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Just when you thought it was all over - Virtual ARM TechCon arrives

It’s been a couple of weeks since I got back to a cold, windy and wintery Cambridge after a very rewarding trip out to San Jose for the ARM TechCon. Hopefully you managed to see the wide range of interviews that we filmed along with new and cool product demos. If you missed them then refer back to the blogs that were hot off the press during the week of ARM TechCon, here:

We have just published our wrap up video, which Katie, Loreta and I found was kind of fun to make during the last hours of the last day of the show as everyone else was on their way home! (Loreta was part of the production team along with Stuart Waldron and Scott Sartain)



Alongside the blogs, videos and demos we also saw a good number of ...

ARM TechCon: ARM CTO Announces ARMv8 Architecture, UN, Rubik's Cube & Growth

David Blaza of UBM started ARM TechCon Day 3 confirming the growth we’ve been feeling with data from the overflowing parking lots, standing room only technical sessions and 2 days of crowded expo exhibits from the ARM Connected Community: attendance midday on Wednesday exceeded the entire show attendance of 2010. He continued with presenting some best in show awards including best product to Raspberry Pi just who described it: we are *beyond* proud.

2020 in 26 easy steps including a new architecture
Day 3 continued with a bang with an entertaining and insightful keynote by Mike Muller, ARM’s CTO. Muller used words from A through Z (a couple a little contrived) to show his vision for 2020. The main takeaway for me being that we are now working in energy constrained systems, whether they are phones...

Breadth of ARM Ecosystem Demonstrated at Software and Systems Design Day

After a successful Chip Design Day at ARM TechCon, the Software and Systems Design focus was packed with overflowing crowds, ARM and ARM Connected Community Partner exhibits and engaging technical sessions. Below are a diverse set up video interviews that demonstrate the breadth of activities that the ARM ecosystem engages in.

Katie Morgan chatted with Brian Carlson of Texas Instruments on the continued success of the OMAP 4 and what we have to look forward to with OMAP 5.

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ARM Partner Collaboration in Full Force at Chip Design Day, ARM TechCon 2011

Simon Segars, EVP and GM of PIPD Division at ARM, opened the 7th annual ARM TechCon in a warm and sunny Santa Clara today. The first day of the conference focused on chip design Simon hosted the morning keynotes which started with a talk by Senior Vice President of R&D at TSMC, Dr Shang-Yi Chiang who talked in front of a standing room only auditorium about the TSMC Open Innovation Platform (OIP) and the ARM Connected Community.

Second up was Walden C. Rhines from Mentor Graphics who gave a very entertaining and interesting keynote about how differentiation starts at the prod...

A closer look at ARM TechCon 2011

Last year ARM TechCon earned the distinction of being one of the top twenty-five fastest growing events in 2010 by Expo Magazine. The event drew over 2,500 total attendees from 52 countries and provided three days of comprehensive technical sessions for designing with the ARM architecture. This year promises to build on last year’s success offering more courses, networking opportunities and demonstrations to further your ARM design expertise.

In-depth Classroom Sessions: ARM TechCon 2011 offers over 95 classroom sessions delivering best-in-class strategies, tools and IP blocks for optimizing your ARM IP-based design. Whether you are a hardware system designer or software developer this year’s event has a technical track that will increase your expertise designing with the ARM architecture.

Day 1 – Chip Design sessions
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An Open TLM 2.0 Virtual Platform Solution for ARM Processor-based Systems

It is very difficult for customers to meet aggressive project schedules without starting software development before silicon is available. For most customers that means an FPGA, or emulation. Increasingly customers are looking at a virtual model of the SoC to start software before the silicon specifications are finalized.

ARM’s Rob Kaye presented a paper at CDNLive! EMEA user conference in May titled “SoC Architecture Analysis with ARM Fast Models”. In that paper he presented the advantages of the Cadence Virtual System Platform solution with ARM Fast Models for software development and architectural analysis.

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Included in the process of finalizing the silicon specifications is the need to choose the processor core (performance, power, area, ...

Meet at Design Automation Conference (DAC) 2011

Design Automation Conference (DAC) is ready to go and is waiting for all of you to come down to San Diego and meet. In the last few years, DAC has expanded its scope beyond traditional design automation. A series of new initiatives has lead to a new DAC, a DAC ready for the next 50 years.

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DAC is the best place to find the latest on Silicon, IP, EDA tools and Embedded Software and Systems all under one roof. DAC brings together these four elements essential to modern system design.

At one end of the spectrum we have strengthened the link to silicon. You can now meet the leading foundries at DAC. The TSMC and GLOBALFOUNDRIES booths have grown to become some of the largest at DAC. At the other end DAC now meets embedded. More than one third of the technical program is focused on Embedd...

A Royal Wedding & the Embedded Systems Conference - 2 reasons for Celebration

As Prince William walks down the aisle with Princess Kate(?) it would probably be fair to say that the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in San Jose will be far from their minds. But both are reasons to celebrate, for Royalists and republicans alike.

As the royal couple embark on their new life in the media spotlight, the embedded community will be bursting into the glow that is the Embedded Systems Conference.

This year’s ESC Silicon Valley (or ESC West as those of us old enough to remember used to say) will once again be a feast fit for a King. With a host of conference papers, hands on workshops, tutorials, demos, and new products, all aimed at helping embedded system developers get the most out of their next design project.

In addition to a number of technology demos, covering tools, MCUs and high-perform...

Embedded World: Driven by Innovation of ARM Partners

One of the best parts of being on the ARM Connected Community team is traveling to tradeshows to see the new products the ARM Partners have created. Embedded World 2011 (EW2011) has been exciting with all the new ARM Partner announcements. Let me highlight some of my travels through EW2011 with NVIDIA, Toradex, Marvell, Freescale, ...

Hold the Front Page! ARM Partners News Avalanche at Embedded World!

The ARM Connected Community stole the front page yesterday at Embedded World, as well as pages two, three and four with an avalanche of news and new ARM processor-based products.

On top of announcements from Monday were Fujitsu, NXP and Keil, and yesterday we saw more hot news announcements from Xilinx, Microsoft, Texas Instruments and ...

ARM Ecosystem Gets Smart at Embedded World

The strapline of this year’s Embedded World event in Germany is “It’s a Smarter World” and appropriately enough the ARM ecosystem’s representation at the show is going to be smarter than the King of Smartland wearing a T-shirt saying “I’m Smart”.

The conference segment of the event has more than 14 ARM focussed presentations and workshops from ARM and our Partners including Freescale, IAR, Ittiam, Hitex and ...

ARM & Embedded Labs: Redefining Industrial Automation Systems at EW 2011

If you’re in Nuremberg at Embedded World next week be sure to drop by the ARM stand (hall10, booth 343) to see how ARM and Embedded Labs are redefining the architecture of industrial automation systems. For many years the industrial automation market has dreamt of a new era of smart devices, where every device in the system can freely communicate at all levels of the enterprise. Leveraging the power of the ARM Cortex-M3 processor and OPC-UA, Embedded Labs have made this dream a reality.

What is OPC-UA and why is it important?
OPC-UA is a communications standard from the OPC Foundation that is gaining traction not only in the industrial automation industry, but also in building automation and smart grid applications. OPC-UA was designed from the ground up to be multi-platform and enables seamless communication between all components of an automation system and the enterprise.
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Time to Spice Up Embedded

The first few months of the year are a busy time for the electronics industry. Amid the bright neon lights of Las Vegas in January CES unveils to the world the latest in must-have consumer devices, from 3D TVs and ARM processor-powered tablets to the weird and wonderful gadgets we didn’t know we needed - but will all want next year.

Then in the balmy sunshine of fashionable Barcelona comes MWC in February, where the latest and greatest ARM Powered® smartphones with multicoloured touchscreen technology jostle with the latest gesture recognition technology for their place in the limelight.

Finally in March comes Embedded World in Nurnberg which is full to bursting with...well...tiny ...

ARM Cortex-M4 Struts its Stuff at Embedded World

The ARMv7-M architecure profile was created to address the needs of the microcontroller (MCU) market for the high-performance combined with low power and small size. To the Cortex-M0 processor, the smallest footprint MCU processor and the Cortex-M3 processor offering more capability and a richer instruction set, at last year’s Embedded World, ARM added the Cortex-M4 processor.

The Cortex-M4 processor’s strength is particularity in its DSP instructions as well as its optional VFP (floating point) optional extension making it a perfect processor for Digital Signal Control (DSC). The first silicon I saw was presented a...

The future of mobile - It's all about innovation at MWC

ARM technology and Partners are everywhere at Mobile World Congress. Yesterday’s blog highlighted LTE technology from Mindspeed and Picochip in addition software partners Microsoft and Rovio. Today at Mobile World Congress we are able talk to Texas Instruments and Nvidia about their latest ARM-based multi core platforms, speak to HTC and Sony Ericcson about innovative new ARM-based handsets, and learn more...

