Embedded-Tech.com
arm
All Aboard the Small Form Factor Express
COM Express
Big is beautiful – or so we are told. But now it looks like small and petit is well and truly back in fashion.
SWAP – Size Weight And Power is the driving force behind many embedded applications today and low power, and often small footprint, processors such as those made by UK based ARM and Intel’s ATOM enable designs to shrink to very small proportions.
COM Express was ratified by PICMG in 2005, but now 6 years later the COM Express Mini / Ultra (or Nano ETX Express as Kontron would have us call it) is here and its tiny!
This new form factor is about the size of a credit card, specifically 55mm x 84mm and can have one of 2 connector configurations defined by the COM Express standard; both using a 220 pin connector.
- Type 1: Single connector (220 pin), 6 PCI Express lanes, no PEG, no PCI, no IDE, 4 SATA, 1 LAN
- Type 10: Single connector (220 pin), 4 PCI Express lanes, no PEG, no PCI, no IDE, 2 SATA, 1 LAN, single channel LVDS only, DDI, no VGA, 2 Serial COM
As you can see the focus is high speed PCI Express and Type 1 has 6 PCI Express lanes. But the more popular Type 10 maximises the variety and has a lower 4 PCI Express Lanes but adds Serial COMS, DDI (digital display interface) and LVDS.
A custom carrier board will need to be designed by the OEM to host the COM Express module but this can easily remain in the small footprint allowing the form factor to be used in ultra small, mobile and hand held applications. This enables new application opportunities that were previously inhibited by size, weight or power restrictions.
Applications – robotics, UAV, communications, computing, EPOS, handheld terminals and small rugged computers.
XPand6001 - Extreme Engineering
Sarsen Technology Limited is currently reviewing a range of COM Express modules for the UK market; if you have a project requirement or would like to know more about small form factor boards and chassis please get in touch via the website.
Links/References:
ARM – http://www.arm.com
ATOM – http://www.intel.com/…
Extreme Engineering – http://www.x-es.com
Image Credit – www.kontron.com
Marvell Super Heroic Processors?
Marvell Armada XP
Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. They are a fabless semiconductor company, shipping over one billion chips a year. In their words:
“Marvell’s expertise in microprocessor architecture and digital signal processing, drives multiple platforms including high volume storage solutions, mobile and wireless, networking, consumer, and green products. Worldclass engineering and mixed-signal design expertise helps Marvell deliver critical building blocks to its customers, giving them the competitive edge to succeed in today’s dynamic market.”
My interest today is the Quad-Core ARMADA XP Series.
http://www.marvell.com/processors/embedded/armada_xp/assets/armada_xp_pb.pdf
The Extreme Performance (XP) series of multicore processors is a quad-core ARM processor designed primarilly for cloud computing applications. The ARMADA XP series integrates four Marvell designed ARM compliant 1.6GHz CPU cores along with a host of I/O peripherals to offer one of the highest levels of integration in the industry.
I am currently seeking out embedded projects that will require this low power CPU installed on XMC or VPX modules for military and defence applications. The ARMADA XP supports multiple SATA, USB and Ethernet ports as well as PCI-e 2.0 Ports and high speed SERDES lanes.
The processor is ideal of high speed multicore processing applications and integrated on the right platform will make a superb embedded processor for harsh environments.
THE MARVELL ADVANTAGE: Marvell chipsets come with complete reference designs which include board layout designs, software, manufacturing diagnostic tools, documentation, and other items to assist customers with product evaluation and production. Marvell’s worldwide field application engineers collaborate closely with end customers to develop and deliver new leading-edge products for quick time-to-market. Marvell utilizes world-leading semiconductor foundry and packaging services to reliably deliver high-volume and low-cost total solutions.
