Wireless platforms: GOPS for cents and MilliWatts

ABSTRACT

In recent years, data communication has overtaken voice as the main force behind the growth in wireless. With this has come a proliferation of standards ranging from wide area networks at one end of the spectrum to personal area networks on the other end. The opportunities offered by this truly ubiquitous connectivity are tremendous, and are leading to revolutionary chances in the way computer, communication, and consumer systems operate and interact.Providing the necessary flexibility to seamlessly interact with the multitude of emerging network models, as well as the muscle to support the demanding multimedia functionality in a mobile environment, presents some huge challenges to the developer of the wireless implementation platforms. The power budget of the mobile terminal is typically fixed by size considerations and operation time. Cost considerations further constrain the solution space.In response to these challenges, many solutions have been floated and experimented with ranging from multi-processor architectures, advanced DSPs, reconfigurable solutions and hardwired accelerators. While these innovations break new ground in the world of embedded architectures, many questions emerge such as efficiency, flexibility and programming model.This panel will presents a "bake-off" between a number of solutions that have emerged over the recent years.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.3 SPECIAL-PURPOSE AND APPLICATION-BASED SYSTEMS

Keywords:
data communications, implementation platforms, wireless architectures