ARM Community: Embedded - ARM Community

Many years ago now (more than I like to admit) I wrote a paper on the hazards of Dhrystone, both in terms of its very narrow scope (the loop has only about 400 instructions, more than 20% of which are within two C library string functions) and because there is absolutely no policing of the strict and clear rules that were originally laid down by the author.

At the time it was a very useful exercise, it helped us talk through with customers what to check for so that there was a fair comparison made from product to product. Until quite recently I always felt that we should stick to the rules, not keen to quote anything other than 100% clean, legal numbers. However, now Dhrystone has become a more and more misused marketing tool so a range of results from legal to extreme has become necessary if customers are going to use it as part of their benchmark process.

Before I go on, here is a quick reminder of those original rules as I read them:
Source code used must be completely unaltered with no hand optimisation allowed, other than in the standard C library functions.The two source code modules must be compiled independently and then linked. In the ARM world that means multi-file compilation is banned.No modifications to headers, adjusting them to be ANSI ...

Embedded World 2013 in Nuremberg was a very successful event for ARM and our partners. My blog summarizes the highlights for microcontrollers and the related development tools.

A preview of the upcoming Keil MDK-ARM Version 5 was shown at the ARM booth. MDK Version 5 will introduce Software Packs, a new system to manage software components for embedded applications. Visitors have seen this new functionality, as well as the recently introduced enhanced editor capabilities.



A laser show controlled by an ARM Cortex-M4 based hardware was an eyecatcher at the ARM booth. The system is designed with...

We are in the final countdown to the annual pilgrimage to Nuremburg for the Embedded World 2013 show and there’s a lot happening this year (especially within the ARM Ecosystem) so time to ensure you’re prepared.

Firstly, make sure you have pre-registered for the event. This should save you a few Euros if you were just planning on turning up the day of. If you’re attending the technical conference itself, then you can look forward to 18 classes and 28 sessions over three days, including one presented by me called CortexTM-M processors and the Internet of Things on Thursday February 28th at 14:30.

Secondly, pack a warm jacket – long term forecast predicts a maximum of 5 degrees Celsius with ‘some clouds’. My colleagues who will be over in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress will get double the temperatures but will need an ...

The busy time of Electronica and ARM Technology Symposia is now behind us, and I finally get the opportunity to have a deeper look the latest release of NXP: their mini-tiny-LPC800. NXP being one of our lead-partners on the ARM® Cortex™-M0+, and also previously on the Cortex-M0, I was really excited to see what they came up with and how they took advantage of our latest Cortex-M processor.

First of all, I must admit I wasn’t expecting them to set this family on the very lowend, even below their Cortex-M0 LPC1100 series. When we designed the Cortex-M0+ we aimed at offering at least as much the Cortex-M0 does, while adding capabilities to support low-power design even better and to address a wider scope of applications. I was anticipating an upgrade of ...

2012 has been like the last few years: very rich in new ARM® Cortex™-M microcontrollers as well as collateral and tools making it easier to make the most of them. Here is a summary of the year so far, if you have missed any episode!

We will look at the latest member of the family, the ARM Cortex-M0+. Also we will give you an update on the CMSIS (Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard) before looking at what ARM Partners have been up to. Finally we will advise you three reference books for Cortex-M developers.

ARM Cortex-M0+ processor
First, big news for ARM and the embedded community with the launch of the world’s most energy-efficient processor: the ARM Cortex-M0+ core.

For ...

This week sees the launch on the Cortex-M0+ processor-based Freescale Kinetis L family of MCUs just two months after the official launch of this latest addition to the Cortex-M processor series.

The close partnership between ARM and Freescale, one of the Cortex-M0+ lead-partners, enabled them to be extremely fast in launching their first MCU series. The processor features also triggered the interest of many other partners and we expect more Cortex-M0+ processor-based products to come. To see why, one needs only to look at the processor features.

When the ARM Cortex™-M0+ processor was launched in March, many of the headlines focused on the lower power consumption and energy efficiency. If this was the only differentiator, then this new processor might perhaps have been called “Cortex-M0-...

I don’t think the prospect of rain will affect attendance at the annual tech event now called Design West, which used to be ESC or the Embedded Systems Show - I’m still getting to grips with the name change. But with 250+ companies attending the show, many of whom are part of the ARM® Connected Community® (CC), I’m sure there will be some great technology to see and talk about. Take a look at the show floor map with the ARM Connected Community Partners highlighted to help you plan your route around the show.

At the show this week, Freescale and ARM are demoing CortexTM-M0+ silicon at booth 1607, following up from the launch event that took place a couple of weeks ago.

I first chatted with Thomas Ensergueix, Product manager at A...

If you've ever walked into a local bookstore in China or Taiwan, then you've probably noticed that nearly everything's wrapped in plastic. Not just special collector's editions, mind you, but all the everyday books and magazines, too. I guess I can see the reasoning: either buy it or don't. But for me, shrinkwrapping is not the right avenue to display something. How do I know if I want to spend money on a book if I can't read a bit of it first? I prefer to explore a little, be sure something's worth reading, before I commit.

I mention this because it reminds me of how most 32-bit MCU vendors promote their development tools. Designers are often forced to pay thousands of dollars up front, for evaluation tools, before they can explore features first hand, on the bench. They're made to pay a lot of money before they can play, and that's pretty much the same as making me buy a book before I can read it.

