1. Embedded Product Design

2. The Initial Concept of a Product l Top-level management –Composed primarily of engineers l Marketing –Feedback from customers and trade shows l Engineering –Direct research, trade publications, competitor’s website, etc.

3. Initial Concept Development Stage l Bring in managers and experienced engineers to discuss feasibility of concept –Cost, cost, cost –Consistent with company goals? –Feasible hardware and software design approaches exist? l Treat engineering as one resource pool

4. Product Architecture Definition l Continue meetings to create and identify implementation strategies for both hardware and software l Manager assesses product architecture and breaks it into logical blocks that can be assigned to engineers

5. Preliminary Hardware Design l Lead project engineer focuses the effort l Sources of hardware design ideas –Engineering manager –Proven hardware blocks / modules l Leverage other engineers’ experience –Creativity and ingenuity l Research chips for functionality and interconnect

6. Design Re-use l Reference other proven designs l Benefits –Time to market –Product quality

7. Hardware Design Issues l Stay informed of current design solutions –Internet (app notes, etc.) –Distributors (training classes) l Also use for price quotes and availability l Buy third party solutions? –Logic blocks for an FPGA –Chipset with supporting software driver l DSP’s, intelligent peripherals, etc.

8. Hardware Design Issues l Work with compliance engineers l Piece everything together –Integrate reused blocks with new ideas on a schematic l Doesn’t have to be perfect: Time to Market –Power Supply? l Detailed design review –Cost, features, schedule, target market

9. Before Hardware Arrives... l Order printed circuit boards l Hardware-related software issues –Processor and peripheral initialization code –Low-level peripheral driver code –VHDL needed for FPGA? l Software designers begin s/w development

10. The Real Work Begins... l Loaded printed circuit boards arrive l Make the hardware work –Check for obvious problems (e.g., pwr/gnd short) –Bring up the memory subsystem –Execute initialization code using non-volatile memory or debugger –“Talk” to peripherals

11. Transition To The Software Design Phase l Get hardware to the software designers as soon as possible l Hardware design continues until the product is released (in full production) –Incorporate improvements, new features, fixes –Continue to work with compliance engineering –Work with test engineering –Design verification testing

12. Embedded Software Design l Refine initial software architecture l Architecture is based on well-defined blocks (modules) –Obtained from Adtran software “repository” –Purchased from 3rd party vendor –Designed by engineering

13. DS-1DSX-1 V.35 Serial Ethernet User I/F Serial Phone Ports Drivers HDLC Controller PPP Engine Frame Relay Engine IP TCPUDP TelnetTFTP IP Stack ManagementManagement OperatingOperating SystemSystem

14. Software “Repository” l Makes use of a centralized server l Facilitates design re-use l Software modules facilitate re-use when written with modularity in mind –Visualize the module as an independent functional block with distinct inputs and outputs –Use object-oriented programming (C or C++)

15. Major Areas of Embedded Software Design l Initialization software (or boot code) –Worked on jointly by hardware and software engineers l Operating system –Proven, in-house operating system –Scheduler, semaphores, message queues l Application software

16. Application Software Issues l Consumes vast majority of development time l Composed of many modules that collectively define the functionality of the product l Continually working with product quality engineers during software development l Certain customers serve as beta test sites

17. Software Standards l Conformance to a standard –Software engineer must read, understand, and implement the standard l Interoperability with other vendor’s products –Travel to interoperability labs toward the end of software development l ANSI, ITU, IETF, IEEE, and various forums