targetHardware

Target hardware, sometimes written as targetHardware, is the physical platform for which a software product is designed to run. It encompasses the processor architecture, memory capacity, input/output peripherals, and the device form factor, such as embedded microcontrollers, single-board computers, mobile devices, or desktop systems. The term helps distinguish the intended deployment environment from the development or host system used during creation and testing.

In practice, specifying target hardware guides toolchain selection, operating system choices, and driver development. Cross-compilation is common when the development workstation differs from the target device. A software project may employ a hardware abstraction layer and a device tree, BIOS, or UEFI configuration to adapt to different peripherals and boot sequences.

Key considerations include CPU architecture (for example ARM, x86, MIPS, or RISC-V), available memory, and storage, as well as peripherals such as sensors, network interfaces, and display controllers. Real-time constraints, power consumption, thermal limits, and safety or security requirements also shape design decisions. Compatibility with drivers, firmware interfaces, and update mechanisms is essential, particularly for devices that will receive OTA updates.

Testing and validation typically involve on-target testing, debugging with hardware probes, or hardware-in-the-loop simulations. Emulation and rapid prototyping can help before deploying to the actual hardware, but performance and timing characteristics must be verified on the target platform.

Examples of target hardware include ARM Cortex-M4 microcontrollers on custom boards, Raspberry Pi or similar single-board computers for prototyping, x86-64 desktop systems for general software, and specialized GPUs or embedded modules for compute-intensive workloads.