|
Abstract : |
The PICO project automates the design of optimized, application-specific embedded computer systems to meet the demands of innovative smart products that require varying combinations of performance and cost. Embedded computers are everywhere?in video games, DVD players, TV sets, printers, scanners, cell phones, cars, and now even in smart robotic vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, and virtual pets. Computers have displaced many analog circuits in photography, video, and telephony. The advent of system-level integration (SLI) foreshadows an era of yet more growth in the number and variety of innovative smart products and their embedded computers. Such smart products demand varying combinations of performance, cost, and power. When a product mandates high performance, often the challenge is to lower cost to a level the market will accept. Whereas specialization increases performance and reduces cost, customization permits specialization when no adequately specialized, off-the-shelf design is available. Automation of embedded computer design would enable customization by lowering the barriers of design time, designer availability, and design cost, thereby unleashing the predicted explosion in smart products. PICO ARCHITECTURE SYNTHESIS SYSTEM, |
