Embedded computer systems use both off-the-shelf microprocessors and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to implement specialized system functions. Examples include the electronic systems inside laser printers, cellular phones, microwave ovens, and an automobile anti-lock brake controller. Embedded computing is unique because it is a co-design problem - the hardware engine and application software architecture must be designed simultaneously. Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems proposes new techniques such as fixed-point iterations, phase adjustment, and separation analysis to efficiently estimate tight bounds on the delay required for a set of multi-rate processes preemptively scheduled on a real-time reactive distributed system. Based on the delay bounds, a gradient-search co-synthesis algorithm with new techniques such as sensitivity analysis, priority prediction, and idle- processing elements elimination are developed to select the number and types of processing elements in a distributed engine, and determine the allocation and scheduling of processes to processing elements. New communication modeling is also presented to analyze communication delay under interaction of computation and communication, allocate interprocessor communication links, and schedule communication. Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems is the first book to describe techniques for the design of distributed embedded systems, which have arbitrary hardware and software topologies. The book will be of interest to: academic researchers for personal libraries and advanced-topics courses in co-design as well as industrial designers who are building high-performance, real-time embedded systems with multiple processors.

Many of the modern applications of microelectronics require hugeamounts of computations. Despite all recent improvements in fabrication technologies, some of these computations have to be performed in hardware in order to meet deadlines. However, controlling computations by software is frequently pre ferred due to the larger flexibility. Hence, in general, modern applications re quire a mix of software-based and hardware-based computations. Applications using this mix can be designed with the help of hardware/software co-design systems. Many such co-design systems have been described so far (references can be found in this book), but many of these are based on heuristics. In this book, Niemann describes a co-design system which is based on sound modeling techniques. This system has the following salient features: • Precise cost and performance figures Design decisions for implementing a certain function in hardware or software are based on 'cost and performance figures for the different design alterna tives. Hence, good designs can only be expected if these figures are accurate. In order to achieve excellent accuracy, Niemann takes a new approach: the cost of software implementations is derived from the data available about the target processors and from knowledge about the code size. the performance of software implement at ions is computed by compiling the given function and then using static analysis for computing worst case execution times. the cost of hardware implementation is estimated by running higher-Ievel synthesis tools. the performance of hardware implementations is again computed by us ing static analysis.

Co-Synthesis of Hardware and Software for Digital Embedded Systems, with a Foreword written by Giovanni De Micheli, presents techniques that are useful in building complex embedded systems. These techniques provide a competitive advantage over purely hardware or software implementations of time-constrained embedded systems. Recent advances in chip-level synthesis have made it possible to synthesize application-specific circuits under strict timing constraints. This work advances the state of the art by formulating the problem of system synthesis using both application-specific as well as reprogrammable components, such as off-the-shelf processors. Timing constraints are used to determine what part of the system functionality must be delegated to dedicated application-specific hardware while the rest is delegated to software that runs on the processor. This co-synthesis of hardware and software from behavioral specifications makes it possible to realize real-time embedded systems using off-the-shelf parts and a relatively small amount of application-specific circuitry that can be mapped to semi-custom VLSI such as gate arrays. The ability to perform detailed analysis of timing performance provides the opportunity of improving the system definition by creating better phototypes. Co-Synthesis of Hardware and Software for Digital Embedded Systems is of interest to CAD researchers and developers who want to branch off into the expanding field of hardware/software co-design, as well as to digital system designers who are interested in the present power and limitations of CAD techniques and their likely evolution.

This textbook introduces the concept of embedded systems with exercises using Arduino Uno. It is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering programs. It contains a balanced discussion on both hardware and software related to embedded systems, with a focus on co-design aspects. Embedded systems have applications in Internet-of-Things (IoT), wearables, self-driving cars, smart devices, cyberphysical systems, drones, and robotics. The hardware chapter discusses various microcontrollers (including popular microcontroller hardware examples), sensors, amplifiers, filters, actuators, wired and wireless communication topologies, schematic and PCB designs, and much more. The software chapter describes OS-less programming, bitmath, polling, interrupt, timer, sleep modes, direct memory access, shared memory, mutex, and smart algorithms, with lots of C-code examples for Arduino Uno. Other topics discussed are prototyping, testing, verification, reliability, optimization, and regulations. Appropriate for courses on embedded systems, microcontrollers, and instrumentation, this textbook teaches budding embedded system programmers practical skills with fun projects to prepare them for industry products. Introduces embedded systems for wearables, Internet-of-Things (IoT), robotics, and other smart devices; Offers a balanced focus on both hardware and software co-design of embedded systems; Includes exercises, tutorials, and assignments.

Embedded systems are informally defined as a collection of programmable parts surrounded by ASICs and other standard components, that interact continuously with an environment through sensors and actuators. The programmable parts include micro-controllers and Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). Hardware-Software Co-Design of Embedded Systems: The POLIS Approach is intended to give a complete overview of the POLIS system including its formal and algorithmic aspects, and will be of interest to embedded system designers (automotive electronics, consumer electronics and telecommunications), micro-controller designers, CAD developers and students.

Current practice dictates the separation of the hardware and software development paths early in the design cycle. These paths remain independent with very little interaction occurring between them until system integration. In particular, hardware is often specified without fully appreciating the computational requirements of the software. Also, software development does not influence hardware development and does not track changes made during the hardware design phase. Thus, the ability to explore hardware/software tradeoffs is restricted, such as the movement of functionality from the software domain to the hardware domain (and vice-versa) or the modification of the hardware/software interface. As a result, problems that are encountered during system integration may require modification of the software and/or hardware, resulting in potentially significant cost increases and schedule overruns. To address the problems described above, a cooperative design approach, one that utilizes a unified view of hardware and software, is described. This approach is called hardware/software codesign. The Codesign of Embedded Systems develops several fundamental hardware/software codesign concepts and a methodology that supports them. A unified representation, referred to as a decomposition graph, is presented which can be used to describe hardware or software using either functional abstractions or data abstractions. Using a unified representation based on functional abstractions, an abstract hardware/software model has been implemented in a common simulation environment called ADEPT (Advanced Design Environment Prototyping Tool). This model permits early hardware/software evaluation and tradeoff exploration. Techniques have been developed which support the identification of software bottlenecks and the evaluation of design alternatives with respect to multiple metrics. The application of the model is demonstrated on several examples. A unified representation based on data abstractions is also explored. This work leads to investigations regarding the application of object-oriented techniques to hardware design. The Codesign of Embedded Systems: A Unified Hardware/Software Representation describes a novel approach to a topic of immense importance to CAD researchers and designers alike.

System-Level Design Techniques for Energy-Efficient Embedded Systems addresses the development and validation of co-synthesis techniques that allow an effective design of embedded systems with low energy dissipation. The book provides an overview of a system-level co-design flow, illustrating through examples how system performance is influenced at various steps of the flow including allocation, mapping, and scheduling. The book places special emphasis upon system-level co-synthesis techniques for architectures that contain voltage scalable processors, which can dynamically trade off between computational performance and power consumption. Throughout the book, the introduced co-synthesis techniques, which target both single-mode systems and emerging multi-mode applications, are applied to numerous benchmarks and real-life examples including a realistic smart phone.