Small-size ISP (Image Signal Processing) IP ideal for AI camera systems.
Are ARM's big-little days numbered?
Peter Clarke, EETimes
1/21/2013 7:18 AM EST
In the early days of digital electronics a good architectural idea could be implemented and the advantage it granted could be expected to apply for all foreseeable manufacturing generations. But now the complexity and pace of change of chip manufacturing is such that ideas and techniques sometimes struggle to last without significant re-invention.
"Big-little" is the idea, from processor licensor ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England), of pairing a performance-optimized processor core with a low-power standby-optimized processor core. It enables application software to switch between the cores for an overall energy saving in typical use where equipment spends much of its time in standby mode. ARM has prepared two processors cores, the Cortex-A15 and the Cortex-A7, to help implement the strategy and the idea is starting to come through in commercial products. Two examples are the Exynos 5 Octa applications processor from Samsung and the MP6530 from Renesas Mobile.
But can big-little last and, if not, how must it be re-invented?
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |
Related News
Breaking News
- PUFsecurity Unveils Next-Gen Crypto Coprocessor PUFcc7 Featuring High-speed Performance and TLS 1.3 Support
- SEMIFIVE Starts Mass Production of its 14nm AI Inference SoC Platform based Product
- VeriSilicon's complete Bluetooth Low Energy IP solution is fully compliant with LE Audio specification
- TASKING and Andes Announce FuSa Compliant Compiler Support for Andes RISC-V ASIL Compliant Automotive IP
- Efabless Launches an "AI Wake Up Call" Open-Source Silicon Design Challenge
Most Popular
- Intel and Arm Team Up to Power Startups
- Chiplet Interconnect Pioneer Eliyan Closes $60 Million Series B Funding Round, Co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Tiger Global Management to Address Most Pressing Challenge in Development of Generative AI Chips
- PUFsecurity Unveils Next-Gen Crypto Coprocessor PUFcc7 Featuring High-speed Performance and TLS 1.3 Support
- Renesas Introduces Industry's First General-Purpose 32-bit RISC-V MCUs with Internally Developed CPU Core
- SmartSoC Solutions Joins TSMC Design Center Alliance to Boost Semiconductor Innovation in India