An increasing number of ASIC and FPGA[] designs are accelerating algorithms and applications directly in hardware (HW) circuits. These HW accelerator cores have become commonplace and are now a key part of product differentiation and the ability to meet market expectations in performance, cost and reliability.

For the second year in a row, Byte Paradigm has conducted an online survey to understand the role of using a ‘live’ prototype for testing and debugging embedded systems. This year, we paid special attention to the equipment that the electronic engineer finds in the lab or on the desk to efficiently test and debug embedded systems. Results show that using a prototype is widely seen as a way to speed up debugging and that digital pattern generators are gaining success for the generation of digital input stimuli.