STMicroelectronics announced at the recent ARM Developers’ Conference in California, that it will integrate the ARM Cortex-M3 processor into its next-generation family of 32-bit microcontrollers.
ST was one of ARM's lead partners for the development of the new Cortex-M3 processor and the licensing agreement will enable ST to accelerate the market's transition from high-end 8- and 16-bit MCUs to 32-bit solutions by providing high-performance devices which ease development and enable significant cost- and power-savings.
"The 32-bit microcontroller industry has accelerated massively in the last few years, doubling in opportunity for revenues to reach $3,8 bn in 2005. Over the next five years, the market will have an opportunity to ship more than double the unit volumes compared with 2005 and reaching a revenue of over $6,1 bn," said Max Baron, principal analyst, In-Stat. "The Cortex-M3 processor offers the deeply embedded applications market a good blend of a compact footprint with reduced power consumption and simplified development."
The Cortex-M3 processor was specifically developed to target the low-cost requirements of a broad range of markets and applications where memory and processor size significantly impact device costs. The Cortex-M3 processor brings together multiple technologies to reduce memory size while delivering high performance in a small power-efficient RISC core.
"Our current ARM processor-based STR7 and STR9 product lines have enjoyed much success, and the Cortex-M3 processor will propel us again towards a breakthrough in performance, ease of use and quality," said Jim Nicholas, GM, microcontroller division of STMicroelectronics. "We feel that the Cortex M3 processor will play an important role in accelerating the convergence of the MCU market, and this is why our strategic partnership with ARM promises to quickly change the landscape and drive this new MCU market forward."
Ever since the launch of ST's first 32-bit ARM processor-based STR710 family in April 2004, ST has been accelerating its release of 32-bit Flash-based microcontrollers. The STR7 families have been widely adopted in industrial control, appliances, automated tolling, 3D gaming, UPS, photocopiers, and most recently, in consumer GPS and consumer networking equipment. In addition, the recently launched ARM966E-S processor-based STR910 family has already been adopted in many Ethernet applications, alarm and security platforms, factory automation, as well as digital telecom and signal processing applications.
The three members of the ARM Cortex family all incorporate the Thumb-2 instruction set, and are designed to address the increasing demands of various markets. The three types of ARM Cortex processor are:
* ARM Cortex-A Series: applications processors for complex OS and user applications.
* ARM Cortex-R Series: embedded processors for real-time systems.
* ARM Cortex-M Series: deeply embedded processors optimised for microcontroller and low-cost applications.
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version