ARM

TSMC pushes 28-nm Cortex-A9 to 3.1-GHz

五月 8, 2012
By

TSMC pushes 28-nm Cortex-A9 to 3.1-GHz

Peter Clarke   5/3/2012 5:39 AM EDT

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4372207/TSMC-pushes-Cortex-A9

LONDON – Foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has announced it has made a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor test chip in its 28-nm high-performance mobile CMOS process that it has run at a 3.1-GHz clock frequency under typical operating conditions.
TSMC (Hsinchu, Taiwan) said that this achievement demonstrates that the 28-nm HPM process is ready for use in a broad range of mobile, consumer and enterprise applications.
For mobile application signoff conditions the 28HPM process delivers clock frequencies in the range 1.5-GHz to 2.0-GHz, TSMC said.

But for high performance requirements it can be run up to 3.1-GHz the company said.

This could either for very short term use or where power consumption is less critical because a system is connected to a main supply of electricity.

The 28HPM implementation runs twice as fast as the 40-nm counterpart made by TSMC under the same operating conditions, according to Cliff Hou, vice president of R&D at TSMC.

Related links and articles:


ARM tips availability of ‘Seahawk’ A15 hard macro
ARM launches processor pack for big-little on TSMC 28-nm
Amlogic offers dual-core Cortex-A9 for consumer SoCs

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ARM® 設計策略課程

二月 18, 2012
By

AVNET

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ARM® 設計策略課程

http://www.em.avnetasia.com/arm/cht/courses.asp

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ARM reveals ‘little dog’ A7 processor

十月 20, 2011
By

ARM reveals ‘little dog’ A7 processor

Peter Clarke   10/19/2011 12:08 PM EDT

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4229867/ARM-reveals-little-dog-A7-processor?cid=NL_EETimesDaily
LONDON – Processor IP licensor ARM Holdings plc has revealed a power efficient Cortex-A7 processor core that it says is intended to be used alongside its top-of-the-range Cortex-A15 as part of a heterogeneous power-driven multicore strategy.
The A7 is a dual-issue, eight-stage pipeline core that has been heavily optimized for power efficiency, but supports the same virtualization and extended addressing of the A15.

As a result ARM (Cambridge, England) expects partners to implement a "little dog, big dog" strategy so that cores are selected to run different applications based on power efficiency needs.
Alternatively, the A7 processor can be used in single- or dual-core instantiations stand-alone to power an entry-level smartphone for price sensitive markets, ARM said.
Warren East, speaking at the U.K. launch of the A7, said that he expected multicore chips, which could be dual-core A15 plus dual-core A7, to be in the market and powering smartphones in 2013.
The "big-little" strategy allows low-performance basic and always-on tasks to be run on one or more A7 cores, to maximize battery life, while tasks requiring greater performance would migrate to the A15 cores.

This dynamic core selection can be made transparent to the application software and middleware running on the processors, supported by advanced ARM system IP, such as AMBA 4 ACE Coherency Extensions.

The movement of tasks between paired A7 and A15 cores is triggered by the same system that drives the dynamic voltage and frequency scaling that has become traditional in leading-edge system chips, the company said.

A coherent "big-little" system based on dual core A7 and A15 processors
In a 28-nm process the A7 is less than one fifth the size of the Cortex-A8 in a 45-nm process, while providing greater performance and much greater power efficiency, the company said. A dual-core A7 processor in 28-nm would produce about a 70 percent power saving compared with a dual-core A9 processor implemented in 40-nm. In other words it will consume about one-third the power.
ARM had two or three lead partners on the development of the A7 and the associated big-little strategy, East said, but he declined to name them individually. ARM now has a wave of semiconductor licensees eager to use the A7 core.

Broadcom, Freescale, HiSilicon, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments are listed as supporting the technology along with system and software companies Compal, LG Electronics Linaro, OK Labs, QNX, Redbend and Sprint.
"We took the A15 to market last year because we needed to push the performance envelope.

But power efficiency is the most important thing for ARM.

