Hardware-software co-synthesis of high performance embedded computers and development of smart home embedded systems for the elderly

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An embedded computing system is part of a larger system that supports the functioning of overall system. Applications of embedded computer systems range from sophisticated aircraft flight control to consumer products. Traditionally, embedded computer have been developed as a two-stream process, where hardware engineers deliver special-purpose computers that are programmed by software engineers. Optimal performance is achieved when hardware and software are properly 'tuned' to each other. Hardware/Software co-design methodologies combine the hardware and software design efforts to produce efficient embedded systems with lower time to market. The co-synthesis is one of the problems encompassed by hardware/software co-design that deals with automatic (or semi-automatic) design of hardware and software to meet the system specification. Co-synthesis process starts with task assignment from a task graph to processing elements (allocation) followed by confirmation of whether the system meets requirements (usually through scheduling). We are focusing on distributed-memory embedded computers, where some distributed memory topologies (e.g. hypercube, binary and quad-tree) provide flexible and reliable architectures.    This research is motivated by the need to automate the embedded system design process to produce high performance devices. Embedded applications that would particularly benefit from high levels of performance and fault-tolerance include aerospace, medical instrumentation and safety critical systems. The co-synthesis techniques are being employed to design high performance embedded systems for medical devices, smart home, and industrial embedded applications. We are investigating active-RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags based embedded systems for object monitoring and tracking the occupants of smart homes. One could attach RFID tags to shoes or clothes of the elderly persons, and then monitor them in real-time. Health care provider can use such systems to monitor elderly as well as people with dementia. It would help the elderly to live at home longer, contributing to a better quality of life for the Canadians.