 ARM/XScale-based Technologies |
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| The Trend of ARM/XScale-based Technology |
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| 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. |
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| About RISC Technology |
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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. |
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| CISC (x86) vs RISC Architecture |
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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 storing complex instructions |
Spends more transistors
on memory registers |
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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. |
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| XScale®Technology |
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RISC-based embedded computing, driven by the rapid development of wireless communications and networking services, is growing rapidly and represents a paradigm shift from traditional 8-bit microprocessor based embedded solutions and complicated x86 PC-based solutions. |
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| Intel® XScale® Micro Architecture |
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"Designed to optimize low power consumption and high performance processing for a wide range of wireless and networking applications and rich services." (Source: IntelCorporation)
Intel® XScale® technology is widely implemented in a variety of embedded, communication and network infrastructure market segments. High performance, ultra low power, ARM V5TE compliant and robust tool chains make Intel XScale technology a compelling choice for applications ranging from smaller multimedia portable devices to high performance I/O or network applications. |
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| ARM-based Solution |
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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. |
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Related information for ARM powered technologies:
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