Arm Uc
Arm Uc
Arm Uc
ARM, previously Advanced RISC Machine, originally Acorn RISC Machine, is a family
of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architectures for computer processors,
configured for various environments. Arm Holdings develops the architecture and licenses it
to other companies, who design their own products that implement one of those architectures
—including systems-on-chips (SoC) and systems-on-modules (SoM) that incorporate
memory, interfaces, radios, etc. It also designs cores that implement this instruction set and
licenses these designs to a number of companies that incorporate those core designs into their
own products.
Processors that have a RISC architecture typically require fewer transistors than those with a
complex instruction set computing (CISC) architecture (such as the x86 processors found in
most personal computers), which improves cost, power consumption, and heat dissipation.
These characteristics are desirable for light, portable, battery-powered devices—including
smartphones, laptops and tablet computers, and other embedded systems[3][4][5]—but are also
useful for servers and desktops to some degree. For supercomputers, which consume large
amounts of electricity, ARM is also a power-efficient solution.[6]
Arm Holdings periodically releases updates to the architecture. Architecture versions ARMv3
to ARMv7 support 32-bit address space (pre-ARMv3 chips, made before Arm Holdings was
formed, as used in the Acorn Archimedes, had 26-bit address space) and 32-bit arithmetic;
most architectures have 32-bit fixed-length instructions. The Thumb version supports a
variable-length instruction set that provides both 32- and 16-bit instructions for improved
code density. Some older cores can also provide hardware execution of Java bytecodes; and
newer ones have one instruction for JavaScript. Released in 2011, the ARMv8-A architecture
added support for a 64-bit address space and 64-bit arithmetic with its new 32-bit fixed-
length instruction set.[7] Some recent Arm CPUs have simultaneous multithreading (SMT)
with e.g. Arm Neoverse E1 being able to execute two threads concurrently for improved
aggregate throughput performance. ARM Cortex-A65AE for automotive applications is also
a multithreaded processor, and has Dual Core Lock-Step for fault-tolerant designs
(supporting Automotive Safety Integrity Level D, the highest level). The Neoverse N1 is
designed for "as few as 8 cores" or "designs that scale from 64 to 128 N1 cores within a
single coherent system".[8]
With over 130 billion ARM processors produced,[9][10][11][12] as of 2019, ARM is the most
widely used instruction set architecture (ISA) and the ISA produced in the largest quantity.[13]
[4][14][15][16]
Currently, the widely used Cortex cores, older "classic" cores, and specialized
SecurCore cores variants are available for each of these to include or exclude optional
capabilities.