Preliminary Validation of an Approach Dealing with Processor Obsolescence

Processor obsolescence is a big concern affecting most equipments involved in safety critical applications (automotive, aerospace, nuclear plants, military applications ...). Indeed, such applications are active years longer than was originally anticipated. A method for validating the solution consisting in the replacement of a processor not anymore available into the market by its emulated version by means of an FPGA is presented in this paper. The Motorola 6800 processor is used as test vehicle to illustrate the key aspects of the explored validation plan. Significant experimental results and their impact on the HDL description will be discussed