ARM Partners in the MWC spotlight – Enjoy this inside look at ARM Technology!

ARM technology and Partners are everywhere at Mobile World Congress. While big announcement like Microsoft and Nokia partnering on Windows Phone 7 to ARM’s announcement on the broad ARM-based LTE support rolling out this year seem to be grabbing most of the headlines, we thought you’d like to see some of our favorite ARM enabled technologies on display at Mobile World Congress 2011 – and yes we did manage to cover both Microsoft and LTE.

Microsoft and Nokia join forces with Windows Phone 7 – what does this mean for ARM Partners?
Windows Phone 7 is a key operating system in mobile and guess what at Mobile World Congress 2011 it is only available on ARM based chipsets. Katie Morgan caught up with ARM Partner Microsoft to discuss Nokia Windows Phone 7 announcement and plans for new feature support on such as CDMA, IE9, HTML5, a...

Avnet & ARM’s Global Technical Seminars: Design Strategies for ARM® Systems

As a design engineer, I’ve seen a rise in the demand for higher integration, lower power and increased connectivity. ARM® is the key component in making these new customer demands a reality. Avnet Electronics Marketing and ARM have partnered together to launch the first-ever technical series combining ARM’s technology with Avnet’s entire line of leading-edge technology suppliers. We’re launching Design Strategies for ARM Systems in March 2011; geared towards teaching engineers the best ways to harness the power of ARM into their existing and future designs. Watch a short video here for more information:



Registration is open new and attendance is free. Visit www.em.avnet.com/designforarm to find out ...

Connected life at CES: Dual core platforms, tablets, & Yahoo Connected TV

CES this year is awash with innovative technology to power our connected lives. For years, technologists have talked about a future where our digital life is seamlessly integrated at home, at work, and on the go. In this future world, devices would work together to connect us to each other and to our content and high-performance processors (equivalent to super computers of the past) would power these new visionary devices. Well all I can say is this year at CES the future is now.

Are you part of the tablet craze yet? No - then you must meet the Motorola Xoom tablet!
I’m a tablet convert. If I wasn’t, CES 2011 would definitely convert me. For the first time I can explore the show and stay up to date with no laptop required staying connected with only a couple of 3G ...

Yikes! I didn’t write a speech! – ELEKTRA Awards 2010

The ARM Cortex-M4 being nominated for the ELEKTRA Awards 2010 in the Semiconductor Product of the Year – Digital category was great news. Simon Axford and I booked our place at the table, booked the chauffeur drive and brought out our dinner jackets for an evening in London. Though the ARM Cortex-M4 processor is an absolutely wonderful product, like most of us, we were trying to keep expectations low. We just wanted to enjoy the dinner and the company but at the back of our minds, we were thinking about what we might say in case, just in case, we did win!

ARM’s pervasive impact
Arriving at the Lancaster Hotel, the awards hall took my breath away. I had not expected it to be such a high profile ceremony. There were nearly about 20 awards categories and a few hundred people in the room. Looking through the nominations list, Simon and I noted there were so many ARM based products in contention! The Cortex-M4 processor itself was competing against Cortex-M0 and ...

Putting FUN in Function and Form in Evaluation Kits –TI’s EVALBOT

Tired of the evaluation kit doldrums? You’ve experienced them - most of these kits are well square, simple and static. Function before form. The Texas Instruments Stellaris® ARM® Cortex™-M3 group, who are passionate about delivering an easy and useful evaluation kit experience, turned that around with its EVALBOT.



The result is perhaps the most fun evaluation kit yet created. The kit comes with the Texas Instruments (TI) ...

ARM Techcon 2010: ARM & ARM Community Press Wrap-up

ARM Technology Conference (Techcon) 2010 has been like no Techcon before! ARM, ARM Partners, and attendees feasted their eyes on endless innovations based on ARM technology, attended sessions, hands on labs, and listened to keynotes from the likes of Dr. Gary Patton (IBM), Ron Jacoby (Yahoo) video interview, and Eric Duprat (PayPal) and that’s only the start. The buzz continued when ARM announced the new Mali-T604 graphics processor, the Processor Optimization Pack ("POP") product line, ...

Techcon Final: QNX Corvette, NXP & TI MCU, Cortex-M3 design contests galore

After a demanding, but thoroughly enjoyable, three days the 6th ARM Technology Conference has just come to an end.

So we managed to put together a final day overview video today in which we get to see:

The QNX Corvette with all of its ARM Powered technologyTI’s latest ...

Yahoo Connected TV, Mali-T604, Corelink4, Cortex-M and some beer

Welcome to second day of ARM Technology Conference (ARM Techcon) 2010. Today I’ve seen queues everywhere of people waiting to get into keynotes, technical sessions from industry leaders, theatre performances and of course the lunch queue, which just goes to show how successful this years’ event is turning out to be.

In today’s roundup video you’ll get to see snippets of the keynotes from Tudor Brown President, ARM and Ron Jocoby, Chief Architect of the Connected TV group, Yahoo! We’ve also got interviews with Mike Dimelow and Ian Smythe about the CoreLink 4 and Mali-T604 GPU product launch announcements that were made today along with a variety of clips from the show floor – but the best part for me was when I finally got to drink my cup of Cortex-M3 produced...

ARM Techcon: Marvell & IBM keynotes, Processor Optimizations and MCU Coffee

Hello from the ARM Technology Conference 2010 (Techcon) in Santa Clara, California. In its sixth year of consistent growth, Techcon’s registrations are up over 50% from last year.

The buzz from Day One included:


highlights from Marvell keynote on always-on connected devicesIBM’s keynote on how Moore’s Law is continuing to scale for smaller processesARM’s Artisan Physical IP process optimization packages and therecent NXP, Fujitsu and Energy Micro’s Cortex-M announcements and demos includinghow I’m going to have my first MCU-powered cup of coffee tomorrow
Per my tradition, I’ll start with my weather update. True to form my arrival into the USA on Sunday was met with rainy weather in the San Francisco and San Jose areas but I’m pleased to say the bad weather that has greeted me for each one of my trips to the USA this year has all cleared away and I awoke this Tuesday morning to a wonderful sunny day, all ready for the first day of this three day ARM technology and ARM developer focused show.

Marvell and IBM keynotes: Moore’s Law will Keep Up with Always On Connected Device...

1GHz+ Cortex-A9 Implementation with ARM Artisan POP

I will be talking at ARM® Technology Conference (Techcon) this week about our latest Cortex-A9 implementation project, which I am pretty excited about. Cortex-A9 is a scalable high-performance, low-power multiprocessor from ARM. It is ideally suited for applications which require high levels of performance, where the power-budget or battery life is critical. ARM implementation teams have been pushing the frequency achievable on the Cortex-A9 on various process nodes like TSMC CLN40G, Common Platform (CP) CMOS32LP etc. Recently we implemented a dual-core configuration of Cortex-A9 processor in-house and it achieved 1GHz+ frequency in the CMOS32LP process at low power. The chip was fabricated using the Samsung 32nm HKMG process, and the silicon is fully functional and worked as expected.

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The Future of ARM Linux at ARM Techcon

I’ve been in embedded development for many years and by default I guess I’m an old UNIX system programmer too. Because I saw some benefit in an OS for Embedded systems I did some investigating into several commercial offerings and the early open source alternatives. I quickly became intrigued by Linux and its application in embedded systems. Embedded Linux has exploded, and today Linux finds itself in many things we use every day, from our smartphones, to our set-top-box, to our home wireless routers and many others systems that are so deeply embedded you wouldn’t expect them to have any operating system at all.

As I developed some small Linux based systems over my career, I did find myself looking for some of the same debugging tools that I had grown accustomed to in my embedded projects. However, beyond GDB, none existed at that time or those that were available were well outside my project scope and budget so they may as well of not existed. I also found myself disappointed in the fact that the Linux distributions were always lagging the latest hardware by months if not years. The good news is now ARM has addressed both of these.

Earlier this year ARM and its ...

Out with the Old, In with the New: Real-Time at ARM Techcon

I needed to clean out some of my old files the other day and I’m talking about the paper type that actually take up space in my garage, not the kind that are on my hard disk. Going through them I started reminiscing back to when I got started in embedded design (more years ago than I care to admit). One of the first microcontrollers I programmed was the RCA ELF1802. If you don’t remember or know about the RCA ELF1802, Rockwell 6502, the Motorola 6805 or the 8080 do a little Goggling and I’m sure you’ll get a glimpse into microcontroller history. Although at the time they may have seemed complex, they are simple machines by today’s standards.

