Using Dependability, Performance, Area and Energy Consumption Experimental Measures to Benchmark IP Cores

The selection of IP cores for integration in hardware systems requires the evaluation, comparison and ranking of all eligible core candidates. In this context, the development of suitable benchmarking techniques to balance the different performance, dependability, area and energy consumption measures is an essential, but also a challenging task. This paper specifies a benchmarking approach that exploits the capabilities of hardware prototyping tools to support system integrators in the selection of IP cores. The goal is to enable the benchmarking of such cores in the early system design phases, as soon as their models can be synthesised on reconfigurable devices. Results show the feasibility of the approach and provide a taste of the kind of comparison and selection process supported by the benchmark.