Multi­core technology in mobile devices

Multi­core technology in mobile 

devices

Why multi­core?

Anatomy of a mobile device

http://www.phonewreck.com/wiki/index.php?title=Nokia_N95

OMAP3430

http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?

templateId=6123&navigationId=12643&contentId=14649

OMAP3530

http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/omap3530.html

Beagleboard

http://beagleboard.org/

ST Nomadik (STn8815)

http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/bd/14379/stn8815p14.htm

Samsung S3C6410

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/productInfo.do?fmly_id=229&partnum=S3C6410

NEC EMMA Mobile 1

http://www.necel.com/mobile/en/emma_mobile/em1.html

Marvell PXA320

http://www.marvell.com/files//products/cellular/application/PXA320_PB_R4.pdf

Freescale MXC300

http://www.freescale.com/files/wireless_comm/doc/white_paper/MXC300303GMPOWP.pdf

Broadcom BCM2153

http://broadcom.com/products/Cellular/3G­Baseband­Processors/BCM2153

STLC4550 (N8x0 WLAN)

http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/bd/12063.pdf

Common themes

●

ARM + DSP(s)

●

2D/3D graphics

●

Imaging, video

●

Memory interfaces

●

Peripheral interfaces

●

Interconnects

ARM cores

●

Architecture version

– v4, v5, v6, v7

●

Processor families

– ARM7, ARM9, ARM11, Cortex

●

Instruction sets and extensions

– ARM, Thumb, Thumb2, Jazelle, NEON

●

Cortex family

– A, R, M

ARM11 MPCore

http://www.arm.com/rximages/5309.gif

NEC NaviEngine (automotive)

http://www.nec.co.jp/techrep/en/journal/g07/n04/070409.pdf

ARM Cortex­A9 MPCore

http://www.arm.com/rximages/18622.gif

From: "melwyn lobo" <linux.melwyn@gmail.com>

Subject: ARM SMP timer issue

Newsgroups: gmane.linux.ports.arm.kernel To: linux­arm­kernel@lists.arm.linux.org.uk Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 15:07:15 +0530

Hello All,

We have ported the arm kernel 2.6.24 to ARM Cortex A9 dual core SMP processor. My question is regarding timer optimization.

...

DSPs

●

TI

– TMS320C54x, C55x, C6x

●

ST

– MMDSP

●

Freescale

– StarCore

●

NEC, Blackfin, NXP TriMedia, ADI SHARC, ...

Imaging/video

●

Actually often DSP(s)

– with accelerators

●

Or ARM(s)

– with accelerators

●

Or ARM + DSP

– with accelerators

Mobile GPUs

●

PowerVR

– MBX, SGX

●

ARM

– Mali

●

nVidia

– Tegra (actually full application processor)

●

AMD (sold mobile GPUs to Qualcomm)

– e.g. STn8820 from ST­NXP

Memory interfaces

●

Flash

– NAND, NOR

●

Memory cards

– MMC, SD

●

DRAM

– mobile DDR SDRAM

●

Memory wall problem

– hot research topic: stacked ICs

Programming

●

Application code runs on the main ARM

●

DSP(s) usually hidden

– locked away with HW if e.g. running cellular

●

GPU/imaging/video

– accessible via APIs on the main processor

●

Result: many very black boxes

– managing performance is challenging