PROTOS - A MICROCONTROLLER FPGA-BASED PROTOTYPING SYSTEM FOR EMBEDDEDAPPLICATIONS/

Embedded applications usually require the use of standard microcompute rs and customized interfaces. Performance of the computers often can n ot meet the requirement of the intended application. Combination of a standard microcontroller and a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) ma y lead to the solution in both prototyping systems and target, operati onal systems. In this article we describe a microcontroller/FPGA-based prototyping system, called PROTOS, which provides a flexible and effe ctive hardware/software co-design environment for embedded application s. The PROTOS is using software and hardware development tools present on a standard PC Windows platform. It also extends their capabilities enabling more flexible use of both implementation technologies and th eir combinations by employing flexibility of software and reconfigurab ility of FPGAs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.