1. Purpose and scope
Most of what a user experiences of a system is software, and most of the system's late defects are found there. This stage builds that software: the boot code and firmware that start the hardware, the board support package and drivers, the operating environment, the middleware, the applications, and the tools for manufacturing and service. It works on whatever hardware exists at the time: the virtual prototype, the emulation and FPGA prototypes, development boards and, towards the end, the first real boards.
Two designs made here shape the system's whole life in the field. The secure boot chain decides what code the system will trust. The update design decides how firmware and software reach shipped units, how a failed update is recovered, and how long the system can be kept secure. Both are reviewed before Software feature complete, because changing them after units ship is slow and sometimes impossible.
In scope: firmware images, board support package, system software build, applications, automated tests and continuous integration, the secure update design, regression on the virtual prototype, and hardware and software co-verification results. Out of scope: integration on the engineering prototypes and hardening during validation, which follow in later stages.
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