In Praise of Designing SOCs with Configured Cores...

Designing SOCs with Configured Cores is an essential reference for system-on-chip designers. This well-written book gives a practical introduction to three basic techniques of modern SOC design: use of optimized standard CPU and DSP processors cores, application-specific configuration of processor cores, and system-level design of SOCs using configured cores as the key building block. Readers will find it is often the first book they reach for in defining and designing their next chip.

Chris Rowen, President and CEO, Tensilica, Inc.

We’re poised on the brink of a revolution in computing. Instead of fixed-architecture processors suited only to general-purpose computing or special-purpose digital signal processing tasks, we’re moving to system-on-chip (SoC) devices containing multiple processor cores, each configured to perform specific tasks with extreme performance while consuming ultra-low power. The surf is up—and this book tells us how to ride the wave!

Clive “Max” Maxfield, President, TechBites Interactive and author of The Design Warrior’s Guide to FPGAs.

Steve Leibson’s book is a gentle introduction to the art of digital electronics design capturing an important moment in the creation of the complete system on a chip. Generously dotted with block diagrams and snippets of code using the vehicle furnished by Xtensa technology, the book takes the reader through the evolution that led to multiple cores and configurable engines.

Max Baron, Senior Analyst at The Microprocessor Report.