ARM Microprocessor Basics

Introduction to ARM Processor

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 Agenda

 ARM introduction
 ARM Based Products
 ARM Features
 ARM Processor Family
 ARM Nomenclature
 ARM Processor Architecture (ARM core)
 ARM Development Tools

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 Introduction

 ARM: Advance RISC Machine

 ARM was established as a joint venture between Acorn, Apple
and VLSI between Acorn, Apple and VLSI in November 1990

 ARM is the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded

RISC microprocessor solutions

 The company licenses its high-performance, low-cost, power-

efficient RISC processors, peripherals, and system-chip designs
to leading international electronics companies

 ARM provides comprehensive support required in developing a

complete system

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 Role of ARM Co.

 ARM Holdings is a technology company headquartered in

Cambridge, England, UK.
 The company is best known for its processors, although it also
designs, licenses and sells software development tools under
the RealView and KEIL brands, systems and platforms,
system-on-a-chip infrastructure and software.
 ARM do not make ICs !!!
 ARM grant license of core to different silicon vendors like
ATMEL, NXP, Cirrus logic etc
 These companies make ICs
 Examples are: LPC2148 from NXP, AT91RM9200 from
ATMEL

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 Where ARM processors are used
 ARM processors can be used in any domain
 Mainly ARM processors are used in Handheld devices,
Robotics, Automation, Consumer Electronics.
 But ARM processors are available for almost every domain.

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 ARM Based Products

Apple iPhone Motorola Z8 Smart

ARM11 phone
ARM11

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 ARM Based Products

Blackberry Nokia E90 Communicator

ARM11 ARM11

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ARM Based Products: Inside the processors

SAMSUNG processor ST microelectronics

graphics cards processor

OMAP and DaVinci

processor

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ARM Based Products

Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk

Drives Network attached storage
Linksys (CISCO)

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 ARM Based Products

GP32 – Game console

ARM9

HP H49 Graphics
Calculator
ARM9TDMI
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 ARM Based Products

iPOD Juice Box

ARM7TDMI Low cost Multimedia
player ARM7TDMI

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 ARM Based Products

Lego Mindstrome Robot Paison Series game

ARM7 consoles
ARM7TDMI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture

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 ARM Features 1/2
 ARM are RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computation)
processor
ARM is not 100 % RISC, some amendment to meets requirement of Embedded System

 Large Register file R0 to R16 (against RISC)

 Load and Store architecture
data processing is only in register contents
 Uniform and fixed length instructions
 32 bit processor
 Good speed and power consumption ratio
 High code density
 Mostly single-cycle execution
 Speed 1Mhz to 1.25Ghz

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 ARM Features 2/2

 ARM support JAVA jezelle DBX (Direct Byte code execution)

 DSP Enhanced Instructions
 Support for TrustZone technology additional security core
 Conditional execution of all instructions (against RISC)
 32 bit barrel shifter (against RISC)
 In build circuit for debugging

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 ARM Processor Family

ARM7TDMI << Entry Point

Strong ARM
ARM9
ARM9TDMI
ARM9E

ARM10E
ARM11
Cortex
XScale

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 ARM Nomenclature
ARMxyzTDMIEJFS
– x: series
– y: MMU
– z: cache
– T: Thumb
– D: debugger
– M: Multiplier
– I: Embedded ICE Macrocel
– E: Enhanced Instructions
– J: Java acceleration by Jazelle
– F: Vector Floating-point
– S: Synthesizable Version

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 Description (1/2)
 M - Multiplier
ARM processors has hardware multiplier unit doing multiplication
 I - Embedded ICE Macrocel
 This is the hardware circuit which is used to generate trace
information.
 This feature is used in advance debugging and very useful in bug
fixing.
 E – Enhanced Instruction Set
 Enhanced instruction set, may be for DSP
 J – Java acceleration by Jazelle
 Hardware circuit which is used to run JAVE byte code
 F – Vector Floating-point
 This is the hardwired implementation of floating operations

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 Description (2/2)
 S - Synthesizable Version
 It means ARM architecture can be modified. Because it will comes
in terms of soft processor core

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 Examples
 ARM7TDMI
 This is ARM7 family processor, which has
T=thumb instruction set, D = Debug unit, M= MMU, I = trace circuit is
inside the core (Embedded Trace Macrocel)
 This is basic core and all core have TDMI.
 ARM946E-S
 ARM9xx core
 Enhanced instruction set for DSP
 Synthesizable

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ARM Processor

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 ARM Processor
 Classic processors (ARM7, ARM9, ARM11) and Embedded
Cortex processor are specially designed for Embedded
Application

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ARM Processor Architecture (ARM core) 1/2
ARM CORE Feature

ARM v1 (obsolete) 26 bit instructions, no multiply or coprocessor

ARM v2 (obsolete) 32 bit result , added co processor

ARM v3 (obsolete) 32 bit instructions

ARM v4 ARM v4T Add signed instructions, signed load and store instructions Thumb mode is
added
ARM v5TEJ Add Support for DSP algo and Jave byte code engine (Jazelle)
ARM v6 Support for SIMD by adding media instructions, Thumb2 ISA. Enhanced
support for virtualization by adding TrustZone technology This make this
core ideal for audio/video application

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ARM Processor Architecture (ARM core)

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 Embedded ARM Development Tools
 ARM Development Tools include
 IDE
 Compiler Suite
 Debugger
 Simulator
 JTAG Debugging Probe (Hardware)
 Development Board (Hardware)
 Both Open Source and Proprietary tools are available in
market

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 Proprietary Tools (1)
 IAR Workbench for ARM (http://www.iar.com/)
 Complete toolchain including IDE, Compiler, Debugger, Simulator
 Evaluation / Kickstart version are available for free download
 IAR also provide IAR PowerPac RTOS for ARM
 IAR Workbench Tutorial
• http://embeddedcraft.org/iar_arm.html#top

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 Proprietary Tools (2)
 Keil for ARM (http://www.keil.com/arm/)
 Complete toolchain include uvision IDE, Compiler(armcc),
Debugger and Simulator
 KEIL also provide RTX RTOS for ARM
 Evaluation version is also available for download

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