A Low Power, Programmable Networking Platform and Development Environment - Advances in Network-Embedded Management and Applications - page 27

process is the development of simulation models, from the modeling blocks
available or ready to be developed. The second step in the process is the
actual hardware and software design, based on the experiences gathered from
the modeling evaluation. This process requires both less experience and less
braveness from the developer, since on one hand the building blocks already
provide some design security, and on other hand he or she is going to be
supported by the understanding the possible obstacles after learning the
simulation models. Fig. 3 depicts the development environment from a high-
level perspective.
The flexible programming capabilities provided by the SCALOPES C-
board's processors and interfaces can only be exploited if a well-defined
firmware development environment accompanies the device. Experience in
HDL programming may be a serious limiting factor for customized system
enhancements that require firmware development. Hardware, firmware and
accompanying software programming knowledge is rarely present together in
an organization that is not specialized exactly for these - and utilizing only
one of these essential capabilities when experimenting with the networking
platform leads to suboptimal results.