Practical issues in heterogeneous processing systems for military applications

Heterogeneous parallel processing systems have been extensively used in embedded military applications due to their advantages in size, weight, power and hardware cost. This paper reviews the evolution of some of these systems and discusses design factors and tradeoffs which affect their application. As military systems have become more cost sensitive, and initial development more common than long term production, the use of commercial hardware and software has become more common. The rapid advances of computer technology seem likely to accelerate that trend in the future.