1 – System Design

Publisher Summary Like most things in life, the process of designing an embedded microprocessor system begins with a goal—the definition of the product. The product definition describes what the product is to be and do. The product definition is the first element in a process that is key to any successful electronics system design: documentation. The documentation describes what is going to be built and how. It tells marketing people what product they will have to sell, and it tells the engineering team how to implement that product. The development documents that useful in designing embedded systems are product requirements, functional requirements, engineering specifications, hardware specifications, firmware specifications, and test specifications. Thus, the embedded design process generally follows these steps: product requirements definition, functional requirements definition, processor evaluation, hardware/software specifications, system evaluation, hardware design, firmware design, integration, and verification.