On virtual prototyping of embedded system-on-chips

With continuous advancement in silicon technology and high feature demands on consumer electronics such as smartphones, embedded software stacks are becoming more complex and start to overtake hardware content in development cost. Virtual Prototyping addresses the software complexity challenge by enabling early software development before hardware arrival using a variety of simulation and emulation techniques. This article reviews the current industrial practices on silicon virtual prototyping, identifies their challenges and calls for new ways to tackle them.