The functionality of a typical embedded system is specified once at design time and cannot be altered later during the whole mission period. There are, however, a number of important application domains that ask for both flexibility and availability. In such a flexible embedded system the functionality can be modified while the application is run-ning.

This paper presents a rapid prototyping environment for flexible embedded systems on multi-DSP architectures. This prototyping environment automatically maps and schedules an application onto a multi-DSP architecture and introduces a special, lightweight reconfiguration environment onto the target platform. A running multi-DSP application can, therefore, be modified by reconfiguring software tasks. By using our prototyping environment the modified application can be tested, simulated and emulated prior to the implementation on the target.