Over the last few years we have seen an explosive growth in both the number and complexity microcontrollers. One that is standing out from the others is the ARM® Cortex™-M family. Although a relatively new family in the microcontroller world it has an impressive pedigree and inherited many architectural attributes for the tried and true ARM7TDMI, but that is where the similarities end. ARM has taken the family well beyond the old ARM7TDMI days. With single cycle MAC in the ...

Don’t let your multi-core SoC get all jammed up! Learn how at ARM Techcon

So how to maximise the available memory bandwidth? Use the right system IP.

The external memory bottleneck can jam up the performance of your high performance processors and drain unnecessary power if your system design is not up to scratch. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that the external DRAM bandwidth is strictly limited by both cost and power budgets for any mobile consumer device and many tethered devices too.

Step 1: fit a memory controller that gets the maximum utilisation out of the given frequency and width of the DDR port. Step 2: use a priority driven QoS arbitration scheme that grants a clear path to low latency traffic while still giving the maximum available bandwidth to the media processors. Step 3: choose a high bandwidth, low latency, non-blocking interconnect. Step 4: choose processors that have a lower memory bandwidth requirement for the high performance required.

Find out what ARM with its new CoreLink system IP can do to when coupled with the latest Cortex and Mali processors at the ARM Techcon in Santa Clara on Nov 11th at 12:00 noon in the ARM theatre on the show floor or at 2pm in the conference session: ...

Fitting Coherency for many-core systems with shared data at ARM Techcon

Hardware cache coherency offers complete transparency to the software developer, removers the need for cache maintenance and enables higher cache utilization, raising performance and saving power.

Why do I need hardware coherency in my ARM system? To meet the environmental challenge of ever more powerful home and enterprise products that consume less energy and don’t require forced air cooling, the SoC world is embracing many-core computing: clusters of multi-core CPUs together with multi-core GPUs or arrays of DSPs. Many smaller cores running at lower frequencies offer a better power profile than 1 or 2 CPU monsters. The software running across these heterogeneous cores is also changing, to share more data. What was a dedicated games engine is now helping out with line drawing and textures in all sorts of software from the GUI to image recognition. Similarly, the CPU plays an important role in graphics software from implementing OpenGL drivers to the physics engine for CGI.

Sharing data correctly can be achieved in three ways. The simplest, keeping all shared data in common off-chip memory has a very high performance and power consumption penalty as the data is not cached. This also affects other software by clogging up the external memory interface with unnecessary off-chip traffic. Software cache maintenance, flushing shared areas back to main memor...

Work & play in the online world: why I care about virtualisation at ARM Techcon

System Virtualization allows multiple OS and applications to run on my SoC platform without interfering with each other.

The computing and mobile worlds are converging. We’re all moving to a new paradigm where your personal, mobile ‘gadget of choice’ becomes your tool for working and playing in the online world. Whilst hardware helps with performance, cost and battery life, what your gadget can actually do is largely defined by software. Software is also the largest and fastest growing cost of bringing products to market.

Q. So how can I, the SoC designer, make more software available sooner on my platform?
A. Virtualization.

So how can I make more software available sooner on my platform? One easy way that is transferring from the computing world to the mobile world is system (CPU and IO) virtualisation. A conceptually simple idea; where the hardware is mapped to where the software expects it to be and not vice-versa. Now drivers and OS object files can run unmodified on a new hardware platform, and different OS for different worlds (think Android, WebOS, Symbian, etc.) can all run unmodified on the same hardware and even simultaneously!

Downloaded ‘apps’ have the potential to literally make or break my gadget. I want different work and home profiles, my employer wants security for company data, OEMs don’t want...

Embedded Live & AETC: Cortex-M et ARM Connected Community

Pour les dix ans de l’AETC, des journalistes du Figaro, des Echos et de Monde sont venus s’entre...

Embedded Live 2010, flooded with ARM and Cortex-M MCUs, Sessions and Demos

I must admit that I don’t like large cities. One of the issues I have with the metropolis is the terrible traffic. However, after spending hours on the London underground, switching from stations to stations in order to get to the Embedded Live venue, I felt all the trouble finally paid back as I got to see that ARM microcontroller designs are everywhere…A Partner even said to me "This feels like an ARM show. You know why? Because ARM is in fashion. ARM is THE fashion of the tech world, and people want to follow fashion.”

Technical sessions and demos on Cortex M from multiple Partners

In addition to the NXP and Freescale presentations on the ARM Cortex M0, M3 and M4 (which I have highlighted in my previous blog ...

Deep Technical ARM Content Picked by EE Times’ Ron Wilson is Now Discounted!

Sean O’Kane from Cadence’s Chip Estimate group recently stopped by the ARM office in San Jose to learn more about the upcoming ARM Technology Conference (Techcon) from ARM’s Ian Ferguson. Ian highlights one of the best parts of the conference for me – the technical sessions. One of the exciting new developments this year is that conference sessions have been hand selected by the renowned editor Ron Wilson and will provide a full complement of sessions regardless of your level of expertise in designing with ARM.

50% Discount for Technical Sessions with ARM50
And the best news of all, now you can attend these sessions for less! ARM and EE Times are offering a special 50% discount on the cost to attend the technical conferences at this year’s Techcon. To take advantage of this special opportunity please use the promo code – ARM50 when ...

Why You Belong at Chip Design Day at ARM’s Techcon

When you visit the ARM Technology Conference (Techcon) main web page, you’ll notice two helpful tools: one to build your own custom schedule, and a second to help you create an attendance justification letter for your boss. I’m going to offer my suggestions for your schedule on November 9 (Chip Design Day).

Justifications: important meetings, save future design time and networking
I can also help with boss justification:
Paper: I’ve found that the most effective technique is to say “But I have a paper there! I have to go”. If you haven’t already used that for Techcon it’s a bit late now, so here are some alternatives:
Meetings: First, if travel is required, mention that important customer/supplier/division X will be there (or is just next door since it’s in Silicon Valley) and you’ll have time to drop by, plus airfares and hotel rates are cheap.
Save future work time: You’ll also need to mention that the time it takes out of your busy sched...

ARM TechCon: More MCU Solutions Than You Can Shake an ARM Powered Stick at!

What did we do before somebody invented microcontrollers? Answers on a postcard please.

It does seem hard to imagine a life without those little things that control our cars, our washing machines, our kids’ toys, in fact almost everything around us at home, at work and on the move seems to contain a microcontroller.

There is certainly no escape from them at the ARM TechCon, so for designers looking to include an MCU in their next project the ARM TechCon is a must visit event.

As most people will know, ARM has low power in its DNA and the development of the Cortex-M series of MCU processors is chock full of ARM genes. From the launch of the Cortex-M3 in 2005, the Cortex-M series has grown to include a processor for just about every low power MCU application imaginable. From the ultra low power Cortex-M0 processor which is rapidly displacing inefficient 8 and 16-bit devices from designs, up to the ...

ARM Techcon Day 3: More than 40 technical presentations for System Designers

The last day of many conferences often resembles closing time in my local bar. A few die-hards nursing one last drink as the bar tenders begin to put the chairs on the tables. But that could not be further from the truth at this year’s action-packed ARM Techcon where the excitement keeps on going right to the end!

Day three (November 11th) of Techcon features a full program of 40 presentations including sponsored tracks from NXP and ARM, plus a packed schedule of presentations in the show floor theatre. The ARM sponsored track on day three will include presentations based on two of ARM’s latest processors - the Cortex-A5 processor which was launched at last year’s ARM Techcon, and ARM’s ultra low power processor the Cortex-M0 which has had great success in displacing many 8 and 16-bit MCUs in the market since its laun...

ARM Techcon 2010 – “It’s not your Grandfather’s Techcon”

How did I become the “Grandfather of Techcon?” The other day a colleague referred to me this way Grandfather of Techcon. Begrudgingly, I chalked it up to yet another indication of how I have aged in the past few years; black hair migrating to salt-and- pepper and recently to an even grey.

Upon further recollection, I begin to agree with the new moniker. I reflected on the first time I broached the subject with ...

Embedded Live 2010: Over 25 ARM Cortex-M Sessions!

Within less than a week over 20 ARM Connected Community members will showcase ARM technology at Embedded Live 2010 in London, UK, showing the impressive strength and growth of the ARM ecosystem. Come visit the ARM Connected Community Pavilion at booth 130 and meet experts from Toshiba, Canonical and Parasoft. The following Connected Community member companies will also show a diverse range of innovative and exciting demonstrations featuring industry-leading ARM technology:

Arrow Europe, Canonical, ...

ARM 725+ Partners: we read you loud and clear, but not enough

ARM particular business model means ARM success is foremost its Partners’. That’s why we naturally opened our blogs to ARM Connected Community (CC) Partners; so we can share experience and discuss future ARM Powered® products in a consolidated place on ARM.com.

