Very Rapid Prototyping Of Wearable Computers: A Case Study Of Custom Versus Off-the-shelf Design Methodologies
Asim Smailagic, Daniel P. Siewiorek, R. Martin, John Stivoric · 2005
The Wearable Computer Project is a testbed integrating research on rapid design and prototyping. Based on representative examples from six generations of wearable computers, the paper focuses on the differences in rapid prototyping using custom design versus off-the-shelf components. The attributes characterizing these two design styles are defined and illustrated by experimental measurements. The off-the-shelf approach required ten times the overhead, 30% more cost, fifty times the storage resources, 20% more effort, five times more power, but 30% less effort t o port software than the embedded approach. 1 Introduction Exponential advances in technology require rapid prototyping as an essential aspect of design and manufacturing. Competitiveness in the global economy requires rapid response to changing market demands, as well as capturing rapid technological advances and translating them into new products. Rapid prototyping is an example of a group of CAD/CAM methodologies which sho...