ITEE Innovation Expo 2008 : Project Details

Embedded System Simulator

As embedded and logic-based circuits and devices become faster, smaller and more powerful, the tasks entrusted to these devices have become increasingly complex and have made the lives of developers and engineers designing these devices ever more difficult in ensuring their correct and proper operation. The need for multiple prototyping cycles in real hardware leads to delays in production and development as components are procured and testing circuits wired up or printed-circuit-boards created. This also leads to wasted cost in the development cycle.

The Embedded Systems Simulator allows a developer of embedded systems to design and prototype their embedded device without the need for spending on expensive, non-bulk components that can be easily damaged or destroyed during the testing and debugging process. By enabling them to simulate their logic by assembling it inside a computer model, engineers and embedded systems designers can avoid these issues, while also greatly increasing their productivity because they can rapidly change and redesign an incorrect circuit.

While not at the stage where high powered, complex devices such as the Atmel AVR microprocessors are currently available to be simulated, the produced Embedded Systems Simulator is in a state where several different types of circuit components are available to the user; and the addition of more advanced devices only requires the creation of the devices themselves, rather than serious additions to the simulation engine. The software provides a powerful graphical user interface to allow the creation and laying-out of circuits, as well as providing control and feedback on the individual devices in the circuit. The product is written in C++ and is designed to be cross-platform and provide real-time, fast simulation of the components, while still being responsive and allowing the user to view the details of the simulated component’s current state, through the use of an event-driven simulation process.