We are delighted to have already featured nine of our 725+ Partners.

Tim Closs, Ideaworks Labs: Airplay SDK 4.0: Indies can afford to take apps cross-platformEnrica Filippi, ST Ericsson: Making smartphones a mainstream realitySteve Subar, ...

ESC Boston: ARM’s Cortex-M3 in new designs, robots, analog, FPGA & new cores

I have just been attending the Embedded Systems Conference 2010 here in sunny Boston - wonderful temperatures of 70-83F. For anyone like me who has now forgotten what Fahrenheit means, it's 21-28C. I thought I would put this in for the benefit of my colleague, friend and "anchor man" Andy Frame, who usually gives us a weather report. Not much chance to enjoy the weather though, as I've spent most of the time scuttling around in air-conditioned conference halls reviewing ESC Boston’s ARM’s Cortex-M3 development kits from Actel, Fujitsu, NXP, ST & TI.

NXP’s new core & de...

ESC East: Build You Own Embedded System with Microsoft, Beagleboard, TI & ARM

I’m looking forward to Embedded Systems Conference – ESC East next week in Boston. ESC East offers four days of technical classes with an Expo featuring 150+ exhibitors including another ARM Connected Community Pavilion and loads of ARM Partners’ with keynotes, technical sessions and tutorials.

One workshop that I’d like to highlight this year is by Microsoft and Beagleboard. They are hosting a 2-day intense embedded training. The “track” is called Build Your Own Embedded System – Beagleboard Workshop. This is an excellent opportunity to get your hands on Windows Embedded Compact 7 and an ARM Cortex A8 based Texas Instrument’s ...

ARM technology and innovation to help solve the global water crisis

With the World Water Week happening in Stockholm this week, the key themes coming from the conference include water management and governance in a shifting climate and the business imperative of cost efficient solutions to water security and urban water management. Supplying water of adequate quality and in sufficient quantities is one of the major challenges facing modern society. This is driven by 3 mega trends:Population growth – an explosion of population is leading the demand for food and waterRapid urbanization and industrialization – countries with strong GDP growth is driving development of the next billion peopleClimate Change – shifting climate patterns has an impact on our water supplyOECD forecasts by 2030, the demand supply gap in water will be around 40%.

The world water crisis is primarily driven by poor water management practices, which result in:
Water loss from the distribution networkHigh amount of energy used in pumping, treating and moving waterRapidly degrading water supply and wastewater infrastructureLack of integrated operations and maintenance systems to manage a heterogeneous water infrastru...

Show me the chips! Cortex-M4 based microcontrollers have arrived

The semiconductor IP industry is truly fascinating…Being the world’s leading semiconductor IP vendor, ARM is in the unique position of developing technology that shapes the future of electronics that surrounds us. The decisions we make today drive the incredible range of possibilities for the industry over the next few years. When we were developing the Cortex-M4, we would talk everyday about the kinds of cool products it would enable one day.

Now we are one big step closer to this being a reality!

Freescale has announced an incredible portfolio of over 200 MCUs based on the Cortex-M4 processor. The Kinetis family provides a large and highly scalable product portfolio, with the Cortex-M4 running at between 50MHz and 180 MHz across 7 product families.

It’s a very exciting time for the Cortex-M4 team at ARM right now. It is very satisfying to see exciting new products making it to the market so soon after processor IP availability. This is a huge testament to the ARM technology and business model!

The p...

A memorable week – Flash memory summit and a wedding

This week is turning out to be a truly “memorable” week.. Smart mobile devices that capture my memories and the thought leadership at Flash Memory Summit collided to bring me some interesting insight. It started off for me with a bout of wedding planning as my niece is getting married this Saturday. Indian weddings are designed to be memorable, not only because they are colorful, chaotic and noisy, but because they tend to last for days. So you might imagine the planning for these weddings is also colorful, chaotic and noisy and this week we have tried to create new memories by trying to relive old ones and what I mean by this is collecting pictures of the bride and groom from birth to current day for us to remember what has brought them to this memorable event, their wedding.

The process of planning the wedding, got me thinking about how much memory, these memories are going to take to capture.. pun intended.. and in general how much flash memory was going to be in attendance at this wedding through people with their smartphones, digital cameras and video cameras. I figured that of the 400 guests at least 200 iphones (average 8GB = 20...

Is SOI the Holy Grail solution for addressing the power gap in advanced SoC designs?

According to some industry pundits Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology clearly enables more power efficient SoC designs. But is this advanced manufacturing technology the Holy Grail solution for addressing the power gap between performance and battery life in advanced SoC designs?

What are the factors behind the power gap? Well, let’s start with the obvious – design complexity. You don’t have to look very far to see that consumer and embedded devices are becoming more intelligent and supporting the latest in robust features. From the iPad to home entertainment, advanced functionality is abundant in products that just a few years ago were one step above dummy terminals. In parallel, products are finding themselves risking extinction fueled by hybrid devices offering a myriad of applications that were once the secure domain of function specific device, i.e. GPS systems and the new iPhone or Droid.

However, these addin...

East Greets West 2: Embedded Seminars: Rise of ARM Microcontroller Devices

Last week I wrote about my visits to Shanghai and Beijing as part of the 2010 ARM Embedded Development Seminar road show highlighting ARM’s Cortex-M microcontroller processor family, our Partners’ ARM-based products and ARM’s tools for Linux. I left you as a tornado was heading towards Shenzhen. Thankfully the tornado wasn’t so bad in the area I was staying and here I am to tell you about the final stops in China with record attendance and continued growth of Cortex-M devices.

Shenzhen Embedded Seminar: MCUs and CoreSight Debug Tools
Shenzhen has seen some dramatic growth over the last thirty years. Its Special Economic Zone status has seen it grow from a small fishing village of a few hundred fishermen to be southern mainland China's major financial centr...

East Greets West: ARM Embedded China Seminars: Microcontrollers to Typhoon

It’s July 2010 and this week (and next) I’m travelling with a few of my ARM colleagues as we visit some of the hot beds of ARM embedded design in China with the four city 2010 ARM Embedded Development Seminar road show highlighting ARM’s Cortex-M microcontroller processor family, our Partners’ ARM-based products and ARM’s tools for Linux. This blog and the next will detail the events as well as my experiences in China, including my typical weather updates.

The tour started off last Monday in Shanghai near to where the first ARM China office was opened in 2002 and now employs a team of 22.

An overview of the full event and schedule is available at http://www.arm.com/files/event/ARM-Embedde...eminar-2010.pdf

The morning of each event is dedicated to presentations from ARM. I present three presentations: Targeting new microcontroller markets with the Cortex™-M...

Webinar: Software Prototyping at Near Real-Time Speeds With ARM FastModels


If you would like to listen and watch this broadcast that I will present, please register and drop in on Tuesday July 27, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT and I will be happy to hear from you. I invite you to send me your questions before (or...

Maximize Performance with ARM’s Interconnect NIC-301 & ChipEstimate at DAC



The CoreLink Network Interconnect is highly configurable, and can be optimized to ...

Cypress PSoC 5: Device & development board availability milestone achieved

Two weeks ago samples and evaluation and development kits for the Cypress PSoC 5 were made available to the general public. This is our first 32-bit PSoC product and we are utilizing the 32-bit market’s fastest growing core, the ARM CortexTM-M3 processor.

Attached Image

From a high level PSoC 5 is an extremely flexible microcontroller with programmable analog and digital peripherals which can be connected to each other in any way and routed to any GPIO.

I am always excited to see how our customers will harness these chip resources for use in innovative semiconductor platforms. One of the coolest examples of this was capacitive sensing (CapSense). When Cypress developed PSoC 1, capacitive sensing in commercial electronics ...

Breaking news - Freescale announces their ARM Cortex-M4 product range

This week I’m in Orlando, Florida at the Freescale Technology Forum or FTF Americas as it is also known. True to form my visits to the US this year covering the Embedded System Shows (ESC) in San Jose and Chicago, as each of my previous event blogs this year has highlighted, the weather is promising rain, this time in the form of isolated thunder storms! But enough about the weather - the big news today has been the announcement of the Kinetis microcontroller family based on the Cortex-M4. As you may already know the Cortex-M4 is the latest product in the Cortex-M processor line up, joining the ...

Social Media @ DAC: Role of Journalists, Alcohol and Print vs. Online

Social media at 46DAC: a major topic and I’d suggest it was a time of learning (what is it and how do I do it?) from the true trend setters. Social media at 47DAC: social media is a given, so now the question is who’s using it and how? What will last? How can I be more effective? Highlights from the Embedded Journalist interview with Mike Santarini of Xilinx, including how corporate parties were a key to his success and the debate between print and online.

