An algorithm-hardware-system approach to VLIW multimedia processors

A number of recently published DSPs and multimedia processors emphasize on Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architectures to achieve flexibility, processing power and high-level language programmability needed for future multimedia applications. In this paper we show that exclusive exploitation of instruction level parallelism decreases in efficiency as the degree of parallelism increases. This is mainly caused by algorithm characteristics, VLSI design and compiler restrictions. We discuss selected aspects from these fields and possible solutions to upcoming bottlenecks from a practical point of view