Introduction to ARM application analysis

ARM Application Analysis

1. Industrial control field: As a 32-bit RISC architecture, microcontroller chips based on ARM core not only occupy most of the market share of high-end microcontroller market, but also gradually expand to the application field of low-end microcontrollers. The low power consumption and high cost performance of ARM microcontrollers have challenged the traditional 8-bit/16-bit microcontrollers.

2. Wireless communication field: Currently, more than 85% of wireless communication devices use ARM technology. With its high performance and low cost, ARM's position in this field is increasingly consolidated.

4. Consumer electronics: ARM technology is widely used in currently popular digital audio players, digital set-top boxes and game consoles.

5. Imaging and security products: Most of the popular digital cameras and printers use ARM technology. The 32-bit SIM smart card in the mobile phone also uses ARM technology.

In addition, ARM microprocessors and technologies are also applied to many different fields and will be more widely used in the future.

In 1985, the first ARM prototype was born in Cambridge, England. In 1990, Advanced RISC Machines Limited (hereinafter referred to as ARM) was established. At present, ARM has expanded to the world, occupying the high-performance, low-power, and low-cost embedded application fields. As a leading supplier of 32-bit embedded RISC microprocessors, it occupies more than 75% of the market.

The three main features of ARM processors are: low power consumption, powerful functions, 16-bit/32-bit dual instruction sets and numerous partners.

The strength of ARM's product model lies in the fact that it has more than 100 partners around the world. ARM is a design company and does not produce chips itself. It adopts a transfer license system, and its partners produce chips.

Current ARM architecture extensions include:

Thumb 16-bit instruction set, to improve code density;

·DSP Arithmetic instruction set for DSP applications;

Jazeller allows direct execution of Java bytecode.

The solutions provided by the ARM processor series include:

An open platform for wireless, consumer electronics and imaging applications;

Embedded real-time systems for storage, automation, industrial and networking applications;

·Security applications of smart cards and SIM cards.

The ARM processor itself is a 32-bit design, but it is also equipped with a 16-bit instruction set. Generally speaking, memory is saved by 35% compared to the equivalent 32-bit code, while retaining all the advantages of a 32-bit system. ARM's Jazelle technology enables Java acceleration to achieve much higher performance than software-based Java virtual machines (JVMs), and reduces power consumption by 80% compared to equivalent non-Java acceleration cores. The addition of a DSP instruction set to the CPU function provides enhanced 16-bit and 32-bit arithmetic capabilities, improving performance and flexibility. ARM also provides two cutting-edge features to assist in the debugging of highly integrated SoC devices with deeply embedded processors, which are the Embedded ICE-RT logic and the Embedded Trace Macrocore (ETMS) series.

There are currently five product families - ARM7, ARM9, ARM9E, ARM10 and SecurCore.

1. ARM7 series

Low-power 32-bit core optimized for price- and power-sensitive consumer applications, including:

Embedded ICE-RT logic;

Very low power consumption;

Three-stage pipeline and von Neumann architecture, providing 0.9MIPS/MHz.

2. SecurCore SC100 is specially designed for the security market, with specific features to resist tampering and reverse engineering. It also has flexible protection units to ensure the security of operating systems and application data.

3. ARM9 series

High performance and low power leading hard macrocells with:

·5-stage production line;

Harvard architecture provides 1.1MIPS/MHz.

The ARM920T and ARM922T have built-in full-performance MMU, instruction and data cache and high-speed AMBA bus interface. The AMBA on-chip bus is an open standard that has become the de facto standard for SoC construction and IP library development. The AMBA Advanced High-Performance Bus (AHB) interface is now supported by all new ARM cores, providing a fully comprehensive design system for development.

ARM940T has built-in instruction and data cache, protection unit and high-speed AMBA bus interface.

4. ARM9E series

Synthesizable processor with DSP expansion and tightly coupled memory (TCM) interface, enabling memory to run at full processor speed and be connected directly to the core.

ARM966E-S is used for real-time embedded applications where silicon chip size is important but cache is not required. The TCM size can be configured as follows: 0, 4K, 8K, 16K, and up to 64M.

ARM946E-S has a built-in integrated protection unit and provides a cache core solution for real-time embedded operating systems.

ARM926ET-S with Jazelle expansion, separate instruction and data high-speed AHB interface and full-performance MMU.

The VFP9 vector floating-point synthesizable coprocessor further improves the performance of the ARM9E processor and provides hardware support for floating-point operations.

5. ARM10 series

Hard macrocells with:

64-bit AHB instruction and data interface;

6-stage production line;

·1.25MIPS/MHz；

·50% higher performance than equivalent ARM9 devices.

Two new advanced power saving modes achieve exceptionally low power consumption. The VFP10 coprocessor perfectly complies with the ARM10 device to provide a high performance floating point solution.