The document discusses the evolution of computing platforms in the 21st century, highlighting the shift from traditional computing architectures to more accessible consumer technologies, particularly focusing on the ARM architecture as a new model. It emphasizes the importance of platforms as foundational tools that enable engineers and scientists to innovate efficiently by reusing existing technologies rather than starting from scratch. Furthermore, it addresses the economic implications of design and technology in the context of global markets and competitive business environments.

1. Computing Platforms for the 21Century

Abstract:
 Wikipedia defines Platform as "A raised level surface on which people or things can stand". A more familiar
technical interpretation applies to the hardware and OS configuration applicable to the execution of
software; most frequently applicable to highly stable PC or Mainframe architectures. But the world has
changed a lot in the 21 century as serious computing power moved into the hands of the consumer.
Nowadays computers that don't look like computers, with production runs in the tens or hundreds of
millions; totally eclipse traditional computing and thus the traditional computing platform. So does the ARM
architecture define a new platform for this computing environment, or is it more complex than that? One of
our greatest forefathers, Isaac Newton, realised the reality of platforms when he talked of standing on the
shoulders of giants. A platform is a stable place where engineers and scientists can stand to achieve more
than they would by their own efforts alone. Platforms are about re-using rather than re-inventing; about
Productivity, Quality, TTM, ROI, etc. for the 21 century products we Engineers are now charged to deliver ...
It's the economy, stupid!

Context



Seminar at Liverpool University
http://www.liv.ac.uk/electrical-engineering-and-electronics/
45min Keynote, 60min Slot. 25feb14
SlideCast and pdf available via http://ianp24.blogspot.co.uk/
1

2. Opinions expressed are those of the author alone
Prof. Ian Phillips
Principal Staff Eng’r,
ARM Ltd
ian.phillips@arm.com
Visiting Prof. at ...
Contribution to Industry
Award 2008
Seminar
Uo.Liverpool
25feb14
SlideCast and pdf available via http://ianp24.blogspot.co.uk/
2
1v0

3. The Traditional Computing Platform
 General Purpose Compute Platforms

PC – Dominated by x86 architecture (Intel + AMD + Windows)






Linux
OpenBSD
FreeVMS
MacOS ‘N’ – Universal Binaries (PowerPC/x86)
Mainframe - IBM, EMC, Hitachi, Unysis, HP, NEC, Fujitsu




DOS
But also Apple ...


Windows ‘N’
Fortran
C/C++
Cobol - One of first languages (1959). In 1997, 80% of the world's business ran on COBOL with >200
billion lines of code in existence and >5 billion lines of new code annually (Gartner).
Portable Computing – Pocketable GP Compute Platforms



iOS (iPad/iPhone/iPod)
Android
Windows 8
... We all have our personal favourites!
3

4. Markets provide the Product Opportunities
3rd Era
Millions of Units
Computing as part
of our lives
2nd Era
Broad-based computing
for specific tasks
1st Era
Select work
tasks
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
... Older Markets are still there; just not the Biggest!
4
2010
2020

5. The Face of Computing Today
5

6. The Face of Computing Today
6

7. The Computing Machine ...
Computing: A general term for algebraic manipulation of Data ...
Numerated
Phenomena
IN (x)
y=F(x,t,s)
Processed Data/
Information
OUT (y)
... State and Time are frequently factors in this.

It can include phenomena ranging from human thinking to calculations
with a narrower meaning.
Usually used it to exercise analogies (models) of real-world situations;
Frequently in real-time (Fast enough to be a stabilising factor in a loop).
Wikipedia

... Not prescriptive about Implementation Technology!
... Not prescriptive about Programmability!
7

8. Antikythera c87BC ... Planet Motion Computer
Early-Mechanical
Computation
• Inventor: Hipparchos (c.190 BC – c.120 BC).
•
Ancient Greek Astronomer, Philosopher and Mathematician.
Single-Task, Continuous Time, Analogue Mechanical Computing (With backlash!)
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1CuR29OajI
8

9. Babbage's Difference Engine 1837
Late-Mechanical
Computation
(Re)construction
c2000

The difference engine consists of a number of columns, numbered from 1 to N. Each column is able to store one decimal number. The only operation the engine
can do is add the value of a column n + 1 to column n to produce the new value of n. Column N can only store a constant, column 1 displays (and possibly prints)
the value of the calculation on the current iteration.
Computer for Calculating Tables: A Basic ALU Engine
9

