Arm has announced the further upgrade of its DesignStart project, incorporating its lowest power and highest area efficiency application processor Cortex-A5, in addition to the Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3, to help developers easily access Arm processors supporting Linux in advanced designs.
While the widespread application of the Internet of Things provides limitless possibilities for advanced software development, it also poses challenges for designers. In a rapidly changing and competitive market, designers need to achieve product differentiation in the shortest time and at the lowest cost while providing enhanced designs.
“Rich Embedded Processing” is one of the ways to achieve differentiation, defined by Arm as providing higher levels of performance and complexity. Providing interactive user interfaces is one such case covered, and overall, this concept refers to providing more advanced functionalities. Such products use a complete software stack and benefit from a wide range of middleware and applications that can run immediately on fully functional operating systems like Linux. Companies developing rich embedded IoT designs are currently turning to the use of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) to meet their specific needs.
Through the DesignStart project
using the Cortex-A5 processor faster and easier
To meet the demand for developers to easily access Arm processors supporting Linux in advanced designs, Arm has expanded the DesignStart project to include the Cortex-A5, its lowest power and highest area efficiency application processor. The DesignStart project has opened up Arm CPUs to more designers, with over 3,000 CPU prototypes downloaded in the past 12 months, and one company achieving tape-out from concept in less than six months. The inclusion of Cortex-A5 has taken the Arm DesignStart project to a new height. So far, Cortex-A5 has provided rich, high-performance processing capabilities for over 2 billion devices and has been chosen by top cloud providers as a starting point for edge IoT processing.
Currently, 70% of rich embedded devices are based on Arm, making it an ideal choice for innovative applications with high requirements but also cost-sensitive in fields like healthcare, smart homes, and industry.
Through a dedicated website and simplified contracts, the DesignStart project enables developers to quickly and easily use the Cortex-A5 processor, accelerating time to market. With its small chip area (less than 0.3 square millimeters using a 40nm process) and ultra-high efficiency (around 100uW/MHz effective power with a 40nm process), this processor achieves the lowest idle power consumption in the Cortex-A series CPUs while reducing manufacturing costs. This processor can provide 70% to 80% of the performance of Cortex-A7, Cortex-A9, and Cortex-A32 processors and can be configured as a fully consistent quad-core design with advanced SIMD data processing capabilities or configured for high-performance accelerator ports for fast connections to machine learning or other custom processors.
By incorporating Cortex-A5 into the DesignStart project, developers will be able to complete designs with the support of the industry’s largest technology ecosystem. This ecosystem not only provides developers with a wealth of resources but also lays a solid foundation for them to expand their products, enabling them to confidently embark on their designs.
Arm now offers developers Arm CPUs with Linux functionality at the lowest cost. The IP license fee of $75,000 includes one year of design support from Arm experts; while the $150,000 IP usage plan includes three years of expert support to help manufacturers achieve a single successful chip product.
Arm is the primary architecture for embedded Linux and Android systems, with hundreds of Linux projects running on Arm architecture. Linaro has partnered with Arm to jointly become one of the top three contributors to the Linux kernel.
Due to the rich availability of operating systems, middleware, codecs, and applications that can run immediately based on Arm, the positive impact of Arm architecture-based Linux on project timelines and costs cannot be overlooked. By choosing Arm, developers can save substantial costs just in software development.
Cortex-A5 will also enable advanced machine learning applications through Arm’s neural network inference engine, which is part of the Linaro Machine Learning Initiative, providing extensive ecosystem support.
Additionally, Arm recently launched the Mbed Linux operating system based on the Arm Mbed OS solution, which is the industry’s leading IoT platform operating system with over 350,000 developers. The release of Mbed Linux marks the first time secure and rapid development and device management will be achieved through the Cortex-A-based Pelion IoT device platform.
The Cortex-A5 package in DesignStart includes flexible system IP suitable for area and power-optimized SoC development. The main advantages of this comprehensive system IP include:
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Mature SoC foundation – Flexible system IP suitable for optimizing chip area and power for SoC development
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Low-latency interconnect – Arm CoreLink NIC-400 provides configurable low-power connections with design flexibility
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Seamless debugging – Industry-standard CoreSight debugging and tracing solutions
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System-level security – TrustZone technology establishes a trusted security by providing hardware enforced isolation
When manufacturers are ready to launch custom chips, Arm’s extensive Artisan physical IP can help them accelerate time to market. Developers can also benefit from the design support platform, which is supported by 18 foundry partners with process technologies ranging from 250nm to 5nm.
Previously, Arm announced the introduction of zero licensing fees and zero royalties for Cortex-M processors in the DesignStart project aimed at Xilinx FPGA. By further expanding the project with the inclusion of Cortex-A5, Arm aims to support innovative designs covering the entire range of embedded and IoT devices, addressing the various demands emerging in this dynamic market. The DesignStart project can also be used for free with Arm Artisan physical IP, utilizing the industry’s leading physical IP library. This IP library is tailored for a wide range of foundries and process nodes to help accelerate SoC deployment.
The mission of the DesignStart project is to simplify the way of obtaining Arm IP as much as possible. Over the past decade, thousands of chips have successfully tape-out, and Arm looks forward to seeing even more possibilities in the future.
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