Embedded software synthesis and prototyping

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. 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 89C5I 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.