The A7 is the most efficient core yet." Power efficiency driven selection of resources has been used before, for example in the area of graphics, said Tom Cronk, deputy general manager of the processor division, but not for general purpose processor cores.
The Cortex-A7 processor occupies less than 0.5 square millimeters, using a 28-nm process technology, and provides useful performance at about 1.2-GHz clock frequency in both single and multicore configurations. Used as a stand-alone processor, the Cortex-A7 will deliver sub-$100 entry level smartphones in the 2013-2014 timeframe with an equivalent level of processing performance to today’s $500 high-end smartphones, ARM said.
While A7 is aimed initially at smartphones East said he was sure the big-little strategy was applicable in other areas. East said he expected power-driven resource allocation would subsequently be deployed in consumer electronics and any area where complex processing also met a need for power efficiency.
Tape-outs including the Cortex-A7 are expected in the first half of 2012 with SoCs and products based on them to follow in 2013, East said.
Related links and articles:
ARM, TSMC tape out 20-nm processor
ARM deployments outgrowing world’s population
Nvidia five-core chip ups mobile ante

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ARM wrestles with silicon, battery hurdles

八月 22, 2011
By

ARM wrestles with silicon, battery hurdles

Rick Merritt  8/19/2011 12:10 AM EDT

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4218909/ARM-wrestles-with-silicon–battery-hurdles

Big hurdles in silicon scaling and battery technology stand in the way of huge opportunities in mobile systems, said an ARM executive in a Hot Chips keynote.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Big hurdles in silicon scaling and battery technology stand in the way of huge opportunities in mobile systems, said an ARM executive in a keynote here.

"Silicon scaling will end at some point, and I think it’s coming sooner than many people think," said Simon Segars, general manager of ARM’s physical IP division in a keynote at the annual Hot Chips event here.

What’s more, "we really need a new battery technology," he said.

With silicon atoms measuring a fraction of a nanometer in diameter and process technology approaching single nm digits, "you can only scale so far before we need other materials like III-V semiconductors," he said.

Difficulty delivering production-quality extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is already creating problems. Chip makers must use complex double-patterning techniques with today’s immersion systems while they wait for EUV that may be required for the 14nm node, Segars said.

"You need to produce 200-300 wafers an hour, and today’s EUV machines can do about five wafers per hour now," said Segars. "Some people question whether it ever will be mainstream–lots of R&D still needs to go into it," he added.

Design issues loom large, too. 4G modems could be 500-times the complexity of 2G versions, requiring dedicated data-processing engines.

The need for more performance and power is driving up the complexity in multiple power domains and timing closure, he said. Nevertheless, the ARM exec promised advances including by 2015 Cortex A15 processors fully coherent across multiple CPUs and GPUs.

Battery technology looks equally challenging, increasing only about 11 percent a year, far behind the pace of Moore’s Law. Even maintaining that sluggish rate "will require some exotic materials such as silicon alloys or carbon nanotubes—batteries are really rubbish," he said.

On the other side of the hurdles are huge mobile opportunities. "All the numbers are big," said Segars, noting sales of 280 million smartphones last year and a market of four billion cellular subscribers.

"Although we have made fantastic progress there are a few issues ahead and the future won’t be like the past," he warned.

Delays in EUV threaten progress toward 14nm, Segars said.

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Intel: ARM gets Windows four ways

五月 23, 2011
By

Intel:

ARM gets Windows four ways

Rick Merritt

5/17/2011 7:53 PM EDT

Microsoft’s plan to put Windows 8 on ARM will result in a fragmented set of four releases, none of which will run legacy PC apps, said Intel executives.

SAN JOSE – Microsoft’s move to put Windows on ARM processors will result in a fragmented set of four environments, none of which will run legacy PC Windows apps, said Intel executives. Separately Intel said it will roll out this fall software from McAfee to enable a new level of security on its processors.

Supporting Windows 8 could cost ARM companies billions, said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini at an annual analyst meeting here. Microsoft announced in January its next version of Windows will support ARM chips.

