ARM steps up application cpu performance

EDN Europe, 20 Oct 2011

ARM has announced the ARM Cortex™-A7 MPCore processor, which it says is the most energy-efficient application class processor the company has yet developed. In the same announcement is big.LITTLE processing, an approach that pairs high-performance and high-efficiency cores with software to dynamically allocate tasks to the most appropriate resource at any given moment.
ARM rates a single Cortex-A7 processor at 5-times the energy-efficiency, and 20% of the size, of a Cortex-A8 processor, while providing significantly greater performance. Typical targets will be application processors in sub-$100 entry level smartphones. The Cortex-A7 occupies less than half a square millimetre in 28-nm process technology, and can be used in single and multicore configurations. A Cortex-A7-based, under-$100 entry-level smartphone in 2013-2014 will boast an equivalent level of processing performance to today’s $500 high-end smartphones, ARM says. To meet the challenges of more processing combined with longer battery life, big.LITTLE processing matches an implementation of a Cortex-A15 MPCore with the new, efficient Cortex-A7, on the same SoC die and with compatibility assured. Under big.LITTLE processing, power-management software selects the “right” processor for the “right” task, based on performance requirements. This dynamic selection is transparent to the application software or middleware running on the processors.
The ‘LITTLE’, lowest-power processor – in this case, the Cortex-A7 - runs the Operating System (OS) and applications for basic always-on, always connected tasks, such as social media and audio playback. The OS and apps can then be seamlessly migrated to the higher-performance processor as demands increase for high end tasks, such as navigation and gaming. The time for this environment switch is in the order of 20 µsec; the process is supported by advanced ARM system IP, such as AMBA 4 ACE Coherency Extensions. This ensures full cache, I/O and processor-to-processor coherency between the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7, and across the complete system. big.LITTLE power management software will be developed by ARM silicon partners months ahead of silicon availability using ARM DS-5 tools and Fast Model virtual prototyping technology. The virtual platform, available now to lead partners, contains the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processors, as well as cache coherent interconnect System IP, allowing full system software development.
For information Cortex-A7, look here; and on big.LITTLE, here.
Look for enthusiasm from various ARM silicon partners on its youtube channel at;
http://www.youtube.com/ARMflix