A new approach to improving system performance By Terry Costlow
Embedded.com (01/05/10, 08:20:00 PM EST) Speed is a key element
in most every electronic design. Whether engineers are creating
complex image processing applications or designing systems that
extend battery life by working swiftly before returning to sleep
mode, speed is a critical factor in a product's success. Though
hardware usually gets first consideration when design teams look
for ways to improve speed, that's not usually the most effective
path. It's fairly straightforward to run the features and
functions of a product faster without making any hardware
changes. Streamlining software so it runs at optimal rates can
bring significant improvements in a way that's so easy to
implement units in the field can be enhanced. That's far more
cost effective than redesigning hardware. Three of the four
basic components in system speed are in software: operating
systems, compilers and application software. Hardware is the
critical fourth phase, but al