"Yes, the ARM guys are getting a port to Windows, but it’s really four ports [because] every OS has to be written to a chip so Microsoft is really doing four ports of Windows to ARM," he said.

Otellini did not describe the four versions of Windows for ARM. He showed slides suggesting they could be targeted to specific versions of the ARM core or SoC implementations of the cores from ARM licensees.

Renee James, general manager of Intel’s software and services group described two major variants of Windows 8—a traditional PC version and for versions for ARM SoCs.

The PC version will support legacy PC apps and have a Windows 7 compatibility mode, she said. The ARM SoC versions deliver a new mobile experience optimized for tablet and clamshell systems and "will not be running legacy apps not now or ever," James said.

The ARM SoC version of Windows 8 will also run on Intel’s x86 chips, she said. Intel has no intentions of using its license to build ARM chips, added Otellini.

Separately, Intel will roll out in the third quarter software from McAfee for creating trusted operating system or virtual machine environments. The software resides below the level of the OS or hypervisor and extends to those environments the hardware root of trust built into Intel’s chips.

Intel has long supported the hardware root of trust defined by the Trusted Computing Group, an industry standards alliance. But to date major operating systems such as Windows have not enabled extending that level of security beyond the hardware.

"We can harden the system architecture to dramatically minimize the growing malware threat," said David DeWalt, president of Intel’s McAfee subsidiary, officially acquired in late February. "There is no way we can watch malware growth with the same security model" in use today, he said.

Enabling the CPU-based security model was on rationale for Intel’s $7.68 billion bid to acquire McAfee, a deal announced in August.

The group now makes up 34 percent of Intel’s 9,000-person software and services unit.

McAfee is also moving quickly to extend its software with Intel’s help into new x86 and embedded designs.

Intel already announced it is embedding McAfee security agents into the kernel of VxWorks and other products from its Wind River subsidiary.

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4216110/Intel-says-ARM-gets-Windows-four-ways

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Delivering Real-Time, High-Performance Embedded Systems with the ARM Cortex-R Processors

三月 4, 2011
By

Delivering Real-Time, High-Performance Embedded Systems with the ARM Cortex-R Processors

Overview:
This webinar will focus on the ARM® Cortex™-R processors and how they deliver high performance and real-time responsiveness in embedded systems using Cortex-R4, Cortex-R5 or the new Cortex-R7. We will examine the innovations, including the multi-core and coherency technology, micro-architecture improvements, optimised access to external peripherals, and increasingly higher levels of safety as demanded by today’s rigorous industry standards. ASIC and ASSP designers, MCU application engineers and programmers will gain a better understanding of the key technology of the Cortex-R profile.

This Webinar will Cover:

  • Detailed descriptions of the new features of the Cortex-R processors
  • An understanding of real time processor differentiation
  • Real-time application scenarios
  • Knowledge of ARM roadmap
  • An insight into the latest mobile standards

Register Now

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ARM updates roadmap with Kingfisher, Cygnet

二月 10, 2011
By

ARM updates roadmap with Kingfisher, Cygnet

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4212774/ARM-updates-roadmap-with-Kingfisher–Cygnet?cid=NL_MCU

Peter Clarke

2/1/2011 3:46 PM EST

SANTA CLARA, Calif.

– Processor IP licensor ARM Holdings plc has tipped several additional cores in its roadmap for 2011 during a presentation provided as a background to the company’s fourth quarter and full year financial results.

Warren East, president and CEO of ARM, tipped the Kingfisher and Cygnet cores due to emerge in 2011.

"Kingfisher is aimed at lower end smartphones and feature phones and cost-sensitive digital TV applications.

It’s a small A-class processor," East told financial analysts assembled to discuss ARM’s financial results.

For the microcontroller end of the market East mentioned Cygnet which is a system design product designed to work with the Cortex-M series of cores.

"It is intended to accelerate developers time to market," East said without revealing further details.

East also highlighted Mali NG as the core to follow on from the Mali T604, which was launched at the ARM Technology Conference in November 2010.

