ARM1176 Processor

The ARM1176 processor delivers significantly better performance on media rich workloads than the ARM926EJ-S™ processor. The relative performance increase on EEMBCv2 suites is 22% on a per/MHz basis. Further performance gains over ARM9™ family processors are possible with the higher max frequencies supported by the ARM11™ architecture.

ARM1176 Key Features

Performance to enable excellent end-user experience

• 750MHz (TSMC 65GP) with conservative design 1GHz+ with design optimizations
• Low latency mode for interrupt responsiveness
• TCM for ARM9™ processor migration, real-time demands
• Physically addressed caches for multi-tasking performance
• Broad OS support, multiple Linux distributions, amazing ARM ecosystem
• Full Internet experience

Product maturity enables rapid time to market and low risk

• Well proven technology in wide range of applications
• Available as soft core or hard macro from ARM (TSMC (90G) or from 3rd parties (Socle/GLOBALFOUNDRIES - 65nm, TSMC - 65nm)
• AMBA AXI supported by wide range of fabric
• CoreSight debug offering unrivalled system visibility
• Comprehensive range of development tools from ARM and from third parties
• Range of Reference Methodologies supplied

Low Power Leadership

• Shutdown modes, Clock Gating, and DVFS capability
• 93% of flops are clock gated
• Separate Main TLB and Micro-TLBs --> main TLB is not clocked unless micro-TLB misses
• Avoids unnecessary Tag-RAM and Data-RAM activity for sequential accesses
• Predictive use of Cache or TCM

DVFS - supported by the ARM1176

• Physical IP Power Management Kit Clamps allow core to shut down while TCM still enabled in Dormant mode
• Asynchronous interfaces allow core to run at non-integer multiple of bus frequency
• L-Shift clamps allow core voltage to differ from rest of SoC

Powerful Vector Floating Point Unit

• Fully IEEE 754-compliant mode
• Rare cases bounced to software support code for full IEEE 754 support
• Suited to safety-critical application like Automotive and Avionics

RunFast mode for fast, near-compliant hardware execution of all instructions

• No software support needed, performance increased as no software involved
• Suited to consumer applications like 3D graphics
• Compiler automatically targets VFP

Functions supported in hardware:

• Multiplication, addition, and multiply-accumulate ( various variants)
• Division and square root operation (multi-cycle, not pipelined)
• Comparisons and format conversions
• Operations can be performed on short vectors (From assembler only)
• Separate pipelines allow load/store and MAC operations to occur simultaneously with divide/square root unit operation
• VFP may be powered-down when not in use
• Clock gated and/or power completely removed

VFP has it's own additional register set

• 32 single precision
• 16 double-precision
• Sufficient to double-buffer algorithms
  • Linpack, Filters, Graphics transforms, etc.

Secure Computing Environment with TrustZone® technology

• Secures against software-only "hack attacks" and most low budget hardware "shack attacks"
• Delivers two "virtual" cores with deep separating of context & data.
  • S/W and JTAG attacks can not enter secure domain
• TrustZone: two virtualized CPUs in one
  • CPU MHz/resources are dynamically shared between according to demands
  • The two isolated domains are implemented in the same machine with no duplication of HW
  • Simpler and more flexible platform designs, lower costs and high power/performance efficiency

Cortex Alternative

The Cortex™-A5 processor is a related follow-on product to the ARM1176. The Cortex-A5 processor offers similar speed to ARM11™ processors, at lower power and smaller die area, with the ARMv7 benefits of NEON™, and TrustZone®, as well as a more advanced AMBA® AXI™ bus. Cutting edge new SoC designs for are starting now based on the ARM Cortex-A5 processor, however some SoC designs are still starting with ARM1176 processor where cost and minimal risk are important considerations.

System IP

The ARM1176 processor is commonly integrated with many other IP blocks to optimize the SoC for performance, power, and security.

System IP components are essential for building complex system on chips and by utilizing System IP components developers can significantly reduce development and validation cycles, saving cost and reducing time to market.

Tools Support

All ARM processors are supported by the ARM RealView^® portfolio of development tools, as well as a wide range of third party tools, operating system and EDA vendors. ARM RealView tools are unique in their ability to provide solutions that span the complete development process from concept to final product deployment.