Conventional microprocessors can only be sold at a reasonable cost if large quantities are produced. To achieve these quantities, microprocessors have to provide features that are required by mainstream usage. The specific requirements of niche users are therefore normally not considered when designing microprocessors. As a consequence, the availability of an individual microprocessor feature is primarily determined by the number of people that use it, and not its importance. This is exemplified by the automation industry that relies on microprocessors designed to accommodate worst-case scenarios which, by comparison, is somewhat neglected by the semiconductor industry that favors high peak performance. The solution to this problem may be the availability of large and powerful field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that enable the programming of individually-designed 32-bit microprocessors.

This book provides a ground-up explanation of the hardware/software interface of the SCARTS architecture, a soft-core processor architecture developed at the Department of Computer Engineering of the Vienna University of Technology, that is available under an Open Source license. In addition, the various elements of a toolchain are presented that allow the creation of appropriate board support for the SCARTS processor.