IQ Magazine

The Smart Approach to Designing with the ARM® Architecture

Volume 10, Number 3, 2011

Introduction:
ARM® TechCon 2011

The fall has come around again and ARM® TechCon 2011 dawns, representing one of the most successful and energized ecosystems in the technology industry today.

Continuing with last year's successful change in format – the first day will be turned over to ‘Chip Design’ – an intensive conference and exhibition targeted at chip design teams working with ARM silicon IP and tools. The second two days will cover ‘Software and System Design’ for system developers utilizing the ARM architecture.

Bottling a Star

(Page(s) 9 - 46)

Fusion researchers in the U.K. demonstrate a data acquisition system for synthetic-aperture imaging using the latest ARM® AMBA™ AXI4 interface on Xilinx technology.

The articles in this section include:

Bottling a Star Using the ARM® AMBA® AXI4 in an FPGA

By Billy Huang, PhD Researcher, Durham University / CCFE,
Dr. Roddy Vann, Assistant Professor, University of York,
Dr. Graham Naylor, Head of MAST Plasma Diagnostics and Control, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE),
Dr. Vladimir Shevchenko, Senior Physicist, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE),
Simon Freethy, PhD Researcher, University of York / CCFE

Fusion researchers in the U.K. demonstrate a data acquisition system for synthetic-aperture imaging using the latest ARM® AMBA™ AXI4 interface on Xilinx technology.

Mobile Virtualization is Real, and ARM® Architecture is a Driving Force

By Richard Kinder, VP, Technology & New Business, EMEA, Red Bend Software
(Page(s) 9)

If you haven’t already heard about mobile device virtualization, you soon will. ARM’s introduction of hardware support for vitualization in the ARM® v7a architecture extensions and the impending availability of partner silicon implementing the ARM Cortex™-A15 core are driving many in the industry to discover the benefits of virtualization. In different market segments the desire to derive maximum performance with lowest effort from Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A15 processor-based devices is already driving real implementations today.

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Resolving the Babylonian Confusion in the ARM® Module Market

By Wolfgang Heinz-Fischer, Head of Marketing TQ-Group
(Page(s) 10 -11)

In the race for market leadership, ARM® processor quantities are now ahead of processors with x86 architecture, since many devices on the mass market, such as mobile telephones and PDAs, rely on ARM processors. However, the x86 architecture still has its nose in front on the embedded market, and particularly the module market. The power of ARM processors has nevertheless been steadily growing in recent years, and ARM and x86 processors have been becoming increasingly similar in terms of the number and type of interfaces. ARM processors are thus now of interest to the embedded module market. Unlike the x86 module market, on which standards have clearly prevailed, the ARM module market appears very divergent. Where do standards fit in here?

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Software Driven Power Analysis

By Bill Neifert, CTO - Founder, VP Business Development, Carbon Design
(Page(s) 18 - 20)

Power plays a crucial role in most of today’s system-onchip (SoC) designs. Mobile devices depend upon low power consumption to extend battery life. Companies maintaining server farms are constantly monitoring the power needed by their computer in order to manage the inevitable heat buildup. Ecological demands are also pushing consumers everywhere to minimize their carbon footprint which correlates directly to the devices they use. Given power’s critical role, it is often surprising how late in the system design cycle most power optimizations occur.

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Successfully Creating Stereoscopic- 3D for Mobile Devices

By Veera Manikandan Raju, Engineering Manager, Natural User Interface Group, Texas Instruments
(Page(s) 21 -23)

Stereoscopic-3D (S3D) is quickly emerging as a prime technology across various markets, and is proving to be a hot trend that adds an additional dimension of reality to existing 2D videos, games, movies and images. With the advent of 3D TVs hitting store shelves, consumers are now getting acquainted to large screen, realistic S3D effects in home entertainment. Today, S3D experiences are migrating from the large screen to mobile devices, providing realistic and glassesfree, personalized viewing experiences on the go.

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Tools for Software Testing in ARM IP-based Embedded Systems

By Magnus Unemyr, VP Sales/Marketing and Mark Moran, US General Manager Atollic
(Page(s) 24 - 27, 42)

Releasing a product with bugs is potentially very expensive when costs of field upgrades, recalls, repairs, etc. are considered. Less quantifiable, but equally important is the diminution of a company’s reputation and loss of good will. Yet, many products based on embedded systems are released without all of the testing which is necessary and/or desirable to minimize these problems.

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Solving SoC Design Challenges with ARM Hard Macrocells

By Sumit Sahai, Product Manager, Processor Division, ARM
(Page(s) 31 - 35)

The ARM® Hard Macro portfolio offers performance and power optimized hard macrocell implementations of the Cortex™-A series processors.

For SoC designers willing to make a trade-off between the multifaceted flexibility offered by the traditional RTL-based SoC development strategy and the significant costs and efforts it involves, the ARM Hard Macro portfolio is an exciting alternative strategy which enables higher profitability through benchmarked PPA (Performance, Power, and Area), design risk reduction and faster time-to-market.

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Sustainable Embedded Systems with Virtual Prototyping

By Shabtay Matalon, Sagih Bzezinski, Russell Klein, and Colin Walls, Mentor Graphics
(Page(s) 36 - 38)

There are many reasons why designers of embedded systems, such as the ARM® Cortex™-A9 MP, are increasingly driven to stay within tight system power budgets. Although higher capacity batteries are becoming available, they are still falling short of expectations, and lower process geometry has failed to deliver spectacular power reductions. As a result, alternative techniques for power management have emerged.

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When an Irrestible Force Meets an Immovable Object

By John A. Carbone, VP Marketing, Express Logic, Inc.
(Page(s) 40 - 42)

ARM® processor-based Systems on a Chip (SoCs) abound in the areas of consumer electronics, mobile devices, and wireless communications. The ARM IP licensing model is amenable to the design of SoCs that incorporate an ARM core, along with companion technology such as mobile baseband radio, WiFi® or Bluetooth®. The ARM low-power, high-performance technology adds further appeal to SoC designers, leading to its widespread adoption. SoCs generally incorporate limited memory, and the popular ARM Cortex™-M microcontroller series upon which many SoCs are based, incorporate limited memory on-chip, making for an overall modest amount of memory available for an application. While additional memory, external to the Cortex-M3, might be configured either on SoC or elsewhere, that memory is not accessed as rapidly as on-chip flash. This makes it desirable to fit critical real-time sensitive code in the limited on-chip space. This compact memory model contrasts with the fiercely competitive demand for more and more functionality in the devices using these SoCs, bringing us to the irresistible force (feature demand) meeting the immovable object (limited memory).

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Examining the Value of ARM® Open Source Platforms: Use Cases and Future Trends

By Ian Chen, General Manager, Movial Taiwan
(Page(s) 44 - 45)

There is a growing trend towards open, higher volume ARM processor-based, multimedia centric innovation platforms. This article examines this trend from both the perspective of the SoC providers and SoC customers, as well as the value of the open source platform compared to traditional proprietary platform models. From the pioneering days of BeagleBoard to today’s most recent open source ARM Linux® platform development including ST-Ericsson Snowball, PandaBoard and beyond, open source platforms enable creativity for developers on shoe-string budgets.

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A Phone That Lets You Watch 3D Without Glasses!

By Jan Howells, ARM
(Page(s) 46 -47)

Korean company LG Electronics (LG) is hoping it can steal a march on its rivals and entice consumers by adding 3D capabilities to a phone, without the need for glasses. The ARM® powered LG Optimus 3D handheld phone is the first of a number of 3D devices set to launch this year that will be competing for our attention – and a sale as 3D fever hits!

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