Introduction P. Marwedel 1 New, flexible target technologies As the tendency towards more complex electronic systems continues, many of these systems are equipped with embedded processors. For example, such processors can be found in cars, and in audio-, video-, and telecommunication-equipment. Essential advantages of these processors include their high flexibility, short design time and (in the case of off-the-shelf processors) full-custom layout quality. Furthermore, they allow an easy implementation of optional product features as well as easy design correction and upgrading. Furthermore, processors are frequently used in cases where the systems must be extremely dependable 1 [32]. In such cases, the re-use of the design of an off-the-shelf processor greatly simplifies dependability analysis. This contrasts with the limitations of application-specific circuits (ASICs): due to their low flexibility, the cost for the desig