The low cost of microcontrollers makes them increasingly popular for electronic control of a wide range of embedded systems. An embedded mixed-signal or mechatronic system is one that uses a microcontroller to control some physical aspect of the system such as motion, speed, and temperature. The added dimension of software presents a significant challenge to the design, integration and verification of this class of systems. This paper will discuss how the IEEE standard VHDL-AMS language can be used to describe the behavior of the heterogeneous hardware technologies typically present in embedded mechatronic systems. SystemVision by Mentor Graphics utilizes VHDL-AMS as the key technology for the design and verification of these systems.