10. “Baby” 1947
(Reconstruction)
Valve/Software
Computation
General Purpose, Quantised Time and Data, (Digital) Electronic Computing
10

11. Electronic System1 2014
1: aka; Cyber-Physical System (Geek-Talk!)
 Analogue Electronics
 Digital Electronics
 Software
 Memory
 Mechanics
 Micro-Motors
 Optics
 Sensors
 Displays
 Discharge Tube
Incorporating DIGIC5+ (ARM)
 Robotic Assembly
 Plastic, Metal, Glass
...Technologies working seamlessly to deliver Functionality
... Enhanced Human Memory
11

12. Putting Technologies into Context
 21c Businesses have to be
 Selling things that Customers (esp. End-Customers) want to buy.
 Focusing on Their Core Competencies
 Opportunities, Competition, Operations and Investors are Global
by ...
 Business
 Product Differentiation (Functionality+)
 Focusing on what End-Customers need ...


Technologies enable Product Options
Business-Models make the Money
..but..
 New Products are



Design is a Cost (Risk) to be Minimised
Technology (HW, SW, Mechanics, Optics, Graphene, etc)
just offers the potential to differentiate your Products!
The Value of New Technology may not exceed the Cost (Risk)!
... Successful End-Products fund their entire Value-Chains
12

13. Moore’s Law: A Technology Opportunity ...
X
100nm
10um
Transistor/PM (K)
1um
Transistors/Chip (M)
Approximate Process Geometry
10nm
100um
ITRS’99
13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore’s_law

14. ... But an Increasing Design Problem !
100nm
10um
Transistor/PM (K)
1um
Transistors/Chip (M)
Approximate Process Geometry
10nm
100um
ITRS’99
14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore’s_law

15. Reuse Closes the Productivity Gap!
 Pre.1990 chip design was entire ...


Moore’s Law was handled by ever Bigger Teams and ever Faster Tools
With Improved Productivity through HDL and Synthesis
... I was a chip designer in 1978; and did it all myself in 3mth (~1k gates!)
 Post 1995 reuse silently entered the picture ...





Circuit Blocks
CPUs (and Software)
... With
Supporting
External IP
Methodology!
Up-Integration
(Incl. Software)
Chip Reuse (ASSP)
... Delivering Productivity, Quality and Reliability
... Birth of IP and Know-How Companies (Like ARM c1991)
... Lead to the Commoditisation of Silicon (and FABs) !
15

16. How Much Reuse Today?
 Mobile Products have ~500m gate SoCs / ~500m lines of code


Doubling every 18mth
Designer Productivity: is just 100-1000 Gates(Lines)/day



That is tested, verified, incorporated gates(lines)
That’s 2,500-25,000 p.yrs to clean-sheet design! (Un-Resourceable)
Typically ‘Product Designs’ have 50-200 p.yr available ...


That’s just ~0.5% New ... >99.5% Reuse already!
Not Viable to do clean-sheet product design ... nor has it been since ~1995
 The core HW/SW is only a part of a Product ...






16
There’s all of the other Components and Sub-Systems
There’s the IO systems (RF, Audio, Optical, Geo-spatial, Temporal)
There’s the Mechanical
There’s the Reproduction (Factory)
There's the Business Model (Cash-flow, Distribution, Legal)
There’s the Support (Repair, Installation, Maintenance, Replacement)

17. How do we Reuse?
 Design Tools (across all Product Disciplines) underpin this ...
 Reuse of Modules and Components
 Reuse of Existing Code and Circuits
 Sharing Methodology
 Sharing Architecture
 Creating Tools to Accelerate Methodology and Repeatability
 Design For “x” (DFx) is Design For Up-Stream (Re)Deployment
 A significant part is (and will remain) Knowledge based ...
 The Designer has done similar work before
 The Team has Collective experience
 The Company has experience and a customer base
 The Design Engineer’s Role is ...
 To create Order out of Chaos
 Using Current-Technology and Knowledge; to create a Viable Product
17

18. Reuse Platform for Productivity
 Disintegration of Value-Chains ...

Allows Componentisation of Product (Physical and Virtual)




