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Solutions > Embedded Computing> XScale RISC Solutions

XScale RISC Solutions

RISC Technology

The embedded market trend increasingly wants capabilities associated with RISC-based platforms at a lower cost, lower power consumption and faster time-to-market development. The trend shows many embedded customers simply don't need the extra features and performance overhead found on PC-based systems, which explains the growing popularity of RISC-based embedded computing applications.

About RISC Technology

Unlike CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) coming, RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) architecture offers the most processing power per instruction executed. One primary benefit of RISC processors is the high performance at low power consumption at a lower cost compared with typical Pentium-level x86 processors applied to embedded applications, especially mobile applications. With the rapid development of semiconductor technology today, embedded RISC processors tend to use the SoC (System on Chip) concept applied to specific target markets to provide the most cost effective solution with characteristics that include simple hardware design, low power consumption, high performance as well as low cost and high reliability. There are a number of RISC architectures in industry today, Advantech chose ARM as the main development focus mainly because of its high performance and low power consumption.

CISC (x86) vs RISC Architecture

CISC	RISC
Emphasis on hardware	Emphasis on software
Includes multi-clock complex instructions	Single-clock, reduced instruction only
Memory-to-memory: "LOAD" and "STORE" incorporated in instructions	Register to register: "LOAD" and "STORE" are independent instructions
Small code sizes, high cycles per second	Low cycles per second, large code sizes
Transistors used for storingcomplex instructions	Spends more transistors on memory registers

People sometimes misunderstand when they hear RISC is "cheaper and faster" which is true under many circumstances, but sometimes wrong. RISC is always designed for a specific application; it should be compact and proprietary. By making the hardware simpler, RISC architecture puts a greater burden on the software, which means it might not be good for some applications because of this simple structure.

Is RISC really better? The answer isn't quite that simple. RISC and CISC architectures are becoming more and more alike. Many of today's RISC chips support just as many instructions as yesterday's CISC chips. Furthermore, today's CISC chips use many techniques formerly associated only with RISC chips.

So, which architecture is better? We have to say "market demand will decide your choice." Nowadays, RISC and CISC are converging to some degree.

ARM-based Solution

ARM is the industry's leading provider of 32-bit embedded RISC microprocessors with almost 75% of the market share. ARM offers a wide range of processor codes based on a common architecture that deliver high performance together with low power consumption and cost.

Related information for ARM powered technologies:

	ARM Website
	Intel XScale RISC processor
	Samsung ARM S3C2410 RISC processor