Book Image

Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems

By : Jim Ledin
4 (1)
Book Image

Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems

4 (1)
By: Jim Ledin

Overview of this book

Modern digital devices used in homes, cars, and wearables contain highly sophisticated computing capabilities composed of embedded systems that generate, receive, and process digital data streams at rates up to multiple gigabits per second. This book will show you how to use Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and high-speed digital circuit design to create your own cutting-edge digital systems. Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems takes you through the fundamental concepts of embedded systems, including real-time operation and the Internet of Things (IoT), and the architecture and capabilities of the latest generation of FPGAs. Using powerful free tools for FPGA design and electronic circuit design, you’ll learn how to design, build, test, and debug high-performance FPGA-based IoT devices. The book will also help you get up to speed with embedded system design, circuit design, hardware construction, firmware development, and debugging to produce a high-performance embedded device – a network-based digital oscilloscope. You’ll explore techniques such as designing four-layer printed circuit boards with high-speed differential signal pairs and assembling the board using surface-mount components. By the end of the book, you’ll have a solid understanding of the concepts underlying embedded systems and FPGAs and will be able to design and construct your own sophisticated digital devices.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Section 1: Fundamentals of High-Performance Embedded Systems
5
Section 2: Designing and Constructing High-Performance Embedded Systems
10
Section 3: Implementing and Testing Real-Time Firmware

Chapter 9: The Firmware Development Process

Now that we have a functioning circuit board, it is time to flesh out some key portions of the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) algorithm, including communication with the analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and continue the development of the MicroBlaze processor firmware. When developing firmware, it is important to make use of appropriate tools to ensure that the source code is subjected to static analysis where possible, which can head off many errors that are otherwise difficult to debug. It is also important to implement a version control system to track the evolution of the code over the project life cycle. We will discuss the importance of developing a comprehensive, at least partially automated test suite to maintain code quality as changes are made. This chapter includes several recommendations for free and commercial tools that perform each of these functions.

After completing this chapter, you will have learned how to design...