How Analog Devices Is Leveraging Renode to Accelerate Software Development for Embedded Intelligence

Bottom line: ADI is leveraging Antmicro’s Renode as an open-source simulation environment that complements our SystemC Virtual Platform strategy, enabling customers to develop and test software earlier for Arm-based ADI embedded products before hardware is available.

Moving Software Development Left

As embedded systems become increasingly software-defined, the ability to develop, test, and optimize software before hardware is available is becoming a critical competitive advantage. At Analog Devices, we are expanding our virtual development capabilities by integrating Renode, the open-source simulation framework by Antmicro, into our broader SystemC Virtual Platform strategy, helping customers start software development earlier, reduce project risk, and accelerate time-to-market.

Many modern ADI embedded products rely heavily on Arm-based processing to deliver advanced sensing, signal processing, edge intelligence, and machine learning capabilities. Historically, software development timelines have been constrained by hardware availability, requiring application teams to wait for silicon or evaluation platforms before validating software on representative systems.

ADI is addressing this challenge through a virtual-first development approach. By combining Renode with our SystemC Virtual Platform environment, customers can begin firmware and application development on virtual representations of ADI products before physical hardware is available.

Why Improved Armv8.1-M Support Matters

The recent collaboration with Antmicro to improve Armv8.1-M support in Renode is an important step in this strategy. The addition of Helium, also known as the M-Profile Vector Extension, enables Renode to more accurately execute software that depends on vectorized DSP and machine-learning operations.

This matters because many embedded applications increasingly depend on optimized signal-processing and ML workloads. For customers building software around ADI products with Arm Cortex-M processors, accurate simulation of Helium-enabled workloads helps validate algorithm behavior, software correctness, and application readiness earlier in the development cycle.

The expanded support for FPv5 instructions and initial Low Overhead Branch support further extends Renode’s usefulness for modern embedded workloads, improving compatibility with applications that rely on floating point computation and Armv8.1-M architectural features.

Complementing ADI's SystemC Virtual Platforms

Renode does not replace ADI's existing virtual platform investments; it is enhancing them. ADI's SystemC-based virtual platforms provide system-level modeling of ADI devices and subsystems, supporting hardware-software co-development, architecture validation, and early integration.