Designed by ARM Holdings | Microarchitecture ARMv7-R | |
Instruction set ARM (32-bit),
Thumb (16-bit) | ||
The ARM Cortex-R is a family of 32-bit RISC ARM processor cores licensed by ARM Holdings. The Cortex-R is optimized for hard real-time and safety critical applications. It is one of the three different Arm Cortex profiles, the other two being the Cortex-A for applications processors, and Cortex-M for micro-controllers. The ARM Cortex-R family of microprocessors currently consists of ARM Cortex-R4(F), ARM Cortex-R5(F), ARM Cortex-R7(F), ARM Cortex-R8(F), and ARM Cortex-R52(F).
Contents
Overview
The ARM Cortex-R is an ARM microprocessor architecture which is designed for high performance hard real-time and safety critical applications. It is similar to the Cortex-A profile for applications processing but adds features which make it more fault tolerant and suitable for use in hard real-time and safety critical applications.
Real time and safety critical features added include:
ARM license
ARM Holdings neither manufactures nor sells CPU devices based on its own designs, but rather licenses the processor architecture to interested parties. ARM offers a variety of licensing terms, varying in cost and deliverables. To all licensees, ARM provides an integratable hardware description of the ARM core, as well as complete software development toolset and the right to sell manufactured silicon containing the ARM CPU.
Silicon customization
Integrated device manufacturers (IDM) receive the ARM Processor IP as synthesizable RTL (written in Verilog). In this form, they have the ability to perform architectural level optimizations and extensions. This allows the manufacturer to achieve custom design goals, such as higher clock speed, very low power consumption, instruction set extensions, optimizations for size, debug support, etc. To determine which components have been included in a particular ARM CPU chip, consult the manufacturer datasheet and related documentation.
Applications
The Cortex-R is suitable for use in computer-controlled systems where very low latency and/or safety is required. An example of a hard real-time safety critical application would be a modern electronic braking system in an automobile. The system not only needs to be fast and responsive to a plethora of sensor data input, but is also responsible for human safety. A failure of such a system could lead to severe injury or loss of life.
Other examples of hard real-time and/or safety critical applications include: