Using VHDL-AMS as a Unifying Technology for HW/SW Co-verification of Embedded Mechatronic Systems

The low cost of microcontrollers makes them increasingly popular for electronic control of a wide range of embedded systems throughout the vehicle. An embedded mixed-signal or mechatronic system is one that uses a microcontroller to control some aspect of the physical system such as motion, speed, temperature etc… The added dimension of software presents a significant challenge to the design, integration and verification of this class of systems.

This paper will discuss how the VHDL-AMS language can be used to describe the behavior of the physical hardware along with the controlling software algorithm together in a unified system model. This unifying technology can provide invaluable insight to the embedded system designer during the system design, integration, verification and debugging phases.