Gone are the days when performance was all an embedded systems developer had to be concerned about when designing a new hardware spec or microprocessor.Performance is still primary, of course, but now developers must be equally focused on power-efficiency and low power operation. Recent articles on embedded.com reflecting this trend include:

Delivering superspeed USB 3.0 with 25% lower power
Power aware verification of ARM-based designs
Developing apps on an energy-efficient MCU
PCIe delivers greater performance and power efficiency

However, as important as power-efficient hardware may be, Ron Wilson makes an important point in his #include column in ESD Magazine: “S oftware design is at least as significant as hardware for energy efficiency. Once even rudimentary hardware provisions—such as standby and sleep modes—are in place, the responsibility falls on software developers at all levels to use the modes effectively .”

That means constantly learning about new techniques and tools to manage power efficiency, a topic of on-going coverage on Embedded.com. Of the many design articles that we have run on the site, some of my Editor’s Top Pick’s are:

Software Matters for Power Consumption

Energy efficient C code for ARM device s

System level software centric power debugging

What is power debugging?

Some other relevant design articles I think you’ll find useful and informative include:

Software centric power debugging using virtual prototypes
Use virtual prototypes to model multiprocessor system power
Designs that improve performance per watt
Benchmark energy costs of embedded processor performance

Good reading!! And continue to contact me about contributing to ESD Magazine and Embedded.com. (EET/Embedded.com Editor Bernard Cole, bccole@acm.org, 928-525-9087 )