Comparing Social Media Usage from 46DAC to 47DAC

As I mentioned in my pre-DAC blog, social media was a major topic last year at DAC, so I was very curious on how it would play out this year. Last year twitter and blogging were the rage and the twitter tower with the twitter screens was a big discussion. In the year that has past, there’s been a huge increas...

ARM @ DAC: eReaders, Wafers and Demos from GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Samsung

Wednesday was the last day of Design Automation Conference (DAC) and I spent my time visiting some of the ARM demos at the ARM Connected Community Partner booths learning about the various ways that our technology is being used with our Partners’ technologies and generally catching up with Partners. Highlights include the eReader, wafers and demos at the Common Platform booth and the presentation at the GlobalFoundries (GF) booth.

Common Platform: eReader, wafers and demos

I wandered over to the Common Platform (CP) booth to see multiple demos, some actual wafers and the Barnes and Noble Nook eReader on display. Starting with the eye candy in the display case, I learned that the Nook has a Samsung S3C6410 Application Processor (ARM1176) with 65nm LP that runs at 533MHz. There were also two wafers in the case: a 28nm LP HKMG wafer from GF and a 32nm LP HKMG wafer from Samsung. ...

ARM @DAC: GF Collaboration, 32nm Physical IP, Early SW Development Tools

Tuesday was another full day of ARM everywhere at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) with a special emphasis on the Physical IP products. And my blog from Monday’s (ARM @ 47DAC: IP Collaboration, MCUs, Software Tools, Memory BIST and Zydeco) didn’t even cover all of my activities from Monday. Today’s highlights include:

GlobalFoundries (GF) keynote From Contract to Collaboration: Delivering a New Approach to Foundry by CEO, Doug GroseARM IP Talks at ChipEstimate BoothAccess Innovation Luncheon with ARM, Common Platform, Synopsys and GF: 32/28nm Delivered with HKMGAchieve Early Software Development Pre-Silicon with ARM and EDA ToolsARM DAC press newsARM Connected Community PartnersGlobalFoundries: Collaboration is the Key

...

ARM @ 47DAC: IP Collaboration, MCUs, Software Tools, Memory BIST and Zydeco

My 47DAC blog review yesterday about Electronic Design Automation (EDA) activities (ARM everywhere, EDA, Cloud Computing & Computex) ended suggesting that it looked like it was going to be another good week for ARM and the ARM Connected Community – and today did not disappoint.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Dr. John Heinlein’s Keynote - Collaboration with foundries and EDAPredictions of ARM’s growth in new markets (microcontroller (MCU))A declaration about ARM as a leader in software toolsTechnology announcements about a standard port for MemoryBIST andMy favorite -Live Zydeco musicNow that’s a full day with ARM everywhere. Read on to get the inside scoop…..

John Heinlein IP Kenote – Mobile technology, Collaboration, and 32/28nm

My day started outside of the convention center (via the scooter I was riding – the only way to get through DAC) when I was greeted by the ChipEstimate ...

47DAC reception: ARM everywhere, EDA, Cloud Computing & Computex

As an earlier blog highlighted, ARM is at the heart of collaboration at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) across the SoC Design ecosystem. While the coming days will provide multiple opportunities to witness how this technical interoperability in SoC design flows, Sunday night provided several discussions of where these optimized design flows are needed to accelerate SoC design and concurrent software development.

The start of this year’s DAC was a friendly EDAC reception at the Hilton Anaheim, co-sponsored by ARM and 4 other large EDA customers: Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and STMicroelectronics. ARM co-sponsored the event as “a great celebration of design technology showcasing how partnerships between the EDA and IP industries foster creativity.” It’s the first time that EDA customers have sponsored the event as opposed to EDA vendors although there has always been a healthy mix of customers and vendors at the event. Sachin Sapatnekar, the General Chair of DAC and Kathryn Kranen, Vice Chair of...

ARM Collaboration in Action at DAC 2010

Fully supporting the 2010 Design Automation Conference (DAC) and collaborating with the ARM Connected Community ecosystem, ARM will be demonstrating a wide array of design tools, methodologies, flows and IP for optimizing your ARM-based SoC designs. You won’t want to miss a full complement of panels, demonstrations, presentations and special events dedicated to showcasing ARM technology. Visit the 40+ ARM Partners at their booths.

June 14-16, 2010
9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Anaheim Convention Center

ARM Community Presentations & Panels


Monday June 14th
9:00 am – 6:00 pm Promo Advancing 28nm and Beyond Design Through Industry Collaboration – Demonstration
GLOBALFOUNDRIES – Booth #57432/28nm Delivered - Demonstration
...

Computex 2010 News Wrap-Up: Android, Tablets, Linaro and more…O my!

Well Computex 2010 Taipei turned out to be an exhilarating week for ARM and the ARM Community. From the launch of Linaro and the incredible devices our Partners had on display at the show, we could not be more anxious for what is to come in the future of technology. Below you will find all the information you could want and more about Computex 2010: ARM Computex Blogs, Press Highlights, and videos from Charbax.

ARM Computex Blogs:Diversity & innovation bring Computex a long way in 15 years
June 10, 2010 Collaboration at ARM and what it means for Linaro
June 3, 2010Computex: Windows Embedded Compact 7 Highlights Investment in ARM
June2, 2010...

Mike Santarini, Xilinx – Now It’s Your Turn to Ask the Hard Questions at DAC



At first I was ecstatic because I knew that Mike will be an easy and interesting interviewee because I’ve seen him on the other side for many years. Three strengths immediately come to mind when I think of Mike: strong writing, thorough research and sharp questions....

ESC Chicago: More ARM MCU Partners, Videos and even Rain

So a few weeks have passed since the ESC in San Jose (check out the ESC highlights video below that we have just uploaded at to ARMflix and meet John again, a character that we introduced to the world just before the show in another ESC promotional video).



Now it’s the turn of Chicago to hold the next ESC event. There hasn’t been an ESC in Chicago since 2002 and at that time it was at the McCormick Place Convention Centre in Chicago rather than the Donald E. Stephens Convention Centre in Rosemont, close to O’Hare International airport.

The show has partnered up with the ...

Tablets, eReaders, Smartbooks: You Name the Device and It’s News at Computex

June 4th marks the last day of Computex 2010 Taipei. With so many innovative and revolutionary designs being displayed at the show, I am looking forward to the day when all of the devices are available to consumers. We have seen some great highlights this week, and you can take a look at more news and media surrounding ARM and the ARM Community.

ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson, TI Form Linux Company
By Suzanne Deffree, EDN, June 3, 2010
Six major electronics industry companies are putting their weight behind open source, announcing the formation of a not-for-profit company committed to providing new resources and industry alignment for software developers using Linux on SOCs. The company, Linaro, starts up with support from ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson, and Texas Instruments, all of which will invest resources in open-source projects that can then be used by Linux-based distributions.

Plextor Also Adopts Marvell's Controller In SATA 6.0Gbps SSD
By Sebastian...

Computex Day 3: It’s all about Partnership: Linux , Google, Devices and More

Computex 2010 has made it easy to see that through collaboration and dedication the ARM ecosystem is thriving and are leading innovators in the industry. From innovative smart mobile devices to newly announced not-for-profit open source collaborations, Computex is stirring up some interesting news. Below is list of news and media coming from Computex about ARM and ARM Partners.

Collaboration at ARM and what it means for Linaro
By Kerry McGuire, ARM – Smart Mobile Devices Blog, June 3, 2010“So it is with this history that I welcome today’s Linaro announcement. Linaro is a not-for-profit company that is aimed at accelerating Linux product development for advanced SoC’s by providing a stable and optimized software base for multiple distributions and developers that has been validated across a wide range of advanced SoC’s.”

ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Form New Company to Speed the Rollout o...

Computex News: Tablets, Android, Snapdragon Processor & More

We are mid week now at Computex 2010 and if you are attending the show, I would be surprised if you hadn’t already seen multiple ARM Powered Devices around the show floor. Everyone is talking about Tablets and what role they are expected to play in the market, but in other exciting news Qualcomm’s announced that they began shipping their third-generation ARM-based Snapdragon processor. Below you will find more news media on what’s happening at Computex around ARM and the ARM Community.

ARM Readies Dual Core CPU Onslaught With 1.2 GHz Snapdragon
By Jason Mick, Daily Tech, June 1, 2010
There's no secret why the ARM architecture has trounced the x86 architecture in the mobile arena. The lowest Intel mobile processors (utilizing the Atom architecture) can get is 0.65 W (800 MHz Silverthorne, Atom Z Series), while ARM processors are typically well below half a watt in power consumption.

Intel, ARM E...

