embedded software boot camp

Multi-Core in Embedded Systems

Thursday, January 29th, 2009 by Michael Barr

Hey Michael,

We met about a year ago at a class that you presented.

I was wondering if you have noticed any movement in the embedded software community to consider multi-core chips and, if so, what OS?

I ask because I noticed ARM has a multi-core chip, Cortex A9, which is rumored to be in the next edition of the iPhone.

Do you see multi-core being valuable, or too expensive for most embedded products? Do you see any problems with going with a multi-core system?

Thanks,
Greg

Dear Greg,

The technology trend that’s driving all the talk about multi-core is that two or more slow processors on one die is becoming more cost effective to produce than a single “faster” processor.

Multi-core processors are thus of most interest toward the end of embedded systems with severe computational demands. Multi-core hardware brings challenges, especially for the software architectures and compilers and operating systems we mostly use. Thus it is unlikely that multi-core will be widely used in the near term by the majority of embedded developers.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Mike

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