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@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ specific areas within the ACRN hypervisor system.
    APL_GVT-g-hld.rst
    GVT-g-porting.rst
    security-hld.rst
+   watchdog-hld.rst
 
 Contributing to the project
 ***************************
diff --git a/doc/developer-guides/watchdog-hld.rst b/doc/developer-guides/watchdog-hld.rst
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+++ b/doc/developer-guides/watchdog-hld.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+.. _watchdog-hld:
+
+Watchdog Virtualization in Device Model
+#######################################
+
+This document describes the watchdog virtualization implementation in
+ACRN device model.
+
+Overview
+********
+
+A watchdog is an important hardware component in embedded systems, used
+to monitor the system's running status, and resets the processor if the
+software crashes. In general,  hardware watchdogs rely on a piece of
+software running on the machine which must "kick" the watchdog device
+regularly, say every 10 seconds. If the watchdog doesn't get "kicked"
+after 60 seconds, for example, then the watchdog device asserts the
+RESET line which results in a hard reboot.
+
+For ACRN we emulate the watchdog hardware in the Intel 6300ESB chipset
+as a PCI device called 6300ESB watchdog and is added into the Device
+Model following the PCI device framework. The following
+:numref:`watchdog-device` shows the watchdog device workflow:
+
+.. figure:: images/watchdog-image2.png
+   :align: center
+   :width: 900px
+   :name: watchdog-device
+
+   Watchdog device flow
+
+The DM in the Service OS (SOS) treats the watchdog as a passive device.
+It receives read/write commands from the watchdog driver, does the
+actions, and returns.  In ACRN, the commands are from User OS (UOS)
+watchdog driver.
+
+UOS watchdog work flow
+**********************
+
+When the UOS does a read or write operation on the watchdog device's
+registers or memory space (Port IO or Memory map I/O), it will trap into
+the hypervisor.   The hypervisor delivers the operation to the SOS/DM
+through IPI (inter-process interrupt) or shared memory, and the DM
+dispatches the operation to the watchdog emulation code.
+
+After the DM watchdog finishes emulating the read or write operation, it
+then calls ``ioctl`` to the SOS/kernel (``/dev/acrn_vhm``). VHM will call a
+hypercall to trap into the hypervisor to tell it the operation is done, and
+the hypervisor will set UOS-related VCPU registers and resume UOS so the
+UOS watchdog driver will get the return values (or return status). The
+:numref:`watchdog-workflow` below is a typical operation flow: 
+from UOS to SOS and return back:
+
+.. figure:: images/watchdog-image1.png
+   :align: center
+   :width: 900px
+   :name: watchdog-workflow
+
+   Watchdog operation workflow
+
+Implementation in ACRN and how to use it
+****************************************
+
+In ACRN, the Intel 6300ESB watchdog device emulation is added into the
+DM PCI device tree. Its interface structure is (see
+``devicemodel/include/pci_core.h``):
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+   struct pci_vdev_ops pci_ops_wdt = {
+      .class_name     = "wdt-i6300esb",
+      .vdev_init      = pci_wdt_init,
+      .vdev_deinit    = pci_wdt_deinit,
+      .vdev_cfgwrite  = pci_wdt_cfg_write,
+      .vdev_cfgread   = pci_wdt_cfg_read,
+      .vdev_barwrite  = pci_wdt_bar_write,
+      .vdev_barread   = pci_wdt_bar_read
+   };
+
+All functions follow the ``pci_vdev_ops`` definitions for PCI device
+emulation.
+
+The main part in the watchdog emulation is the timer thread. It emulates
+the watchdog device timeout management. When it gets the kick action
+from the UOS, it resets the timer. If the timer expires before getting a
+timely kick action, it will call DM API to reboot that UOS.
+
+In the UOS launch script, add: ``-s xx,wdt-i6300esb`` into DM parameters.
+(xx is the virtual PCI BDF number as with other PCI devices)
+
+Make sure the UOS kernel has the I6300ESB driver enabled: ``CONFIG_I6300ESB_WDT=y``. After the UOS
+boots up, the watchdog device will be created as node ``/dev/watchdog``,
+and can be used as a normal device file.
+
+Usually the UOS needs a watchdog service (daemon) to run in userland and
+kick the watchdog periodically. If something prevents the daemon from
+kicking the watchdog, for example the UOS system is hung, the watchdog
+will timeout and the DM will reboot the UOS.