In those ‘good old days’, it was the processor manufacturer who supplied the information and they made sure their devices looked good by optimising code and so on.
The difference between the optimised figures and how the part actually performed in the field was often significant, leading to another definition of MIPS – meaningless indication of processor speed.
But things started to change in the mid 1990s with the establishment of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmarking Consortium, EEMBC. Through the development of an independent benchmarking process and the participation of most major device manufacturers, engineers can now see just how well particular processors perform – with that performance defined in terms of CoreMarks.
EEMBC has come a long way since then. It’s developed benchmarks for mobile phones, cloud and big data and networking, amongst others. One of its latest achievements is ULPbench, which tests the efficiency of devices in the ultra low power MCU sector.
Now, it’s turning its focus to provide ways of comparing devices targeting the Internet of Things and on security. With the latter initiative, it’s also looking to provide some kind of best practice advice to engineers, recognising that many have little or no experience in implementing such schemes.
What is remarkable about all these efforts is the collaboration which EEMBC has got from the market. Companies addressing these sectors have traditionally been less than prepared to work together, so the ringmaster deserves a round of applause for herding these cats to create a raft of useful tools for engineers.
