Designing and verifying embedded microprocessors

Motorola's ColdFire products are a line of microprocessors targeting embedded-system applications such as computer peripherals (disk drives, laser printers, scanners).They originated from the same design group that produced the 680X0 general purpose microprocessors, whose target market was desktop computing applications. The ColdFire microprocessors, however, target the highly competitive embedded market, whose time-to-market and cost requirements are much more stringent. The ColdFire design team received a set of challenges quite different from those associated with the 680X0 line. They had to minimize test costs since the target selling price was an order of magnitude less than that of a desktop microprocessor. With no room for design errors, they had to put processes in place that detect errors early in the design flow and provide feedback for continuous improvement. A new methodology reduced new product cycle time to less than a year for the ColdFire products and provided improved techniques for integrating cores in new applications. In addition, it increased quality measurement capability and reduced test cost.