Reality Check: A Guide To Understanding Optimized Processor Cores


The performance of the processor core in an SoC is often a key product differentiator. It's not just about performance though - power and cost are equally important considerations. In today's markets, SoC developers have to hit aggressive power, performance and area goals to remain competitive. This white paper discusses the many interacting parameters that determine the optimum implementation ... » read more

Building An Efficient, Tightly-Coupled Embedded System Using An Extensible Processor


The increasing demand for better filtering and processing capabilities of the processor within embedded systems results in a trend to shift from 8-bit microcontroller tightly coupled embedded systems towards 32-bit processor bus-based embedded systems. As a consequence, the power, performance and area (PPA) ratio of these systems also shifts in favor of performance at the cost of power and area... » read more

Tech Talk: Power, Performance And Area In 2.5D


The cost will be comparable at first, but the only way to improve power, performance AND area at the same time will be with a different architectural approach. [youtube vid=XAbE7jpjuMA] » read more

Guesswork, And Other Design Paradigms


PPA for soft IP seems like an oxymoron. How do you determine the implementation characteristics (PPA — Power, Performance and Area) for something that has not yet been implemented? Flying blind until implementation would be a rookie move. More likely you are going to estimate based on a prior implementation. Not a bad approach if the IP hasn’t changed significantly and the target library is... » read more

New Challenges, New Name


As you’ll notice today, we’ve changed our name from Low Power Engineering to Low-Power/High-Performance Engineering. We don’t take name changes lightly—we've been discussing this in depth with readers, sponsors, and researchers for the past six months. The almost universal conclusion is there is a big shift underway in the semiconductor industry today, and our new logo is a better refle... » read more

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