F1 in Austin, a TVR, a BMW and the Cortex-M0 Webinar

Having moved from the UK to Austin a year ago I was both elated and surprised to hear the announcement last Tuesday that Formula 1 is coming to Austin in 2012. I've always liked fast cars so I couldn't have been more happy. One thing I didn't expect on moving here was to be able to attend a local F1 event. Hot weather, big trucks and rodeo? Check! Expected that. F1?.....Not so much. Although as Austin doesn't currently have a suitable circuit I hope they can get it all sorted in time...

Talking of fast cars, about a year after I joined Acorn Computers as a recent graduate, just around the time my boss Mike Muller was attempting to spin out ARM (it worked out OK), I attended the 1990 Birmingham Motor Show where the star of the show was the newly revealed TVR Griffith. When I saw it I said to myself "I'm going to have one of those when I can afford it". It took me 10 years to affor...

ARM @ Computex 2010 Press Coverage - Day 1

ARM Powered devices are popping up everywhere at Computex 2010 and we are excited to see the new trends developing in the market. Tablets are proving to be a hot topic this year at the show and with the excitement around the new ARM processor (Eagle) Computex is shaping up to be a great show. Below are some of the relevant news and updates about ARM and ARM Partners at Computex 2010.

ARM Eagle Next Generation Core at Computex 2010
By Shane McGlaun, Slash Gear, May 31, 2010
Back in February 2010 we spied a leaked roadmap from ARM that had something called Eagle listed. The processor roadmap showed Eagle to be a new CPU from ARM that would be aimed at the smartphone, mobile computing, and DTV markets among others. At Computex ARM confirmed that Eagle was in fact its next generation core for high-end platforms. ARM also talked about other things during its conference at Computex reports CarryPad.

Compal Readies Windows, Android and MeeGo Tablets
By Dan Nystedt, PC World, June 1, ...

ARM at Computex 2010: ‘Smart’ Devices, Google & Cloud Computing

Some people say, Computex this year in Taipei, Taiwan June 1-5th is going to be awesome. Last year we saw the ARM alliance announced the Laptop 2.0 concept device - smartbook with All-day use, Always On, Always Connected features and lots of OEM/ODM demonstrated their smartbook concepts in front of public and it was a great experience.

Computex is one of the largest computer trade shows in the world and it focuses on the both high and low end-products and components that make up the computers we use on a daily basis. It used to be the show for the local manufacturing firms to show off some of their latest technology to foreign buyers. Now Computex is one of the leading trade shows that caters to every aspect of the computer industry and also combines various consumer based products.

Besides the technology update from the ecosystem partners on Chrome OS and Flash support which demonstrating full internet browsing experiences on consumer-grade products, this year we expect more and more Android based devices at Computex ...

“智能” 设备, 谷歌 和 云计算

有人说,今年 6 月 1 日 至 5 日在中国台湾台北市举行的国际电脑展 (Computex) 将是一场大放异彩的盛会。去年,我们看到了 ARM 联盟发布的 Laptop 2.0 概念设备 — 配有全天使用 (All-day use)、持续运作 (Always On)、保持联机 (Always Connected) 功能的智能本,很多 OEM/ODM 也公开展示了其智能本概念,那是一次特别非凡的体验。

Computex 是世界最大的计算机贸易展之一,它同时聚焦高端和低端产品及组件,这些产品和组件构成了我们日常使用的计算机。该电脑展原本为本地制造公司向国外购买者展示其某些最新技术的展会。如今,Computex 已经成为满足计算机行业各个方面需求,并融合了各种基于消费者的产品的顶级贸易展之一。

除了来自生态系统合作伙伴关于 Chrome 操作系统的技术更新和针对消费级产品展示全网...

ARM Cortex-M Webinar: Moving from the old to the new

“Hello World” as many of us wrote in our very first program code, well this is my very first blog and I thought I would let you know about an event that I broadcast with my Colleague Richard York last week, Migrating Microchip PIC18 or PIC24 to ARM Cortex-M MCUs - Moving from the old to the new. You can link to the on-demand web page here and get the official word on our webinar, but beyond the technical details our broadcast was really about moving on from the old technology that we probably used as the target for that ‘hello world’ code and taking that next step into the processor architecture for 21st century. Richard had just returned from USA as he had just spent the week in the valley at ESC 2010 talking with everyone about all that is exciting and hot in the embedded world of microcontrollers and we added some latest product info into our broadcast. If you want to see more about ARM at ESC 2010 we have put some video of interviews and demos from ESC up on our YouTube channel ARMflix. So if you have read this far and would like to listen...

Webinar: Gluing Together Processors With Multimedia Ok, Not UK Politics

On Thursday May 6th something very important happened...It was the TechOnline webinar delivered by myself from ARM on 'QoS for High Performance and Power-Efficient HD Multimedia'. There was also an election in the UK. But the chaotic scenes of voters being turned away at 10pm at close of polls in places like Sheffield were thankfully not repeated by TechOnline. Our turn-out on the day may be only 38% of those that registered, but unlike UK voters those unable to attend the webinar get a second chance as it's available for download for the next 12 months. Furthermore, unlike a party manifesto where you know that most of it is not true and will never happen, our accompanying whitepaper available for download is all true and it won't send you to sleep reading it.

Thanks to our Sheffield engineering team for creating a truly great product in the QoS-301 Advanced Quality of Service option for the NIC-301 Network Interconnect. No thanks to Sheffield pollsters for the disorganized chaos in Sheffield Hallam where the ARM fabric engineering team creates the products to glue ARM processors and multimedia accelerators together.

Those interested in gluing together processors with multimedia accelerators should download the webinar ...

Thank you and goodnight from San Jose ESC

I had a fantastic week in San Jose at the 2010 Embedded Systems Conference and I’m pleased to say that, contrary to the original weather reports, the weather actually held out most of the time during the week with a little rain on the Tuesday. I think the fact that I’m English makes me so (bad) weather obsessed!

I managed to catch up with many of the ARM silicon partners and third party tools vendors and some of those interviewed have already been posted on the ARMflix YouTube channel. Obviously I wasn’t able to meet all of the 700+ members of the ARM Connected Community but that leaves plenty of scope for the next event.

Just before the show wrapped up on Thursday I managed to speak to Dan Isaacs, Director Technical Marketing at Xilinx about the newly announced Extensible Processing Platform.

Earlier in the week at the show Xilinx had announced the new Extensible Processing Platform that ‘will deliver unrivalled levels of system performance, flexibility and...

The Next Embedded Systems: What’s on the Minds of the Industry’s Best?

A late April shower did not stop attendance at this year’s Silicon Valley ESC. The hum of engineers talking at various booths, along with that characteristic blue glow of smart phones reflecting off the faces of attendees, made me feel quite at home. I had one main goal for attending this show: To understand the latest uses of ARM processors in the embedded market. Accomplishing this would demonstrate how the industry’s best are solving current problems with 8/16/32-bit processing in embedded applications. Examples below include Texas Instruments’ Stellaris MCU “learning” robots, and my favorite, Roving Networks’ smartphone-enabled temperature control unit.

I boldly set off to where many attendees had gone before: the ESC exhibit hall. My first stop was the Texas Instruments’ booth (#1332), where they were showing these cute little battery-operated micro bots. The robots would roll along the flat surface of the table top and then bump into a wall at t...

Video Demos from Triad Semi & Express Logic at ESC 2010



Express Logic gave me a quick update on their ARM products and showed me four demos. My favor...

ESC SV 2010: New Products? Check. New Markets? Check. New Concepts? Hmmm

Although a number of companies in the past have tried (and failed) to blend ASIC and FPGA technology on the same die, I really see this combination of technologies o...

Video Interviews with Cypress & Atmel at ESC Silicon Valley 2010



Jacko Wilbrink from Atmel discusses their announcement of the two ...

How Can You Define Embedded Everywhere at ESC? With ARM MCUs!

To start off with some breaking news in the Embedded world is that at the EDN Innovation awards in San Jose last night mBed won the award in the Software/Embedded Tools category. Toshiba announced the TMPM380 Cortex-M3 based MCU specifically designed for the digital control of high-current circuits commonly found in industrial or appliance applications. In addition, Dust announced an ARM Cortex-M3 Processor Based IEEE 802.15.4 SOC. Last but not least, Atmel announced two ARM926 processor based embedded MPUs, the SAM9M11 and SAM9G46, for industrial embedded systems that require secured connectivity and authentication.

The Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) opened in San Jose, Califor...

Harry Potter and the Enchanted Embedded Systems Conference

Harry Potter would almost certainly be very impressed if he took his Nimbus 2001 broomstick for a spin around the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC). For sure the event will be attended by plenty of Dumbledore-like wizards and alleged psychics in the industry, some with a stronger link to the other side than others, willing to take money to read corporate palms or expound on the direction the semiconductor industry will take over the next twelve months to avoid the clutches of the Death Eaters. There will be plenty of games and prizes on the show floor with the same buzz as the Quidditch World Cup with no risk of being bludgeoned by beaters or seeing the ...

