英文资料及中文翻译 The Design of a Rapid Prototype Platform for ARM Based Embedded SystemHardware prototype is a vital step in the embedded system design. In this paper, we discuss our design of a fast prototyping platform for ARM based embedded systems, providing a low-cost solution to meet the request of flexibility and testability in embedded system prototype development. It also encourages concurrent development of different parts of system hardware as well as module reusing. Though the fast prototyping platform is designed for ARM based embedded system, our idea is general and can be applied to embedded system of other types. I.INTRODUCTIONEmbedded systems are found everywhere, including in cellular telephones, pagers, VCRs, camcorders, thermostats, curbside rental-car check-in devices, automated supermarket stockers, computerized inventory control devices, digital thermometers, telephone answering machines, printers, portable video games, TV set-top boxes -- the list goes on. Demand for embedded system is large, and is growing rapidly. In order to deliver correct-the-first-time products with complex system requirements and time-to-market pressure, design verification is vital in the embedded system design process. A possible choice for verification is to simulate the system being designed. If a high-level model for the system is used, simulation is fast but may not be accurate enough, with a low-level model too much time may be required to achieve the desired level of confidence in the quality of the evaluation. Since debugging of real systems has to take into account the behavior of the target system as well as its environment, runtime information is extremely important. Therefore, static analysis with simulation methods is too slow and not sufficient. And simulation cannot reveal deep issues 1in real physical system. A hardware prototype is a faithful representation of the final design, guarantying its real-time behavior. And it is also the basic tool to find deep bugs in the hardware. For these reasons, it has become a crucial step in the whole design flow. Traditionally, a prototype is designed similarly to the target system with all the connections fixed on the PCB (printed circuit boards).As embedded systems are getting more complex, the needs for thorough testing become increasingly important. Advances in surface-mount packaging and multiple-layer PCB fabrication have resulted in smaller boards and more compact layout, making traditional test methods, e.g., external test probes and "bed-of-nails" test fixtures, harder to implement. As a result, acquiring signals on boards, which is beneficial to hardware testing and software development, becomes infeasible, and tracking bugs in prototype becomes increasingly difficult. Thus the prototype design has to take account of testability. However, simply adding some test points is not enough. If...
