The memory system is increasingly turning into a bottleneck in the design of embedded systems. The speed improvements of memory systems are lower than the speed improvements of processors, eventually leading to embedded systems whose performance is limited by the memory. This problem is known as the "memory wall" problem. Furthermore, memory systems may consume the largest share of the system s energy budget and may be the source of unpredictable timing behaviour. Hence, the design of the memory system deserves an increasing amount of attention.

Fast, Efficient and...

For real-time systems, the worst-case execution time (WCET) is the key objective to be considered. Traditionally, code for real-time systems is generated without taking this objective into account and the WCET is computed only after code generation. Worst-Case Execution Time Aware Compilation Techniques for Real-Time Systems presents the first comprehensive approach integrating WCET considerations into the code generation process. Based on the proposed reconciliation between a compiler and a timing analyzer, a wide range of novel optimization techniques is provided. Among others, the...

Modern electronics is driven by the explosive growth of digital communications and multi-media technology. A basic challenge is to design first-time-right complex digital systems, that meet stringent constraints on performance and power dissipation.
In order to combine this growing system complexity with an increasingly short time-to-market, new system design technologies are emerging based on the paradigm of embedded programmable processors. This concept introduces modularity, flexibility and re-use in the electronic system design process. However, its success will critically depend on...