Encourages Focus on Your Value-Add
Outsource other people’s expertise
Across all aspects of business (Technical, Business and Admin)
Created the opportunity for
; and for many others.
∘ English as the lingua-franca
∘ Instant global telecoms (ICT)
∘ IT and the Internet
∘ International Contract Law
∘ The World-Trade Organisation (WTO)
∘ Standardisation of GP-Compute Architecture
 Changed the meaning of Local ...
... This is a very different way of conducting business
... has never happened before in Human History
... And most people don’t see it today
18

19. All Exponentials Must End ...
130nm
 Growing opinion that 14 or 7nm will be
the smallest yieldable node ... Ever!
 Just 2-3 gen. (3-5yr) to the
90nm
end of Planar Scaling
30nm

Only things on
the drawing
board today ...
14nm

... can get into the
last of the of planar chips!
Its also the end-of-the-road for
‘promising technologies’ !




19
Clean-Sheet Synthesis
Scalable Processor Arrays
Formal Design
Top-Down Design
7nm
...And the end for Moore’s Law?

20. Packing Technology into an iCon
Analogue and Digital Design
Embedded Software
Mechanics, Plastics and Glass
Micro-Machines (MEMs)
Displays and Transducers
Robotics and Test
Knowledge and Know-How
Research, Education and Training
Components, Sub-Systems and Systems;
Design, Assembly and Manufacture
Metrology, Methodology and Tools
 ... Involving Many Specialist Businesses
... Round and Round the World
... Not-Least from the UK
20

21. Inside The Control Board
(a-side)
Level-2: Sub-Assemblies


Visible Computing Contributors ...
 Samsung: Flash Memory - NV-MOS (ARM Partner)
 Cirrus Logic: Audio Codec - Bi-CMOS (ARM Partner)
 AKM: Magnetic Sensor - MEM-CMOS
 Texas Instruments:Touch Screen Controller and mobile DDR - Analogue-CMOS (ARM Partner)
 RF Filters - SAW Filter Technology
Invisible Computing Contributors ...
 OS, Drivers, Stacks, Applications, GSM, Security, Graphics, Video, Sound, etc
 Software Tools, Debug Tools, etc
21
http://www.ifixit.com

22. Inside The Control Board
(b-side)
Level-2: Sub-Assemblies

More Visible Computing Contributors ...






A4 Processor. Spec:Apple, Design & Mfr: Samsung
Digital-CMOS (nm) ...
 Provides the iPhone 4 with its GP computing power.
 (Said to contain ARM A8 600 MHz CPU and other ARM IP)
ST-Micro: 3 axis Gyroscope - MEM-CMOS (ARM Partner)
Broadcom: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS - Analogue-CMOS (ARM Ptr)
Skyworks: GSM
Analogue-Bipolar
Triquint: GSM PA Analogue-GaAs
Infineon: GSM Transceiver - Anal/Digi-CMOS (ARM Partner)
GPS
Bluetooth,
EDR &FM
22
http://www.ifixit.com

23. The A4 SIP Package
(Cross-section)
Memory
‘Package’
2 Memory Dies
Processor SOC Die
Glue
4-Layer Platform
Package’
Down 3-Levels: IC Packaging





23
The processor is the centre rectangle. The silver circles beneath it are solder balls.
Two rectangles above are RAM die, offset to make room for the wirebonds.
 Putting the RAM close to the processor reduces latency, making RAM faster and cuts power.
Unknown Mfr (Memory)
Samsung/ARM (Processor)
Unknown (SIP Technology)
Source ... http://www.ifixit.com

24. The Processor Unit
NB: The Tegra 3 is similar to the
A4/5, but is not used in the iPhone
24
(Nvidea Tegra 3, Around 1B transistors)

25. Lots and Lots of Designers ...

159 Tier-1 Suppliers ...
 Thousands of Design Engineers
 10’s of thousands of Engineers
 Globally
... Hundreds more Tier-2
suppliers (Including ARM)
25

26. … System-Packaging Maintains Momentum!
 Interposer today
 Die-Integration ..and..
13aug13
Genuine 3D-Process very soon
24-Layers
3D NAND-Flash
4x Transfer
to Production
Die-Stack
10 Layer Interposer
Die-Stack Mixed-Technology
8x Sampling
Active Carrier
PV - 500nm Ge
RF - 300nm GaAs
CPU- 90nm Si CMOS
DRAM - 20nm Si FIN-MOS
300nm Si CMOS
10 stack 1.6 mm
26

