Memory Architectures for Embedded Systems-On-Chip

Embedded systems are typically designed for one or a few target applications, allowing for customization of the system architecture for the desired system goals such as performance, power and cost. The memory subsystem will continue to present significant bottlenecks in the design of future embedded systems-on-chip. Using advance knowledge of the application’s instruction and data behavior, it is possible to customize the memory architecture to meet varying system goals. On one hand, different applications exhibit varying memory behavior. On the other hand, a large variety of memory modules allow design implementations with a wide range of cost, performance and power profiles. The embedded system architect can thus explore and select custom memory architectures to fit the constraints of target applications and design goals. In this paper we present an overview of recent research in the area of memory architecture customization for embedded systems.