Interface exploration for reduced power in core-based systems

Reducing power dissipation is becoming more important in the design of embedded systems. Core-based system design opens up the opportunity for exploring different bus interfaces in order to optimize for reduced power. We give a first approach for exploring a range of possible bus configurations, such as width and coding schemes, for a given set of communication channels. Our approach uses power estimation formulas, for fast performance. We use this approach to explore different bus interfaces for a real GPS navigation system in order to select the optimal bus interface for minimum power consumption.