System design challenges in ubiquitous computing environments

Improved micro- and nanoelectronics technologies are the enabling factor for new embedded computing products, which can be smoothly integrated into living and working environments. Computing becomes ubiquitous and requires more flexibility than previous generations of computing devices. Changing environments and evolving standards imply the need of system adaption. Moreover, ubiquitous computing devices should be able to adapt to different application patterns and user profiles. Scalability is an important issue, allowing functional extensions to already deployed systems. In this contribution, we give an overview on the characteristics of ubiquitous computing environments. Furthermore, we address future micro- and nanoelectronics design challenges for embedded systems-on-chip.