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1999-04-27
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From: cjones@armltd.co.uk
Subject: ARM Ltd Press Release: ARM7
Date: 22 Oct 93 11:19:31 GMT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 20TH OCTOBER 1993 ARM 032
ADVANCED RISC MACHINES ANNOUNCES THE ARM7 TECHNOLOGY
HIGH PERFORMANCE WITH ICE AND DSP EXTENSIONS
Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM), the Cambridge, UK headquartered designer
and licensor of high performance, low power consumption 32bit RISC
microprocessors, has announced its next generation of core technology at
the Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, California. The announcement comes
just two years after the launch of the ARM6 technology, which has achieved
considerable success in a number of emerging consumer markets.
In conjunction with its Semiconductor Partners, VLSI Technology, GEC
Plessey Semiconductors, SHARP Corporation and Texas Instruments, ARM is
announcing a family of products to be launched during 1993 and early 1994
based around the ARM7 architecture. The ARM7 RISC CPU offers the user
higher performance and reduced power consumption as well as both 3V and 5V
operation.
In addition the ARM7 offers system designers a range of optional
architectural extensions to the CPU core which significantly improve the
debugging of systems and digital signal processing (DSP) support.
Target markets for the ARM7 family include the emerging application areas
found at the convergence of consumer, computing and communications
electronics. Examples include PDAs, interactive multimedia, advanced
cellular phones, smart cards, ATM, virtual reality, automotive control and
global positioning by satellite.
In keeping with the "small is beautiful" philosophy of the ARM family, the
compact ARM7 core contains just 35,610 transistors and measures 3.1mm x
1.9mm on a 0.8 micron 2-layer metal CMOS process. This offers users
significant benefits in terms of ease of integration and low cost.
Running at 20MHz on a 3V supply, the ARM7 consumes just 33mW at 1pF load,
and at 33MHz on a 5V supply it consumes 165mW at 1pF load, making it the
lowest power consumption 32-bit RISC architecture available on the market.
It offers over 53k Dhrystone 2.1 (55k Dhrystone 1.1) at the higher speed
(33MHz) and voltage (5V) and over 31k Dhrystone 2.1 (33k Dhrystone 1.1) at
the 3V, 20 MHz operation. The ARM7 design has extended ARM's lead in
balancing the conflicting requirements of high performance, low power
consumption and small size, making it an ideal choice for the target
applications that require these criteria.
Additionally, the ARM7 core offers two extensions to meet the specific
needs of particular users - embedded ICE (in-circuit emulation) capability
and DSP functionality.
The ARM7D is a core extension to ease the process of debugging systems by
solving the problem of how to connect an ICE to a deeply embedded CPU
without the need for any additional system hardware. The ARM ICE solution
incorporates the ARM7D and the ARM ICEbreakerTM and BlackICETM devices to
give complete ICE functionality within a fully integrated software and
hardware environment.
The ARM7DM offers, in addition to the ICE capability, DSP functions to
enable users to run DSP-style applications at much higher speeds.
Previously many DSP system designers adopted a dual processor approach -
using both specialised DSP hardware as well as a general microprocessor for
control purposes. The ARM7DM architecture combines both functions on a
single device offering benefits in terms of cost, footprint and faster
development cycle allowing rapid introduction of more competitive products.
ARM7 family members will be launched in the oncoming months by ARM's
semiconductor partners with the first ARM7 based product, the ARM700,
available today from GEC Plessey Semiconductors. The ARM700 microprocessor
combines the ARM7 core with 8 kbytes of cache, a Memory Management Unit,
Write Buffer and a Coprocessor Interface running at up to 33MHz clock
operation.
Advanced RISC Machines Ltd (ARM) was founded in 1990 by Acorn Computers,
Apple Computer and VLSI Technology. In April of 1993 Nippon Investment and
Finance (NIF), a Daiwa Securities Company, became ARM's fourth investor.
ARM designs and licenses high performance, low cost, low power consumption
32bit RISC processors for embedded control, computing, digital signal
processing and portable applications. ARM also designs peripherals,
supporting software and hardware tools. ARM has licensed its broad
technology to four semiconductor manufacturers, (semiconductor product
partners) VLSI Technology, GEC Plessey Semiconductors, Sharp Corporation
and Texas Instruments. All manufacture and sell ARM products worldwide.
ARM also provides design services, consultancy, feasibility studies, and
training to its partners and key users of its technology. ARM's corporate
goal is to become the volume RISC standard in the emerging market at the
crossroads of communications, computing and consumer electronics.
* * * E N D S * * *
ARM, ARM Powered, ICEbreaker and BlackICE are trademarks of Advanced RISC
Machines Ltd.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday Times ARM7 article
Cards to outsmart the fraudsters
The successor to the British-designed microchip that drives Apple's
Newton Personal digital assistant (PDA) is being launched in America
next week by the British company Advanced RISC Machines - or ARM for
short.
Full details of the ARM 7 microprocessor will be revealed to delegates
attending the Microprocessor Forum in Silicon Valley, California, on
Tuesday, but the Sunday Times has been given an exclusive preview,
writes John Stansell.
ARM 7 will be up to twice as fast as the ARM 6, which is the heart of
the Apple Newton. It is smaller and consumes less electrical power.
Small size and low power needs combined with an advanced 32-bit
processing architecture and high speed give ARM microchips a distinct
edge in portable products that require long battery life - the reason
Apple chose the ARM 6 processor for the first of its Newton PDAs.
The new processor has a more advanced reduced instruction-set computer
(RISC) 32-bit architecture, a geometry (the industry term for the width
between the circuits on the chip) of 0.4 microns or millionths of a
metre (ARM 6 is a 0.6 micron chip), consumes less than 1.5mA/MHz, and
will operate from a 3V power supply compared with 5V for its
predecessor.
These attributes also provide the power and speed to unlock complex
security when the processors are integrated on to smart cards.
Fingerprint sensors will prevent bank-card fraud and the chips will
eventually allow a card to recognise an authorised person's voice,
handwriting, the shape of their hand or even scanning their retina to
check their identity.
The French company Gemplus is developing a smart card that can hold all
the data relating to every detail of a person's credit cards in its
memory, using the processing parts of the ARM chip to recognise
fingerprints. Patrice Peyret, head of product development, says other
chips suitable for smart-card use are based on 8-bit technology - 10 to
15 year-old designs that have been bottlenecks in the use of smart
cards in financial applications where security checking is essential.
The processing power required to unlock a typical security cipher
within a second is way beyond 8-bit technology.
"It would take such a chip about a minute", says Peyret. Although the
volume producers of popular microchips have tried to boost the speed of
their existing circuits by adding a fancy device called a "crypto
coprocessor", this is like "putting turbo on a 2CV", he says.
GEC-Plessy is another firm exploiting the ARM technology. It is
developing a radio modem built into a type of card (known as PCMCIA),
that would give machines, such as the Newton, the ability to link up
with cellular networks without the need for any wired connection.