Abstract. Performance is a key aspect of many embedded systems, embedded data processing systems in particular. System performance can typically only be measured in the later stages of system development. To avoid expensive re-work in the final stages of development, it is essential to have accurate performance estimations in the early stages. For this purpose, we present a model-based approach to performance engineering that is integrated with the well-known V-model for system development. Our approach emphasizes model accuracy and is demonstrated using five embedded data-processing cases from the digital printing domain. We show how lightweight models can be used in the early stages of system development to estimate the influence of design changes on system performance.