Embedded computing and hardware-software co-design

Embedded computers are ubiquitous-microprocessors are used in simple consumer devices, complex consumer devices such as laser printers and PDAs (personal digital assistants), telephony, automobiles, and many other applications. The area of CAD which studies the design of the hardware and software components of embedded systems is called hardware-software co-design. Embedded computing systems must frequently meet hard real-time deadlines as well as soft performance goals. Since embedded system designers control what software will be executed on the hardware platform, they have a great deal of freedom to jointly optimize the hardware and software designs to meet performance and cost goals. Many embedded systems are built with distributed systems, composed of multiple microprocessors, DSPs and ASICs. This paper surveys the CAD problems posed by embedded computing and recent advances in hardware-software co-design