EW Videos Showcase Extensive ARM Cortex-M3 Product Line

At the Nuremburg Embedded World show in March 2010 ARM had the opportunity to interview a number of the ARM semiconductor partners who have products in the market based on Cortex-M3 and also catch a glimpse of the cool demonstrations they were showing on the show floor to entice many of the thousands on attendees of the show onto their stands.

The interviews with Actel’s Christian Plante, Energy Micro’s Rasmus Christian Larsen, NXP’s Joe Yu, and TI’s Jean Anne Booth are already available on the ARMflix YouTube channel and these have just been joined by an interview with ST’s Xavier Mariaud, and also a brief update on the Toshiba p...

ARM Cortex-M Webinar - Signal processing made easy

ARM invites you to attend this free webinar, 'Signal processing made easy: Developing optimized software on Cortex-M processors'


Webinar broadcast date: Thursday, April 8 2010, 10:00 AM PDT, 6:00 PM BST (5:00 PM GMT)

Overview:
Are you a MCU user looking to develop a signal processing algorithm? Are you a software developer looking for a high performance and very easy-to-program device?

Find out how to develop signal processing algorithms on Cortex-M processors. Discover how the signal processing features of the new Cortex-M4 processor make it possible to develop high performance algorithms easily in an ultra low power footprint. Take a close look at optimization techniques for tasks ranging from standard algorithms to more advanced applications like motor control.

Attend this webinar to learn:Signal processing is not just for DSPs anymore.The Cortex-M4 processor makes high performanc...

Large opportunities for small processors with ARM

I just returned from the Embedded World tradeshow in Nürnberg, Germany. Across a broad range of embedded applications, companies are increasingly using a 32-bit microcontroller where an 8-bit device once sat. The specific motivation behind the migration seems to vary depending on application or customer but generally includes:Increasing convergence of previously disparate subsystemsIncreasing application requirements driven by algorithm complexityIncreasing usage of higher level programming languages to leverage to productivity of abstraction and enable code reuseInclusion of high-value functionality like communication, as opposed to being a simple black box
However, given the intense cost sensitivity of MCU market, there is a need to ensure that the system cost points remain at a bare minimum. ARM’s focus has been inReducing the minimum configuration (and therefore silicon area) of the processor. CortexTM-M0 is 12k gates sets a new standard for this metricEnsuring a broad set of configuration options to enable the system designer to select the exact set of features needed for their specific applica...

ARM at the Center of DATE 2010

The ARM architecture is becoming so prevalent in the industry it seems to be at the foundation of the major EDA events. This year’s DATE, March 8-12, is no exception. Although ARM does not have a stand, its presence will be felt throughout the five day conference. There are a myriad of ARM Engineering management and Fellows participating in the panels or presenting papers on ARM architecture and physical IP. And no doubt the ARM logo will be predominantly and proudly displayed within the exhibitions of ARM’s vast eco-system, the ARM Connected Community.

ARM works closely with leading EDA partners for integration and optimization of ARM IP deliverables with the most advanced design flows. ARM directly collaborates with each partner in the development and validation of various design flows and methodologies, enabling successful path from Register Transfer Level (RTL) to foundry-ready GDSII. DATE will be another testament to ARM’s prolific adoption amongst the design community. Here are some highlights of the activities based on the ARM architecture.

It looks like it’s going to be another busy show for ARM and the ARM eco-system!

Please join us and our ARM partners at the following presentations:

...

“With a Ladder and Some Glasses…

…you could see to ‘Ackney marshes, if it wasn’t for the ‘ouses in between”. That chorus from a music hall song may not mean much if you weren’t born in the East End of London, but it came to mind as I walked around the Embedded World show last week. In most areas of the show floor you couldn’t look anywhere without your view being interrupted by ARM logos or Cortex-M3 demos. Actel, Atmel, Energy Micro, NXP, ST, TI and ...

Nuremberg: Cortex-M4 at Embedded World, TechCon and ARM Partners

Jump to:DS-5 Tool - Cortex-M4 Processor - EETimes Embedded Market Report - ARM Connected Community


I arrived in Nuremberg, Germany on Tuesday lunchtime and noticed immediately that the pace in Nuremberg was pretty fast. I spent the first afternoon of Embedded World at the ARM Keil booth assisting with the demo setup. Demos include the video-sphere (displaying the Earth on the photo) based on the Cortex-M3 processor and also a weather station with sensors talking to a web server through a CAN bus. Of course, all were developed using RL-ARM from Keil.

D...

ARM’s Embedded World

Anybody visiting this year’s Embedded World conference in Nurnberg could be forgiven for thinking that the event is co-sponsored by ARM due to the amount of ARM Powered devices and ARM Connected Community Partners actively participating in the event.

In fact this year the conference has dedicated a whole track to the Cortex-M family of processors, indicating exactly how pervasive the range has become throughout the embedded industry!

The list of ARM Partners who have chosen the event to unveil new ARM processor-based products or additions to their existing product lines is extensive but includes Actel, NXP, STMicroelectronics, Energy Micro and ...

“Oh what a feeling” - Powered by ARM at MWC

I have often heard that teenagers are the best predictor of what new technology is going to take hold in the near future. ..This week I got to feel like a teenager again as I walked around MWC experiencing everything from a real time video conference with a juggler to seeing a lot of excitement buzzing around the ability to click on a widget and watch my favorite video. Not to get all “we are the world “or anything but I definitely did get a sense that everyone from every corner of the world was assembling at Barcelona this week…Probably more so than in Vancouver. Clearly nowadays everyone wants to stay connected and MWC is definitely the place to find cool ways to do so...

MWC being a mobile show actually is the forum where everyone is battling to get content to the SCREEN… whether your mobile phone or your TV at home. Excitingly ARM’s technology is known for bringing energy efficient processing and the best user experience to consumers, so our technology is key to winning this battle. In that vein, I had a great conversation with a start up, that shall remain nameless, that is using ARM technology to deliver entertainment content to the home. Their choice of the ARM architecture clearly gives them a lot of choices. Whether they want to leverage other people’s hardware or develop their own...the ...

ARM Powered Nokia N95-LEGO Rubik's "Speedcuber" Creation Video

Like many of you I'm sure, I played with LEGO as a kid. When asked what I was going to do when I grew up, I gave the answers that everyone expected of me…"train driver" or "fireman". But secretly I dreamed of a job where I could spend all my time building things with my favorite toy... Well thanks to ARM's cool technology it has come true (well in-between my regular day job anyway)! As I got older, I became interested in puzzle solving, electronics and programming and my "expectations" gradually changed from train driver to chip designer. However, my hobby and dream have remained essentially the same and I continue to enjoy dabbling in construction, electronics, mathematics and software programming in my spare time.

Over the last year or so, I designed, built and programmed several LEGO machines capable of solving the well-known Rubik's cube puzzle. They are all created from off-the-shelf components (one of which may well be in your pocket right now) - a Nokia N95 mobile phone, various LEGO sets including a Mindstorms NXT robotic kit and freely available ...

Hexus TV CES interview with ARM CEO Warren East

Warren East, ARM CEO, was interviewed by Hexus TV on January 11th at CES 2010. Warren discussed how ARM’s low-power technology in mobile devices is now migrating into a broad range of consumer devices. You can find ARM in high-definition TVs, tablets, netbooks, etc….CES was just the start of the new innovations coming out that are based on ARM technology between now and Computex Taipei. Additionally, he discussed what 2010 will bring for ARM, highlighting the launch of next-generation ARM microprocessors, the shipping of more than 20 billion units (cumulative) and improvements in the ARM software ecosystem. It’s “the year of Cortex- A9 & multi-core low power processors” and it is sure to be a good one![/size][/font]

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ARM & ARM Community - CES 2010 Final Press Coverage

WOW…What a great show CES was for ARM and its Partners! It’s no wonder the energy and excitement you find on the show floor translates into an abundance of press coverage and news articles. Below are some of the articles I found most interesting:

CES 2010 - Warren East, CEO of ARM
Hexus.tv, January 11, 2010
HEXUS.tv talks to Warren East, CEO of ARM, about the abundance of ARM powered devices at CES and what the future holds for ARM.

CES: The Magic is Back
Rob Enderle, TechNewsWorld
After two relatively ho-hum years, CES is crackling again. This year was not overshadowed by any particular device -- there were plenty of exhibitors making star turns. There were lots of tablets and Androids, 3-D TVs and 3-D games. There were also a slew of e-books on display, and a particularly interesting technology that could revolutionize that market.

Mobinnova ‘Smartbook’ Images, Specs and Video Demo. Discussion with Bob Morris of ARM
By Chippy, Carrypad.com, January 11, 2010
One of the only NVIDIA’s Tegra2-based devices I really got to see in detail this week was...

