Laitteistokiihdyttäminen

Laitteistokiihdyttäminen, or hardware acceleration, is a technique used in computing to perform certain operations faster by offloading them to dedicated hardware components. Instead of relying solely on the central processing unit (CPU) to handle all tasks, hardware acceleration utilizes specialized hardware, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or dedicated application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), to execute specific computational workloads.

This offloading allows the CPU to focus on general-purpose tasks, leading to improved overall system performance and efficiency. For example, in graphical applications, GPUs are used to render images and videos, a task for which they are specifically designed and highly optimized. Similarly, DSPs are often employed for audio and signal processing, while ASICs can be found in devices performing very specific, repetitive computations.

The benefits of hardware acceleration include reduced processing time, lower power consumption, and enhanced responsiveness, particularly for demanding applications like video playback, gaming, artificial intelligence, and scientific simulations. Implementing hardware acceleration requires software that is aware of and can utilize these specialized hardware components. This is typically achieved through specialized libraries and programming interfaces (APIs) that abstract the underlying hardware, making it accessible to developers.