VHDL virtual prototyping

Prototyping has been used to develop electronic systems for a long time. In this work a new prototyping approach, that we named VHDL Virtual Prototyping, is introduced. The new approach introduces VHDL models as the hardware part of the system prototype. The software components of the system are then executed and debugged on top of the hardware models of the system. A platform for developing electronic systems using VHDL Virtual Prototyping is presented. The enhancement of this approach for mechatronics is also introduced.