East told EE Times that Mali NG would be an extension of the current architecture rather than a dramatic change but nonetheless will further increase ARM’s graphics capability. "ST talked about licensing the next-generation Mali graphics.

They’re talking about great success with their existing Mali graphics processor, having ten design wins so far with their Mali 400, but the next generation giving them another five-fold increment in performance."

Related links and articles:
Samsung licenses ARM’s new GPU

Analyst: Samsung Orion is ARM graphics win

Samsung’s ARM roadmap leads to quad-core ‘Aquila’

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ARM adds single and dual core processors to Cortex-R real time family

二月 9, 2011
By

 

ARM adds single and dual core processors

to Cortex-R real time family

http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/article/31050/ARM-adds-single-and-dual-core-processors-to-Cortex-R-real-time-family.aspx

31/01/2011

ARM is extending its Cortex-R family of real time processors with two new models:

the R5 and R7.

Both cores complement the R4, which was launched in 2006.

Andrew Frame, ARM’s cpu product manager, said the move was in response to feedback from partners.

"The range has been extended to meet future needs for the segments targeted by the processor."G
ARM adds single and dual core processors to Cortex R real time familyAccording to Frame, the R4 is used mostly in SoCs and large systems.

"It has been successful in baseband processors, as mobile phones move from 3G to LTE, in mass storage systems and as an automotive microcontroller."

The R5,

which features an eight stage pipelined core, runs at 1.66DMIPS/MHz.

Single and dual core options are available.

"It has extra system level features to allow designers to get more power efficient, more cost effective products to market," Frame noted.

"The R7, meanwhile, enables much greater performance."

The R7, with an 11 stage pipeline, is also available in single or dual core formats, with each core offering 2.53DMIPS/MHz.

Although not intended for such use, the R4 has been implemented as a multicore design.

"But, with the R5," Frame noted, "you can put down one or two cores and not have to worry about how they work together.

" The R5 is an asymmetric design, but is coherent with the cache.

The R7, however, can be designed as a symmetric multiprocessor.

ARM expects applications for the Cortex-R family to extend into such markets as medical, aerospace and printing

The Cortex-R5 has already been made available to lead customers and Frame anticipates products based on this core to appear early in 2012.

"The R7, however, has a much bigger jump in performance," he continued, "and this will not be available until Q3 2011."

Author
Graham Pitcher

Supporting Information

http://www.arm.com

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An introduction to ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5)

一月 27, 2011
By

 

An introduction to ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5)

http://blogs.arm.com/software-enablement/382-an-introduction-to-arm-development-studio-5-ds-5/

Posted by Hobson Bullman  26 January 2011

A couple of weeks before Christmas, ARM released v5.3 of its new software development suite, DS-5.

DS-5 is a new product, introduced to the market last year, but it builds on 20 years of software development tools from ARM.

I have been personally involved in this development since inception, when we decided to embrace open source frameworks and build around Eclipse, and I’m very proud of what we have achieved. We’ve created a great new development tool chain with very broad applicability, helping to make it even easier to develop for ARM based platforms, and enabling collaboration with our partners and the ecosystem.

In this short article, I’ll describe what I mean by all this.

Firstly, at the heart of the ARM tools is comprehensive support for the ARM device itself. The tools are used here at ARM during the development and validation of the ARM architecture and ARM CPU, and are designed to make the best use of the features provided by the CPU and associated debug and trace capabilities with technology such asCoreSight. Leading edge CPU support is followed by optimised tools support for specific silicon implementations to ensure the best performance of your application and make it as easy as possible to program on advanced ARM devices. Today, there is a huge variety of ARM based silicon, and we work closely with silicon providers to ensure that ARM tools are optimized for as many ASICs and ASSPs as we can.

 DS-5 Debugger contains an ever growing database of supported parts; we are adding around 10 a month.

Secondly, a key aim of the ARM tools is to enable and facilitate software development at all stages of the design flow. We have a debug probe, DSTREAM, used for connecting to the target.

