Benchmarking in DSP

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to overview benchmarking practices in DSP. We start by discussing what is a benchmark. Then the differences between DSP processors and their general-purpose counterparts are analyzed. We argue for the importance of benchmarking in DSP. Then benchmarking methodologies are discussed. We take a look at what is usually measured and how it is done. We show that MIPS metrics and Dhrystone benchmark have a number of drawbacks. Finally, widely known DSP benchmarks such as EDN's DSP benchmarks, EEMBC, BDTIMark, DSPStone are studied.