Cortex-R4 processor fully supports automotive electronic design

Targeting the embedded processor market with a shipment volume of over one billion units, ARM recently released the new Cortex-R4 processor, which can support the design of a new generation of mobile phones, hard drives, printers and automotive electronics, and can help the new generation of embedded products quickly execute various complex control algorithms and real-time operations.

The Cortex-R4 processor can optimize the processor for various embedded applications through the Memory Protection Unit (MPU), cache and Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM), without affecting the basic ARM instruction set compatibility, helping application software developers and OEM manufacturers to reuse existing software investments.

For example, due to the significant improvement in the computing performance of the Thumb-2 instruction set, the Cortex-R4 processor can replace the two processors previously used in the 3G baseband modem. This design can reduce the cost and complexity of the system while continuing to use the original program code. At the same time, its tightly coupled memory function can also provide smaller specifications and more efficient integration, and bring fast response time.

For automotive products, the Cortex-R4 processor also adds fault tolerance and memory protection mechanisms to various safety applications, supporting the latest version of the OSEK real-time operating system. This is a very important feature for system-on-chip (SoC) components developed for engine management systems, because such management systems must operate in real time in many peripheral components.

The Cortex-R4 uses a 90-nanometer process and is paired with components from the ARM Artisan Advantage library, which can provide performance of more than 600 Dhrystone MIPS. The new processor also saves system developers more costs and power consumption. The components using the 90-nanometer process have a base area of ​​less than 1mm2 and power consumption of less than 0.27mW/MHz. The Cortex-R4 has now been licensed to three customers including Broadcom, and has received support from multiple EDA, RTOS and tool suppliers.

ARM has developed a complete set of supporting technologies for the new processor to help customers shorten design time and accelerate time to market. This complete system solution includes development and debugging tools, model building technology, and physical layer component library. The Cortex-R4 processor supports ARM RealView DEVELOP series software development tools, RealView CREATE series ESL tools and modules, and CoreSight debugging and tracing technology to help the industry quickly develop various embedded systems.

ARM said that compared with previous generations of ARM processors, the Cortex-R4 processor's highly efficient design allows the industry to achieve higher performance at a lower clock rate. The optimized Artisan Metro memory further reduces the size and cost of embedded systems.

The AMBADesigner design automation tool provides a design flow for advanced AMBA interconnect subsystems, further reducing design costs and time to market. In addition, ARM PrimeCell peripheral components compatible with the AMBA3 AXI communication protocol include: AMBA 3 AXI Interconnect (PL301), configurable dynamic memory controller (PL340), static memory controller series (PL350) and L2 cache (L220). The Cortex-R4 processor uses the ARMv7 ISA, which allows it to maintain full backward compatibility with existing ARM programs, support billions of systems built around the world today, and has been optimized for Thumb-2 instructions. This feature brings a number of benefits, including: power savings from lower clock speeds; higher performance brings a variety of multi-functional features to mobile phone and automotive product designs; more complex algorithms support higher performance digital video and systems with built-in hard drives.

The use of the Thumb-2 instruction set, coupled with the ARM RealView development kit, reduces the capacity of the chip's internal memory by up to 30%, significantly saving system costs. In addition, its speed is 40% higher than the Thumb instruction set used in the ARM946E-S processor. As memory takes up more and more space in the chip, this design will significantly save chip capacity, allowing chip manufacturers to use this processor to develop various SoC components.