A PCB digital twin firmware can actually boot

Adam Szefer · Co-founder & CTOUpdated July 23, 2026

Prev. Bloomberg · Gyfted. Systems and simulation infrastructure — the engine that runs your firmware against the circuit.

“Digital twin” is overloaded. For embedded teams it only earns the name if the twin executes the shipping image against the topology you drew — and admits what it cannot prove yet.

Built from design-of-record files

Netlist, BOM, optional schematic docs. Same package you already produce for fab. The twin is not a parallel CAD database; it is a derived, runnable view.

Honest coverage beats false confidence

Missing chip models and unsupported buses show up as gaps. A green platform load with silent omissions is worse than a failed generate — we refuse the silence.

Where Renode fits

CPU platforms and execution stay Renode-class. HardLabs supplies board attachments and peripheral models so the twin matches the schematic, not a hand-maintained fanfic .repl.

HardLabs

What HardLabs does — join the design-partner pilot

We build a digital twin from your netlist, schematic, and BOM, run your real firmware against it, and fail CI when pinmux, buses, or timing contracts break — weeks before bring-up on hardware.

  • A digital twin of your hardware, built from your netlist, schematic, and BOM.
  • A virtual lab: scopes, logic analyzers, and firmware debuggers in simulation.
  • Auto-flagging of power-sequence errors, output contention, and race conditions.

Pilot details · App

Related

  • Renode board platforms

    Generate Renode board platforms from KiCad or Allegro netlists. Attach peripheral models, surface coverage gaps, and load a .repl without hand-maintaining every CS line.

  • Simulate the PCB before fab

    Simulate your PCB before manufacturing: run real firmware against netlist-derived buses and catch pinmux, address, and timing bugs while the schematic can still change.

  • Firmware-in-the-loop

    Firmware-in-the-loop against your netlist — not stubs. Run unmodified .elf images on MCU simulation with board-aware I²C/SPI models and CI assertions.

  • INA219 model

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