Analysis of Single-Chip Hardware Support for Mobile and Embedded Applications

As mobile and handheld devices are gaining popularity, many applications have found their ways into these devices. In order to use these mobile systems effectively and efficiently, it is important to optimize their embedded software and hardware. This work focuses on hardware support for mobile and embedded applications in single-chip format so as to reduce the hardware footprint as required in these handheld devices. Applications specific circuits, single-core microprocessor, and field programmable gate arrays are presented, and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. Reconfigurable computing systems, specifically FPGA-based approaches, are introduced, and techniques for their reconfiguration are analyzed. It is concluded that reconfigurable FPGA-based system is currently the best option to deliver embedded applications that have stringent requirements.