Take a fully-featured test drive
For most designers, it's usually not enough to compare data sheets, review benchmarks, and attend a sales presentation. A device may look good on paper, but how does it perform in a real-world application? Most often, the best way to figure that out is by giving the device a test drive using some sort of design tool. ...

World-wide sales of 8- and 16-bit MCUs continue to head south while their 32-bit counterparts, in particular, 32-bit ARM® CortexTM series processor-based counterparts, are charting a distinctly northerly flight path. The reasons for this are well understood - more and more developers are discovering the benefits of the ARM Cortex architecture, the myriad of MCU solutions on offer and the vast 3rd third party ecosystem that provides nearly unlimited, off-the-shelf design options (read and go home early days) for ‘the software guys’.

What’s not so clear is that while this trend is all well and good for the seasoned 32-bit developer, the humble 8- and 16-bit guy who since time immemorial has trusted his pay cheque to a simple, low-power, low-cost, no-fuss MCU, is still in many cases, reluctant to change. And who can blame him – the thought of a bloated BOM cost, sky-rocketing run currents and a prolonged development cycle littered with stacks and stacks of…well…stacks and other strange ...

Welcome to my wrap up of the first day of Embedded World (EW) 2012, once again at the Nuremburg Messe, on a chilly February day.

I discovered recently that prior to becoming known in the nineteenth century as the "industrial heart" of Bavaria, Nuremberg (sometimes called Nurnberg) was known for its ‘traditional gingerbread products, sausages, and handmade toys’. I’ve tried the Nurnberg sausages many times (with a great dollop of strong mustard and sauerkraut) and they’re great. I will be on the lookout for more gingerbread related products this week – although saying that I did receive a larger gingerbread heart for winning on the Fujitsu ARM Cortex-M3 fruit machine last year.

There have been a fair few new product announcements around the show this year, across the broad range of the ARM Connected Community (CC) Partners, now more than 900 members! Find them at EW with ...

Day three of ARM Techcon 2011 was a much sunnier affair than the previous day as the record audiences flocked again to the busy exhibition floor and technical sessions – I think it’s time we all agreed that ARM Embedded is moving from ‘the beginning’ (as I alluded to in a blog a year or so ago) to a real player and there is so much more on the way – check out Richard York’s blog on the latest details about Cortex-M success and shipments.

As you may have already seen in the ARM TechCon blog from day 3, the day started off with Mike Muller’s keynote where he introduced 64-b...

Last week at ESC Boston was a fun packed week for ARM Partners, and the first mention must go to Cypress Gen4 TrueTouch touch screen controllers. These look to be extremely impressive in terms of accuracy, response time, low power and noise reduction capability. And they are of course ARM Cortex-M processor-based. Check out the introductory video below and the product web page.



But what ESC Boston hammered home is that this is the year of the ARM Cortex-M4 MCU. As soon as you walke...

As Richard York pointed out in his recent blog, the ARM Cortex-M processor series is now 7 years old during which time it has achieved huge success. Its instruction set makes it extremely suited to microcontrollers (MCUs) and embedded applications, but you can also find it as a companion processor to beefier Cortex-A processor-based applications. An example is the Texas Instruments OMAP™ 5 platform which includes two ARM Cortex-M4 processors for offloading real-time processing from the Cortex-A15 processor to improve low-level control and responsiveness of mobile devices.

In this post, we will concentrate on standalone MCU devices and highlight a few items to consider when choosing the most appropriate processor for your next design. As the ARM Cortex-M series has hundreds of references available, we will not be able to pinpoint the exact part number you need, but rather help your selection.

For this, we will look at:

CPU Choice - On-chip pe...

Many recent licensees of ARM Cortex-M are new to the ARM architecture. For them, a design kit that is tailor-made for Cortex-M processors and delivers a short learning curve, reduced time to market and enables their designers to focus on developing features that provide differentiation and value, would be a dream come true! Lo and behold, with the swish of our magic wand and a puff of smoke, ARM has recently delivered the Cortex-M System Design Kit (CMSDK) which delivers all of the above. The kit contains reusable IP, hardware design examples and software examples to enable Cortex-M system designers to develop complex SoC designs and bring them to silicon faster.

The CMSDK package
The CMSDK is available in two editions: the Cortex-M0 System Design Kit, which supports the ARM Cortex-M0 processor, and the Cortex-M System Design Kit, which supports the ARM Cortex-M0, Cort...

What a great start to the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose this week as ARM Cortex technology won a flurry of awards at the 21st EDN Innovation Awards show on Monday night. I was lucky enough to be at the event and, on behalf of ARM, picked up the award for the Best Processor for the ARM Cortex-M4.

The award winning ARM technology came in the form of the EM773 energy-metering IC from NXP Semiconductors which utilises a ...

“The pen may be mightier than the sword”, so said playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in1839 (remember that for your next pub quiz). Fast forward 115 years and the phrase “The book is mightier than a few hours head-scratching and googling” is certainly more appropriate, especially when the book in question is 'The Definitive Guide to the ARM® Cortex™-M0 Processor.'

The guide, written by Joseph Yiu which is now available from all good bookshops, is required reading for embedded software developers, embedded product designers and students taking an embedded systems design course where the ARM Cortex-M0 processor is used. 'The Definitive Guide to the ARM Cortex-M0' follows the success of Joseph’s previous bestseller, 'The Definitive Guide to the ARM Cortex-M3', now on its second edition!

As well as providing engineers with a thorough understanding of how the Cortex-M0 processor works, with detailed information on the programmer’...