FPGA based ARM Cortex-M1 Processor - Actel

Actel announced of its implementation of the ARM Cortex-M1 pr ocessor for use in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Actel offers free access to advanced ARM processor technology by removing the license and royalty fees. The free delivery of the Cortex-M1 processor provides designers flexibility and enable low-cost development.

Cortex-M1 processor operates at up to 72 MHz, providing a good balance between size and speed for embedded applications. The the core is able to be implemented in as few as 4,300 tiles. The Cortex-M1 processor connects to the industry-standard AHB bus, allowing developers to add peripheral functionality to the processor.

Rich Brossart, Actel, said:

…designers continue to show great interest in implementing industry-standard 32-bit processor technologies in FPGAs. With the addition of the FPGA-optimized ARM Cortex-M1 processor, free of license and royalty fees, to our broad processor portfolio, system designers can select the solution that best meets their design requirements regardless of application or volume

Designers benefit from a Cortex-M1 processor-based implementation in an FPGA (compared to ASIC) due to reduced design time and cost, particularly for small volume products. For high volumes products, Cortex-M1 processor runs the industry-standard Thumb instruction set. It is also compatible with the Cortex-M3 processor, providing an easy migration path to ASIC implementation.

For development, Actel's implementation of Cortex-M1 processor will be supported with Actel’s CoreConsole IP Deployment Platform, SoftConsole program and Libero Integrated Design Environment. All these tools are free to download from Actel’s Web site. Cortex-M1 processor is also supported by the ARM RealView Development Suite and RealView Microcontroller Development Kit. This new processor also will be supported by popular third party vendors, such as CriticalBlue, Aldec, IAR, CodeSourcery, ImpulseC and Keil.

Actel's implementation of the Cortex-M1 processor is sheduled to be available on April 2007. The price starts at $3.95.

Source: ARM Cortex-M1 Processor in FPGA - Actel