In specific domains, such as cyber-physical systems, platforms are quickly evolving to include multiple (many-) cores and programmable logic in a single system-on-chip, while includ- ing interfaces to commodity sensors/actuators. Programmable Logic (e.g., FPGA) allows for greater flexibility and dependability. However, the task of extracting the performance/watt potentia l of heterogeneous many-cores is often demanded at the application level, and this has strong implication on the HW/SW co-design process. Enabling fast prototyping of a board being designed is paramount to enable low time-to-market for applications running on it, and ultimately, for the whole platform: programmers must be provided with accurate hardware models, to support the software development cycle at the very early stages of the design process. Virtual platforms fulfill this need, providing that they can be in turn efficiently developed and tested in a few months timespan. In this position paper we will share our experience in the sphere of the AXIOM project, identifying key properties that virtual platforms modeling next-generation cyber-physical systems should have to quickly enable simulation-based software development for a these platforms

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