Anzeige
Erschienen in:
2010 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel
1. The Nature of Hardware and Software
verfasst von : Dr. Patrick R. Schaumont
Erschienen in: A Practical Introduction to Hardware/Software Codesign
Verlag: Springer US
Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.
Wählen Sie Textabschnitte aus um mit Künstlicher Intelligenz passenden Patente zu finden. powered by
Markieren Sie Textabschnitte, um KI-gestützt weitere passende Inhalte zu finden. powered by
Abstract
Hardware/software codesign is the activity of partitioning an application into a flexible part (software) and a fixed part (hardware). The flexible part includes C programs, configuration data, parameter settings, bitstreams, and so forth. The fixed part consists of programmable components such as microprocessors and coprocessors. There are several technological and economical reasons for implementing electronic systems in this fashion, and we will discuss them upfront in this chapter. Next, we consider the design space of programmable components: what distinguishes one component from the other, and how do we select one in a given hardware–software codesign. A key observation is that there is a trade-off between flexibility and efficiency. A third part in this chapter will define the abstraction levels for hardware and software for the purpose of this book. And finally, we will also define three terms that play a vital role in this book, namely the terms concurrent, parallel, and sequential.