And DSTREAM has a companion product, VSTREAM, which is used in the very early stages of design to connect to verification and simulation systems, such as Mentor Veloce and Cadence Palladium.

So, DS-5 can be used pre-silicon, and then during the subsequent stages of silicon bring-up, boot code development, OS and driver development, and ultimately application development. Our Partners tell us that being able to use a single tool chain at all stages of software design eases the rollout and adoption of new silicon, for hardware and software engineers alike.

Thirdly, in order to support all aspects of software development, DS-5 comes with a range of included tools, and we’re adding to these all the time. The DS-5 Debugger was the first tool, introduced in the first version of DS-5 in early 2010. In the second half of 2010, we added Streamline, a performance analyser for Linux applications, based on the powerful performance counters in the ARM core. In the next release, we will be adding the highly optimising ARM Compilation Tools. And so on. As I said at the start of this post, DS-5 is fully Eclipse-based, this allows integration with many third party tools: build systems, source control, quality assurance tools, and more. We like the community model of an open source IDE with published interfaces, as it enables us to collaborate with our Partners and customers in ways that were difficult before: this opens up opportunities for everyone.

Finally, here at ARM we believe that it’s important to not only provide all these capabilities, but to provide them in a form that is easy to learn and easy to use, but without compromising on functionality. DS-5 is a new tool for which we put a lot of effort into the "out of the box experience". By way of an example, when debugging Linux applications on supported platforms, the tool will take care of downloading and connecting to the debug server: developers simply need to specify the platform and the IP address. This reduces a complex task using several applications and a terminal, to just a couple of steps in the IDE. A second example: when using Streamline to profile on a multi-core system, we came up with a timeline view which lets you intuitively zoom from an aggregated view to a per-core view. See the screen shot below where I’ve expanded the CPU load to show me per-CPU details (on a dual core system, here), but for now I’ve left all other measures as an aggregate across cores.

Attached Image

So, in summary, DS-5 is the new tool chain from ARM: we’re building a system to support software development across the broad spectrum where ARM technology is being used.

My team and I are proud to have produced DS-5, and we have a whole host of additions and new target support planned over the coming months.

I encourage you to try it out using the 30-day evaluation version at http://www.arm.com/ds5, and let us know what you think.

Hobson Bullman is Director of Engineering, System Design Division, ARM. Hobson has worked at ARM since 1996, in a variety of roles but always within the engineering department. Hobson has represented ARM at various industry bodies and community organisations, including the Eclipse foundation, the Nexus 5001 Forum, and the Symbian Foundation.

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ARM, NDS team on OTT delivery

一月 6, 2011
By

ARM, NDS team on OTT delivery

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4211892/ARM–NDS-team-on-OTT-delivery?cid=NL_EETimesDaily

Peter Clarke

1/5/2011 6:19 AM EST

LONDON – Digital rights management and conditional access software company NDS Ltd. has announced that it has entered into a partnership with processor IP licensor ARM Holding plc to enable the delivery of content and services to internet-connected TVs using NDS’ Infinite TV.

The Infinite TV suite enables delivery and optimization of so-called over-the-top (OTT) content. The details of the ARM-NDS partnership were not disclosed. OTT is typically used to refer to programming delivered over the internet to a set-top-box that is used for the broadcast decoding such as terrestrial or satellite.

"Building on ARM’s momentum in the home entertainment market, we believe that a platform based around a dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor and ARM Mali-400 MP GPU will provide connected TV manufacturers with the very best in performance and outstanding graphics capability. We look forward to working with NDS to drive OTT opportunities in this space," said Lance Howarth, senior vice president and general manager of the media processing division at ARM, in a statement issued by NDS.
Jonathan Beavon, director of segment marketing at NDS, said: "Infinite TV provides an end-to-end delivery mechanism for OTT services on connected devices. With a thin-client approach, the possibilities for manufacturers are taken to a new level; easy integration and a sophisticated architecture will ensure an optimal service with a short time to market."

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