Embedded Processors: Characteristics and Trends

In this report, we consider computational aspects of embedded systems and analyze briefly embedded processor characteristics, design styles, and project some possible design trends. We begin the presentation with a general discussion regarding embedded systems and provide a definition for such systems. Our proposed definition is intended to clarify and clearly distinguish embedded systems from application-specific systems. Consequently, we discuss various components of embedded systems and concentrate on issues related to design and development of embedded processors. We position embedded processor characteristics and consider design and implementation issues. Finally, we briefly discuss some future research directions. lty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science Embedded Processors: Characteristics and Trends Stephan Wong, Stamatis Vassiliadis, Sorin Cotofana Computer Engineering Laboratory, Electrical Engineering Department, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands {Stephan, Sorin, Cotofana}@CE.ET.TUDelft.NL Technical Report CE-TR-2004-03

[1]  Luciano Lavagno,et al.  Hardware-Software Co-Design of Embedded Systems , 1997 .

[2]  Stamatis Vassiliadis,et al.  The MOLEN ρμ-coded processor , 2001 .

[3]  Luciano Lavagno,et al.  Hardware-software co-design of embedded systems: the POLIS approach , 1997 .

[4]  Stamatis Vassiliadis,et al.  The sum-absolute-difference motion estimation accelerator , 1998, Proceedings. 24th EUROMICRO Conference (Cat. No.98EX204).

[5]  Anders P. Ravn,et al.  Design of embedded real-time computing systems , 1994 .

[6]  Jianwen Zhu,et al.  Specification and Design of Embedded Systems , 1998, Informationstechnik Tech. Inform..

[7]  Carl Ebeling,et al.  Architecture design of reconfigurable pipelined datapaths , 1999, Proceedings 20th Anniversary Conference on Advanced Research in VLSI.

[8]  Barry W. Johnson,et al.  The Codesign of Embedded Systems: A Unified Hardware/Software Representation , 1995, Springer US.

[9]  Xiaobo Sharon Hu,et al.  Codesign of architectures for automotive powertrain modules , 1994, IEEE Micro.

[10]  E. A. Lee,et al.  Effective Heterogenous Design and Co-Simulation , 1996 .

[11]  Gert Goossens,et al.  Embedded software in real-time signal processing systems: application and architecture trends , 1997 .

[12]  Diederik Verkest,et al.  Hardware/software co-design of digital telecommunication systems , 1997, Proc. IEEE.

[13]  Michael D. Smith,et al.  A high-performance microarchitecture with hardware-programmable functional units , 1994, Proceedings of MICRO-27. The 27th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture.

[14]  Stamatis Vassiliadis,et al.  The MOLEN rho-mu-Coded Processor , 2001, FPL.

[15]  Brad Hutchings,et al.  Field-Programmable Custom Computing Machines , 2000 .

[16]  André DeHon,et al.  DPGA-coupled microprocessors: commodity ICs for the early 21st Century , 1994, Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on FPGA's for Custom Computing Machines.

[17]  John L. Hennessy,et al.  The Future of Systems Research , 1999, Computer.

[18]  Ralph Wittig,et al.  OneChip: an FPGA processor with reconfigurable logic , 1996, 1996 Proceedings IEEE Symposium on FPGAs for Custom Computing Machines.

[19]  John Wawrzynek,et al.  Garp: a MIPS processor with a reconfigurable coprocessor , 1997, Proceedings. The 5th Annual IEEE Symposium on Field-Programmable Custom Computing Machines Cat. No.97TB100186).

[20]  Stephen A. Edwards,et al.  Design of embedded systems: formal models, validation, and synthesis , 1997, Proc. IEEE.

[21]  Giovanni De Micheli,et al.  Hardware-software cosynthesis for digital systems , 1993, IEEE Design & Test of Computers.

[22]  Luciano Lavagno,et al.  Hardware-software codesign of embedded systems , 1994, IEEE Micro.

[23]  Ashok K. Agrawala,et al.  Real-time system design , 1990, McGraw-Hill Computer Science series.

[24]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[25]  Frank Vahid,et al.  Embedded system design - a unified hardware / software introduction , 2001 .

[26]  Stamatis Vassiliadis,et al.  General-purpose processor Huffman encoding extension , 2000, Proceedings International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing (Cat. No.PR00540).

[27]  Gert Goossens,et al.  Embedded software in real-time signal processing systems: design technologies , 1997, Proc. IEEE.

[28]  Frederick P. Brooks,et al.  Computer architecture - concepts and evolution , 1997 .

[29]  Rajesh Gupta,et al.  Hardware/software co-design , 1996, Proc. IEEE.

[30]  Stamatis Vassiliadis,et al.  Field-Programmable Custom Computing Machines - A Taxonomy - , 2002, FPL.

[31]  Manfred Schlett.  Trends in Embedded-Microprocessor Design , 1998, Computer.

[32]  Wayne Wolf,et al.  Hardware-software co-design of embedded systems , 1994, Proc. IEEE.