Emulation

Emulation, or specifically hardware emulation attempts to imitate the behavior of a device or platform to verify and validate firmware and/or software. Hardware emulation is typically a part of the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) workflow. It is more accurate than simulation and works well for very complicated designs (such as those found in VLSI).

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_emulation
2. http://electronicdesign.com/eda/11-myths-about-hardware-emulation
3. http://electronicdesign.com/test-measurement/hardware-emulation-weapon-mass-verification