238TECHNICAL ARTICLE An Embedded System’s Design Verification Using Object-Oriented Simulation

The ability for the embedded system designermodel and simulate proposed designs prior to implementation is increasingly valuable in today’s competitive market place. Simulation-based design is a methodology that uses the vir-tual prototype as a means of producing consis-tent and reduced design time. This paper presents this approach in the context of an auto-motive embedded system application. Struc-tural models are used to capture design knowl-edge and define the space of possible design alternatives. The Discrete Event Specification (DEVS) formalism is used to develop behavioral models which can be simulated. Results are ob-tained through experimental frames which are used to define the scope of simulation. These re-sults allow the designers to confirm that the proposed design solution meets the system re-quirements and constraints