A comprehensive overview of the current evolution of research in algorithms, architectures and compilation for parallel systems is provided by this publication. The contributions focus specifically on domains where embedded systems are required, either oriented to application-specific or to programmable realizations. These are crucial in domains such as audio, telecom, instrumentation, speech, robotics, medical and automotive processing, image and video processing, TV, multimedia, radar and sonar. The book should be of particular interest to the academic community because of the detailed descriptions of research results presented. In addition, many contributions feature the "real-life" applications that are responsible for driving research and the impact of their specific characteristics on the methodologies is assessed. The publication should also be of value to senior design engineers and CAD managers in the industrial arena, who wish either to anticipate the evolution of commercially available design tools or to utilize the presented concepts in their own R&D programmes.