Hardware platform design decisions in embedded systems

Abstract

Designers of embedded systems can choose between a large variety of different hardware platforms. The question often arising is which hardware platform is suited best for a certain application. This decision is usually made by an expert in industry being familiar with a variety of hardware platforms. Therefore, it is of major interest how this expert knowledge and the skills necessary for such a selection process can be taught to students. In this paper a systematic hardware platform selection process based on hardware attributes is presented. Moreover, it is proposed how to integrate this approach in the embedded systems education.