Intel® Atom™ microarchitecture continues to find new applications ranging from industrial automation to in-vehicle infotainment. The Intel Atom Processor can be used in a low power high performance embedded device, such as a smartphone, similar to the way ARM architecture has been used in such devices in the past.

While there are many benefits to migrating from ARM architecture to Intel Atom microarchitecture, there are challenges to overcome before the migration is complete. Decisions need to be made related to the number of cores to use, whether to use a symmetric or asymmetric operating system, and most importantly how real time requirements will be met after the migration.

This paper analyzes a case study with an Intel Atom processor-based solution that includes migrating ARM-based software layers to Intel® architecture. The case study exposes the software challenges involved and lists necessary decisions in relation to latencies, cores and the order in which the decisions need to be implemented. The paper also covers experiments which need to be conducted to gather data related to these decisions. The conclusions outline a methodology that would facilitate the migration of ARM based software to Intel Architecture.