications with
synchronization
 ii. Concurrent Processes
• In hardware design, the idea of concurrency appears.

• All the parts of circuit are to be work in parallel, the

design of hardware finally boils down to writing
codes with concurrent statements.

• There is communication between these processes/

statements and hardware is finally realized from such
concurrent code which leads to hardware structure
Example
 Example
Concurrent Process
 iii. Finite state Machine
• The idea of state machine is that on occurrence of
event, the state of machine changes.

• FSM is defined by three quantities input, state and

output. It is change in input which function as
required event .

• For bigger systems, there is output logic block for

each change of state the output changes depending
on function represented by output logic block.
Example 1(Seat belt control used in Cars)
Example2(Traffic Light Control)
Embedded Product Development Lifecycle
Management
• Consider an example of building an house.
• Flow of phases will be as shown in fig.
Different phases involved in building a
house
 Embedded Product Development
• Compare the phases of house building with
with phases of building an embedded
product.
• Steps are not same but mechanism of
planning and development work here also
 Big Bang Model
• Developer receives list of requirements
• Developer works in isolation for some time
• Developer delivers the result to customer
• Developer hopes the client is satisfied
But developing a sophisticated embedded
product is not done by just one person.
There are hardware and software developers,
managers etc.
Why is EDLC Management considered to be
important?
• In early phases of embedded revolution the
embedded product was not really a ‘big deal’.
• The product was usually small and did not involve
high-end technology.
• Now these products are developed by many Well-
established companies usually have a definite
action plan and activities are done from beginning
to end.
• How well the action plan and activities are done,
reflect on final product
Why is EDLC Management considered to be
important?
• Better product from better manufacturers-
they follow best practices for product
development.
• There are bench marks using which
Companies are rating.
• Companies having better ratings and deliver
better product because they follow model
for product development
Important factors in technology
Management
 Phases of EDLC
1. Innovate
2. Analyse
3. Design
4. Implement
5. Verify
6. Deploy
7. Support
8. Retire
 Innovate/Conceptualize
• When idea of product takes shape
• Phase of dreaming when a company
wonders whether it can introduce an
entirely new product or
• ‘me too’ product-product already available
in market, but company is introducing its
new version of product
 Analyse
• Phase of analysing the requirements and
specifications of intended product
Formally First stage . In this steps are
i. Make a formal and thorough feasibility study
including investment and return expected.
ii. Make a list of requirements of product including
its specifications (electrical, mechanical,
packaging, appearance and use interface)
iii. Analyse requirements and make sure they can
be implemented practically.
 Design the intended product
i. Propose a prototype
ii. Partition the prototype design into
hardware and software
iii. Do functional modelling for the hardware
and software
 Implement the Design
• Choose hardware components
• Design the hardware
• Generate the code and test it
• Integrate the hardware and software and
test it
 Perform Verification
System level verification
The integrated system is verified against the
requirements made in phase ii to confirm
that they match
 Formalize and Deploy
• In this phase, field trials, reliability and quality
tests are conducted.
• after these are completed the product is
deployed in the market
• If product was built for specific customer, it is
supplied to customer after training suitable no. of
persons
• Most critical Phase—for companies with proven
track records have an easier time in this phase
 Sustain and support
• Once the product is launched in the market,
it is important to collect feedback from
users, provide support to understand the
product better and give solution for bugs
detected in this phase
• A maintenance group should be in action all
time along with marketing team to improve
the image of the product
 Retire
• No product or concept lasts for ever
• In today’s dynamic world, rapid obsolescence of
electronic products is rule rather than the
expectation
• Company should be ready to allow retirement for
the product before it dies a natural death
• In either case there is possibility of rebirth
• Manufacturer can give a rebirth to product in a
new, fresh and advanced form with new ideas,
concept and features
 Lifecycle Models
• Water Fall Model
 Water Fall Model

• Based on Serialization of development phases

• One phase flows into next
Demerits
• All requirements must be known before hand,
as there is no phase which goes back and
makes a correction
• There is no opportunity for customer to
preview and correct the system
Waterfall Model With backflow
 Waterfall Model With backflow
• Each phase has a backflow
• Correction to immediate previous stage is
possible based on the feedback at the end of
each phase
 V Model
• Each phase and corresponding test or validation
• Tests are conducted at end of each phase before
proceeding to next phase
Advantages
i. Verification and validation of product in early
stages of development
ii. Deliverable at each stage is tested one
iii. Once each phase is tested and verified, it is
marked as milestone in development process
 V Model
Disadvantages
• Dies not easily handle dynamic changes in
requirements
• Does not contain risk analysis activities
The Iterative Model
 The Iterative Model
• Waterfall model executes many times and
each iteration turn of wheel result in a
prototype.
• Such in complete models are subject to
testing, analysis and re-design.
• The design evolves iteratively.
• Such a model is flexible and risk
management is automatically taken care of
 Risk in this context
• The customer is not clear about what he
want and keeps changing his requirements
as project progresses.
• New trends and technology appears, and
there is the need to incorporate these also in
the product
• Designers and developers may be
inexperienced in this domain