ARM @ CES - Huawei, ADATA, Clear, Ford, & Tenrehte

Today started off with quite a few interesting, and personally energizing experiences for me. I was walking in the networking/home networking area and was delighted to see so many ARM based products on view there. Now, you may ask why would that be personally energizing? Well quite frankly, that’s my job, getting ARM products into Networking, storage and printing applications. And today, I got to see our products in action in those segments.

First stop Huawei booth. Huawei was showing some really exciting products. My personal favorite was the IP phone. This is a case study in convergence. It’s a Network photo frame, no it’s a media player, no it’s a SIP video phone.. Wait which is it? It’s all three! Not to sound too much like a late night TV infomercial pitch man but it was kind of cool.. I want one for home. They also had their IPTV/digital Video broadcast boxes on display.



I also saw some interesting technology applications for remote monitoring/Telemetrics. Modules that attach to your car, your electrical home meter and security cameras that allow you upload data to a central monitoring point. All these modules are based on ...

ARM TechCon3: News Wrap Up

Friday, October 23rd marked the wrap up of the last day of ARM TechCon3, ending with many informative conference sessions and powerful discussions. Here are some links to the ARM Cortex-A5, Mali and Mali Developer Center, ST-Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, TI Stellaris, Xilinx and AMBA highlights over the three days on ARM and the ARM Community.

For additional news coverage please review these posts as well:
ARM TechCon3 Day 1 - Cortex-A5, Mali Developer Center and More
ARM TechCon3 - Community means everything!

CORTEX-A5 COVERAGE

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ARM TechCon3 - Community means everything!

Another great day at ARM TechCon3, the ARM Partnership model was in full display! As many partners & Connected Community members attended conference sessions and showed off their ARM collaborations. Listed below are some of the great media coverage around ARM TechCon3 over the past two days.

ARM CTO: Power Surge Could Create 'Dark Silicon'
By Rick Merritt, EE Times, October 22, 2009
Without fresh innovations, designers could find themselves by 2020 in an era of "dark silicon," able to build dense devices they cannot afford to power, according to the chief technology officer of ARM Ltd. The warning came amid much discussion of the future of both FPGAs and netbooks at the annual ARM technical conference here.

Exhibits Emphasize Markets and Development Ease
By Rick Nelson, EDN, October 22, 2009
At last month’s E...

When Simple MCU Projects Turn Complex, mbed Delivers Your Results

If you have similar scenarios there is a very cool product that the folks from NXP and ARM put together. It is called “mbed”. This board is based on NXP’s ...

ARM TechCon3 Day 1 - Cortex-A5, Mali Developer Center and More

Wednesday October 21st marked day one of ARM TechCon3 2009. Starting off the morning with the Cortex-A5 and Mali Developer Center announcements, the buzz and energy on the show floor seemed to exude to the enthusiasm and excitement around ARM technology. Below are some highlighted media from these two announcements.

The Cortex-A5 processor is raising the bar for energy efficient design and connectivity. This ARM processor will not only enable high-end performance in low-end devices, but has the potential to make true connectivity in developing nations a reality. Watch the video below from ARM On-Site at TechCon3 with Eric Schorn to hear more about the Cortex-A5 and what to look forward to with this tiny processor that packs a lot of power.

The ...

Breaking News at ARM: Mali Developer Center and Cortex-A5

Just this morning ARM has released two big announcements; the launch of the new Mali Developer Center and the evolutionary Cortex-A5 processor. To find out more about this dynamic software community and the new ultra-compatible ARM processor, check out the blogs below.

Boosting future multimedia devices: Mali Developer Center
Srinivas Gattamneni gives insight into the changes in the software development ecosystem and how the Mali Developer Center will help to better equip developers for taking advantage of embedded GPU technologies.

Cortex-A5 in Mobile...This little core is going to be BIG!
Rob Coombs discusses the newly announced power efficient, low cost, and app compatible ARM Cortex-A5 processor.

Shortlink to this post: http://bit.ly/1AzD9b...

Software Sessions: Free Pegatron Nettop-while supplies last!

Hurry up and register for the ARM Software Sessions at ARM TechCon3 on Thursday, Oct 22 from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. A Pegatron Nettop will be given to the first 80 pre-registered attendees who attend the sessions.

ARM Software Series

Session 1: Getting to Know Your Pegatron Nettop
Thursday, Oct 22 10:00am -11:00am Presented by Philippe Robin
Ballroom G
This session will give an overview of resources and options available when developing natively on ARM. Pegatron Cortex-A8 based platforms running Ubuntu will be used as a case study, presenting the community development process as well as areas of optimizations, which are specific to each platform, and how these are handled in Linux/Ubuntu.

Session 2: ARM v7 Architecture
Thursday, Oct 22 11:00am - 12:00pm
Ballroom G
An in-depth overview of the ARMv7 Architecture features, with exploration into what is possible given the dynamic instruction set ca...

ARM TechCon3: Workshops and Seminar at Techmart

As an engineer I have this insatiable desire to learn more about new technology and now that I took that red pill and went into marketing I get to tell everyone about it. In addition to the great seminars and workshops at TechCon3 this year, there are additional opportunities do a deep dive into some technologies that ARM offers, one of these is the NEON workshop. If you aren’t familiar with NEON (No we aren’t making those colorful signs), well here is the opportunity to learn about single instruction multiple data (SIMD) on the ARM Cortex-A family of application processors. ARM is conducting a hands-on workshop using the now famous Beagleboards and will dive into some low level software optimization techniques using ARM compilers. If this peaks your interest there are two opportunities to take advantage of Wednesday, Oct 21st from 3:00 to 4:00 pm at the Techmart (attached to the Santa Clara Convention Center) and on Friday from 10:00 to 11:30 am. Both sessions w...

ARM TechCon3: Design to the Power of Three

ARM TechCon3, October 21-23, 2009, is for engineers exploring or currently designing ARM hardware, software and systems design. This event enables designers to leverage expertise from a vast array of companies in all phases of the product development cycle. ARM TechCon3 targets three critical areas of design, energy efficiency and design, internet everywhere, and MCU and tools.

Energy Efficiency
• 48 conference tracks on creating optimized energy and design efficient SoCs
• Latest techniques for designing 32nm – 28nm SoCs
• Silicon Proven solutions for optimizing power and performance management

MCU & Tools
• More than 40 classes, workshops and special sessions based around efficient design with ARM Cortex-M processor-based MCUs
• Special sessions targeting 8- and 16-bit MCU developers aiming to migrate to high-performance, low power 32-bit MCU designs

Internet Everywhere
• 37 conference tracks on harnessing the power of internet enabled devices
• The latest design strategies, tools and software solutions for developing applications across internet connected computing devices
• Special sessions covering open source application development, silicon solutions and cloud computing


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ARM TechCon3: What to look forward to?

Come to ARM TechCon3 for full details on these recent groundbreaking announcements: 2GHz Capable Cortex-A9 Dual Core Processor Implementation Full Support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 ARM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES - Establish a 28nm Collaboration 45nm SOI test Chip Results
ARM Mali
Look out for ARM® MaliT community news and graphics developer resources - visit the ARM booth to experience the power of Mali GPUs as shown by the demos, and enjoy a drink on us! See demos at ARM booth, #501 Drinks ReceptionThursday, Oct 22 3:00pm
ARM Theater, Main Show Floor

Meet the Experts
Visit the ARM booth for a series of informal discussions with technology experts on topics such as ARM tools, Open Source, Android on ARM and Design Implementation. This is your opportunity to get answers to those questions you have always wanted to ask but never had the chance. Check the ARM booth for the schedule and list of topics.

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ARM@TechCon3 Update

Don’t Miss the Most Comprehensive Design Conference this Year - ARM TechCon3.

Three days of tutorials, workshops and panels providing the latest technologies, methodologies and products for designing ARM Powered products.

ARM TechCon3 is targeting three critical areas of design, Energy Efficiency, Internet Everywhere and MCU and Tools. Organized by the ARM Partner ecosystem for engineers exploring or currently designing ARM hardware, software and systems design, ARM TechCon3 serves as the premier stage to connect, instruct and contact the world of electronic and computer design. It will be an event that specifically enables the designer to leverage expertise from a vast array of companies in all phases of the product development cycle, from hardware to software, in these three critical areas.

ARM TechCon3 will provide tutorials and presentations on the latest trends, design strategies, tools, and in-depth knowledge about achieving the highest level of market differentiation in ARM technology-based products. The event will also provide a variety of workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations and exhibitions to fully immerse the attendee in strategies for designing with the ARM architecture.

Show Dates/Hours:
Wednesday Oct 21 9:00am- 7:00...

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All company and product names appearing in the ARM Blogs are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ARM Limited per ARM’s official trademark list. All other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
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