Am embedded system case study: the firm ware development environment for a multimedia audio processor

This paper outlines a case study at SGS-Thomson Microelectronicson the development of a firmware development environment in co-operationwith Thomson Consumer Electronics Components. Theenviornment is for an embedded processor used for audiodecompression algorithms including: MPEG2, Dolby AC-3 Surround,and Dolby Pro-logic. The enabling component of the firmwareenvironment is a retargetable compiler which maps high-levelalgorithms onto the embedded processor. Although compilation is thecritical technology, this experience has shown that it is insufficient andthat other supporting design tools are also important. For this project,that environment includes an instruction-set simulator, a source-leveldebugger, a custom linker, and a compiler validation strategy. Themethodologies are outlined in this paper with an emphasis on thelessons learned in this hardware-software team development.

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