27. Moore's Real Law ...
 x2 System Functionality every 18-24mth

A Cascade of Technologies over the ages
Functional Density (units)
1012
1010
106
102
Electronic era:
System era:
1975-2005
2003-2030
100
1960
1980
2000
2020
... A ‘Law’ that started: Stone ⇒ Wood ⇒ Bronze ⇒ Iron ⇒ ...
27

28. ARM: A Platform for Electronic Systems?
“ARM designs processor technology
that lies at the heart
of advanced consumer products”
28

29. 1991: ARM a RISC-Processor Core …
ADDR[31:0]
Address Register
Address
Incrementer
Scan
Debug
Control
Incrementer
P
C
PC Update
Register Bank
Instruction
Decoder
Decode
Stage
A
L
U
B
u
s
A
B
u
s
Multiplier
B
B
u
s
Instruction
Decompression
Control
Logic
Write Data
Register
WDATA[31:0]
29
nIRQ
nFIQ
nRESET
ABORT
TRANS
PROT
Barrel
Shifter
32 Bit ALU
and
CFGBIGEND
CLK
CLKEN
WRITE
SIZE[1:0]
Read Data
Register
RDATA[31:0]
LOCK
CPnOPC
CPnCPI
CPA
CPB

30. The ‘Lego-Brick’ Chip-Design Concept
Par.
Port
DMA
ARM7 Core
30
UART (2)
PCMCIA
Timers
W’Dog
Arb’tr.
Misc.
Int’t.
Contr.
Memory
Interface

31. Systems Get Ever-More Complex!
Today, users require a pocket ‘Super-Computer’ ...
 Silicon Technology Provides a few-Billion transistors ...
 ARM’s Technology (still) makes it Practical to utilise them ...
• 10 Processors
•
•
•
•
•
nVidea Tegra3
ARM
ARM
ARM
ARM
ARM
ARM
•
4 x A9 Processors (2x2):
4 x MALI 400 Fragment Proc:
1 x MALI 400 Vertex Proc.
1 x MALI Video CoDec
Software Stacks, OS’s and Design
Tools/
ARM Technology gives
chip/system designers ...
• Improved Productivity
• Improved TTM
• Improved Quality/Certainty
... So By Definition ARM is (≥1) Platform!
31

32. Systems using Billions of Transistors
 ARM Technology drives efficient
Electronic System solutions:
 Software increasing system efficiency



with optimized software solutions
Diverse components, including CPU
and GPU processors designed for
specific tasks
Interconnect System IP delivering
coherency and the quality of service
required for lowest memory bandwidth
Physical IP for a highly optimized
processor implementation
 Backed by >900 Global Partners ...


32
>800 Licences
Millions of Developers

33. Methodology For Productivity
 C/C++
 Debug & Trace
Development
Energy Trace
Modules
 Middleware
33

34. The Right Horse for The Course ...
About 50MTr
About 50KTr
... Delivering ~5x speed (Architecture + Process + Clock)
34

35. ... Means 24 Processors in 6 Families
35

36. A Platform for Power Efficiency
 Watts don’t just happen; they are caused!
 In the Chip ...





Matching the processor to the application
Minimise voltage/frequency (P=CV2f)
Variable/Gated clock domains
Variable/Switched voltage domains
Maximises Activity-Proportionality (Counter Intuitive)

Give the OS and the Application SW
Information and Controls
Methodology and Utilities
 In the Software ...

 In the System ...
 Architecture
 Extend control beyond the chip
... HW Dissipates, but SW Makes It!
36

37. Parallel is More Power-Efficient
Processor
Input
Processor
Output
Output
Input
f/2
f
Processor
Capacitance = C
Voltage = V
Frequency = f
Power = CV2f
f/2
Capacitance = 2.2C
Voltage = 0.6V
Frequency = 0.5f
Power = 0.4CV2f
f
... By a factor determined by Amdahl or Gustafson?
37

