The complexity of electronic systems is rapidly increasing and the use of computer-aided design (CAD) tools for modeling, analysis and synthesis is essential for the timely and correct completion of system designs. Most electronic systems are digital, or have a predominant digital part, consisting of hardware and software components. The concurrent design, or co-design, of hardware and software is extremely important for meeting design goals, such as high performance, which are key to commercial competitiveness. The high-level of interest in co-design is due to the recent introduction and expansion of CAD tool support for co-design problems, leading to faster design cycles and to better system products.

This volume collects contributions to hardware/software co-design that were presented at an Advanced Study Institute (ASI) sponsored by the scientific and environmental affairs division of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The institute was held in Tremezzo, Italy in June 1995, with a wide participation from academia and industry.

The book covers many aspects of hardware/software co-design, including methods and examples for designing: i) general-purpose and embedded computing systems based on instruction-set processors; ii) telecommunication systems using general-purpose digital-signal processors as well as application-specific instruction set processors (ASIPs); iii) embedded control systems and applications to automotive electronics. Moreover the book surveys the areas of emulation and prototyping systems with field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technologies, hardware/software synthesis and verification and industrial design trends. Most contributions emphasize the design methodology, the requirements and state of the art of computer-aided co-design tools, and current design examples.

The book can be ordered by calling Kluwer Academic Publishers at: + 617 871-6300.
Hardback ISBN 0-7923-3882-0. NLG 320,00 / US$ 224.00 / GBP 144.00
Softback ISBN 0-7923-3883-9. NLG 120,00 / US$ 79.00 / GBP 54.00