| Using CompactPCI to Build Rugged Embedded Systems |
|
|
| Mar 01 2008 | |
|
Page 3 of 5
advertisement: Power Consumption: As the clock speed of a processor increases, it creates power dissipation problems. Faster clock speeds typically require more transistors and higher input voltages. However, since each transistor leaks a small amount of current, the cumulative effect becomes problematic. Multi-core processors, using two or more cores and more cache, deliver comparable or better performance and lower power demands than leading edge CPUs running at the highest available clock speeds. This improves the performance per watt, reduces heat generation and provides for longer life in battery-powered mobile applications. Heat: Overheating issues are not limited to ambient temperatures alone. Thermal management in embedded systems needs to deal with the heat generated by the operation of the system itself, as well as the ambient temperature of the application environment. Design considerations such as heat sinks and thermal watchdogs for supervising processor and board temperature are two protective strategies. But using multi-core processors is beneficial as a preventative strategy for keeping processing throughput high while minimizing power draw and the associated effects of heat generation.  Figure C. The transition of existing software to multi-core applications offers a range of options from simple to sophisticated, depending on the simplicity of the task, degree of repetitive processes, or level of data or functional parallelism in the code. Click to enlarge Using advanced smart cache up to 4 MB of shared L2 cache — as used to deliver the performance results of the previously-cited MEN Micro SBC and Intel processor — significantly reduces latency to frequently used data. This improves performance and efficiency by increasing the probability that each execution core of a multi-core processor can access data from a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Also, choosing storage devices from OEMs who already use hyper-threading technology enables the control software to migrate to multi-core applications more easily. That’s because hyperthreading technology enables the execution of two software threads in an increasingly parallel manner, utilizing previously unused processor resources. |
