Is simulation a reliable technology for micro-controllers?
Yes, it is. The most sophisticated integrated circuits present in the market today, with millions of transistors, are designed by using simulation technology. There are no “emulators” for such pieces of silicon… and they work. The reason why simulation has not been used too much today in microcontrollers designing is simply the lack of tools. There are tools in the market that simulate the software part of the application, but the interaction with the external I/O (hardware) is very poorly solved. This has pushed the users to use the ICE.
