Digital System Design (CS-431)

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary and concepts from the digital system design lecture on embedded systems, including design metrics, costs, performance measures, design choices, and the design flow process.

Design metric

A measurable feature of a system's implementation.

NRE cost

Non-Recurring Engineering cost; the one-time monetary cost of designing the system.

Unit cost

The monetary cost of manufacturing each copy of the system, excluding NRE cost.

Performance

The latency (execution time) or throughput of the system.

Power

The amount of power consumed by the system.

Maintainability

The ability to modify the system after its initial release.

Time-to-market

The time required to develop a system to the point it can be released and sold.

Latency

The time between the start and end of a task.

Throughput

The number of tasks completed per second.

ASIC

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, customized for a specific use.

FPGA

Field-Programmable Gate Array, a flexible hardware device that can be programmed after manufacturing.

Design Flow

The process followed for digital design, from system specification to fabrication.

Parallelism

Processing multiple tasks concurrently to improve throughput.

Amortizing NRE cost

Distributing the one-time design cost over multiple units.

Market window

The period during which a product would have the highest sales potential.

Product life

The duration for which a product remains relevant in the market.

Revenue loss

The reduction in revenue attributed to delayed market entry.

Functional Simulation

Testing the functionality of the design before actual hardware implementation.