Industry Expert Blogs
Case Study: Getting More Functionality from Existing ChipsInside DSP - Jeremy GiddingsMay. 23, 2011 |
These days, few system design teams can afford the expense and time of developing a custom chip tailored to their specific needs. Therefore, most system designers are forced to rely on off-the-shelf chips that are a less-than-perfect fit for their needs. And even teams that are able to design their own chips must minimize the frequency of doing so, given the costs of creating a new chip.
For these reasons, embedded system designers often find themselves needing to shoehorn new functionality into old chips—whether those chips are of their own design, or designed by a chip supplier.
In some cases, diligent optimization of existing or new software can be used to fit new functionality into an existing design. In other cases, a chip is already so heavily loaded that adding functionality requires a more creative approach.