Performance Measurement and Optimization for Embedded Systems Designs

The necessity for more affordable, portable and flexible electronic devices is driving todays embedded engineers to think carefully about new ways to cut costs and produce more malleable designs. With this need in mind, many successful developers have begun to migrate system functionality formerly implemented in costly and monolithic custom hardware, to software. As an effect of this trend, the measurement and optimization of embedded software has becoming increasingly important. This book is the first reference to teach readers how to migrate embedded hardware functions to software, how to measure the effectiveness of the resulting embedded software, and how to optimize it in order to maximize system performance overall. It: provides a structured methodology for software and system performance measurement; and shows how to address specific performance issues by moving software functions to hardware, as well as providing an overview of relevant software modifications. Real-world application examples throughout are supported by detailed case studies and step-by-step walk-throughs on the accompanying CD-ROM.