HardwareParameter

HardwareParameter is a term used in hardware design and related software to denote a parameter that encodes hardware characteristics relevant to a target device or platform. It is used to guide synthesis, simulation, benchmarking, and runtime behavior by representing aspects such as size, performance, or constraints of the hardware.

A HardwareParameter can be fixed at design time or adjustable at build time or run time, depending on the toolchain. It allows parametric design and hardware-aware software to adapt to different devices without changing the core logic.

Common categories include static vs dynamic, coarse-grained vs fine-grained, and numeric vs categorical. Static parameters are fixed during synthesis; dynamic parameters may vary under power management or operational modes. Parameter values may be propagated through hardware description languages, configuration files, or device profiles.

In hardware description languages, similar concepts appear as generics, parameters, or constants that configure modules or IP cores. In software stacks for heterogeneous systems, HardwareParameter objects may describe device capabilities such as memory size, data width, or supported instructions.

Applications include design space exploration, automatic hardware/software co-design, and adaptive runtime systems. Properly defined hardware parameters enable more efficient resource use and easier porting across boards or silicon revisions.

See also: Parameter; Hardware description language; IP core; Device profile; Configuration management.