Chameleon: Reconfigurable computing in hand-held multimedia computers (TES.5004)

This proposal addresses fundamental issues in the architecture and design of low-power hand-held multimedia systems, with particular emphasis on energy conservation. The combination of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) technology, wireless networking and smartcard, when combined and integrated well, have the potential of replacing all of the things people have to carry around by one small device.

The employment of such a device has several challenging implications: it must provide multimedia functionality, operate in a very dynamic wireless environment, and be secure because it contains personal information and interacts with the - possibly hostile - environment. All these capabilities have to be integrated in one small and light battery-operated device, implying ultra-low energy consumption and high performance. Recent research shows that a radical new approach has to be taken in order to fulfil the requirements - in terms of processing power and energy consumption - of future mobile applications. A primary goal of this project is to prove that a reconfigurable systems architecture in combination with a QoS driven operating system that can deal with the inherent dynamics of a mobile system, is of fundamental importance to the success of flexible low-power handheld systems. A novel aspect in this concept is that application-specific chip-design is replaced by dynamic reconfiguration and reprogramming. In our opinion, this sheds a new light on the fundamental issues of low-power embedded systems.

For results, see http://chameleon.ctit.utwente.nl/

Nine companies and one other university are involved in this project.