- Website – http://www.marvell.com
- YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/marvellmedia
- Twitter – http://twitter.com/marvellsemi
Raspberry Pi, The £15 Computer on a Stick
Raspberry Pi - Computer on a Stick
Apple have been using ARM processors iPODs for a number of years. The iPAD uses an ARM Cortex-A9-based CPU accompanied by a GPU. Sony’s next generation portable gaming device (PSP, NGP, VITA) to be launched at sometime later this year will also use an ARM processor.
The consumer and embedded marketplace simply wouldn’t be the same without ARM.
Today I read about something quite amazing on Electronics Weekly – Raspberry Pi is a tiny ARM-based single board computer that enables a TV to run Linux and scripting languages such as Python. Designed by Cambridge business men and academics to engage children with computer science and thereby improve the skills pool from which they draw employees and undergraduates, it is causing a stir in the developing world.
The result is a 32-bit ARM11-based computer than needs no supporting PC. The size of a USB stick, it has an HDMI connector on one end for the TV, a USB connector at the other end for the keyboard, and it boots immediately into Linux running a scripting language.
The company behind this amazing piece of hardware say they can buidl it for £15 each and its mission is: “To promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing”..
Further details can be found on the Raspberry Pi Foundation website and on Electronics weekly.
Source – http://www.electronicsweekly.com
Xilinx : Zynq-7000 Extensible Processing Platform
Is this the new trend for 2011 – FPGA and Micro Processor going hand in hand?
This time its ARM and Xilinx.
The Zynq™-7000 family is Xilinx’s first Extensible Processing Platform (EPP). This new class of product combines an industry-standard ARM® dual-core Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ processing system with Xilinx unified 28nm architecture. This processor-centric architecture offers the flexibility and scalability of an FPGA combined with ASIC-like performance and power and the ease of use of an ASSP.
The four devices of the Zynq-7000 EPP family allow designers to target cost sensitive as well as high-performance applications from a single platform using industry-standard tools. The tight integration of the processing system with programmable logic allows designers to build accelerators and peripherals to speed key functions by up to 10x. ARM architecture and ecosystem maximizes productivity and eases development for software and hardware developers.
http://www.xilinx.com/technology/roadmap/zynq7000/features.htm
What have SONY put into their new handheld?
 |
| ARM Cortex 9 |
For the next generation PSP – PSP2 or NGP – Sony has abandoned the internally developed MIPS architecture that powered the PSP, and has opted for an ARM processor, with a PowerVR graphics processing unit. This puts the machine inline with massive majority of high-end smartphones: ARM reckons 95% of all current mobile handsets have application processors based on its IP, while Imagination Technologies, the developer of the PowerVR graphics chipset, claims 200 current models feature its technology. ARM and PowerVR chips are in the Apple iPad as well as high profile Google handsets such as the Galaxy S.
Cortex-A9 Processor
The ARM Cortex™-A9 processor provides unprecedented levels of performance and power efficiency making it an ideal solution for designs requiring high performance in low power or thermally constrained cost-sensitive devices.
Available as either a single core or configurable multicore processor, with both synthesizable or hard-macro implementations available. This processor can scale across a wide variety of applications while enabling a consistent software investment across multiple markets.
The Cortex-A9 processors are the highest performance ARM processors implementing the full richness of the widely supported ARMv7 architecture. Designed around the most advanced, high efficiency, dynamic length, multi-issue superscalar, out-of-order, speculating 8-stage pipeline, the Cortex-A9 processors deliver unprecedented levels of performance and power efficiency with the functionality required for leading edge products across the broad range of consumer, networking, enterprise and mobile applications.
The Cortex-A9 microarchitecture is delivered within either a scalable multicore processor, the Cortex-A9 MPCore™ multicore processor, or as a more traditional processor, the Cortex-A9 single core processor. Supporting the configuration of 16, 32 or 64KB four way associative L1 caches, with up to 8MB of L2 cache through the optional L2 cache controller, the scalable multicore processor and the single processor provide the broadest flexibility and are each suited to specific applications and markets.
