Hardware-Software Co-Design
Hardware-software co-design represents a fundamental shift in digital system development, treating hardware and software as equal partners rather than separate sequential design phases. This integrated approach enables engineers to make informed decisions about where to implement functionality, balancing performance requirements against flexibility, cost, power consumption, and development time.
The growing complexity of digital systems makes co-design increasingly essential. Modern devices demand tight integration between processors, accelerators, memory systems, and software stacks. Understanding co-design principles enables engineers to create systems that would be impossible to achieve through traditional sequential design methods, where hardware specifications are fixed before software development begins.