38. CoreLink Supports Multi-Processing
Heterogeneous processors – CPU, GPU,
DSP and accelerators
Virtualized Interrupts
Up to 4 cores
per cluster
Up to 4
coherent
clusters
Quad
CortexA15
Quad
CortexA15
Quad
CortexA15
L2 cache
L2 cache
L2 cache
Quad
ACE
CortexA15
L2 cache
DSP
DSP
DSP
PCIe
DPI
Crypto
USB
AHB
ACE
SATA
NIC-400
IO Virtualisation with System MMU
CoreLink™ CCN-504 Cache Coherent Network
Integrated
L3 cache
Snoop
Filter
8-16MB L3 cache
CoreLink™
DMC-520
Dual channel
DDR3/4 x72
10-40
GbE
Interrupt Control
Uniform
System
memory
CoreLink™
DMC-520
NIC-400 Network Interconnect
PHY
x72
DDR4-3200
x72
DDR4-3200
Flash
GPIO
Peripheral address space
38
Up to 18
AMBA
interfaces for
I/O coherent
accelerators
and IO

39. big.LITTLE Processing
 For High-Performance, Variable-Load systems...
 Tightly coupled combination of two ARM CPU clusters:


Cortex-A15 (big Performance) and Cortex-A7 (LITTLE Power) - functionally identical
Same programmers view, looks the same to OS and applications
 big.LITTLE combines high-performance and low power


Automatically selects the right processor for the right job
Redefines the efficiency/performance trade-off
“Demanding tasks”
>2x Performance
Current big.LITTLE
smartphone
39
big
“Always on, always
connected tasks”
LITTLE
30% of the Power
(select use cases)
Current big.LITTLE
smartphone

40. LITTLE
Fine-Tuned to Different Performance Points
Most energy-efficient applications processor from ARM


Simple, in-order, 8 stage pipelines
Performance better than mainstream, high-volume
smartphones (Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9)
big
Highest performance in mobile power envelope
40


Complex, out-of-order, multi-issue pipelines
Up to 2x the performance of today’s high-end
smartphones
Cortex-A7
Cortex-A53
Q
u
e
u
e
I
s
s
u
e
I
n
t
e
g
e
r
Cortex-A15
Cortex-A57

41. big.LITTLE Software Model
CPU Migration
 Migrate a single processor workload to the appropriate CPU
 Migration = save context then resume on another core
 Also known as Linaro “In Kernel Switcher”
 DVFS driver modifications and kernel modifications
 Based on standard power management routines
 Small modification to OS and DVFS, ~600 lines of code
big.LITTLE MP
 OS scheduler moves threads/tasks to appropriate CPU
 Based on CPU workload
 Based on dynamic thread performance requirements
 Enables highest peak performance by using all cores at once
41

42. A Platform for Applications
BeagleBoard
Black
(TI CPU)
Samsung
Raspberry-Pi
(Samsung CPU)
Xilinx Zinq
42

43. A Platform for Things (IoT)
Freescale
NXP
mbed
web-based dev’t
iot environment
www.mbed.org
43
ST Micro

44. A Platform for Society
 Electronic Systems will underpin all aspects of our lives.
 We depend on them today; we will
be ever-more-so in the future

Based on Electronic Technology,
but integrate a mix of technology
to delivering Human-Level
Functionality.

Economic Independence of
supply is not an option: but
Co-Dependence is!
The most important technology
in a System is the one that
doesn’t work!

...They will NOT Solve
Societies Challenges, but will
be fundamental to the solutions.
44

45. Conclusions ...
 Business is about Making Money for Investors ...
 Good enough is enough; perfection is for the gods.
 Technology enables Product Options; not all of which are Valuable
 Most Tech Enterprises, provide ‘components’ into ES Products
 Platforms are Productivity-Aids ...
 A way of creating new Products as quickly and cheaply as possible
 Sophisticated is not the same as Valuable
 ARM is a Productivity-Aid to the biggest Computer Market today
 Electronic Systems will underpin all of our futures ...
 Society will create the 21C using the power of Electronic Systems
 And will be increasingly unaware of them and their technologies!
 Ever more Sophisticated Systems will require ever greater Reuse
... Platforms will make 21C Electronic-Systems Possible
45

46. Prof. Ian Phillips
Principal Staff Eng’r,
ARM Ltd
ian.phillips@arm.com
Visiting Prof. at ...
Contribution to Industry
Award 2008
http://ianp24.blogspot.co.uk/
Ian.phillips@arm.com
46