ARM.SoC.Architecture - Preface Aims This book introduces...

Preface
Aims
Audience
This book introduces the concepts and methodologies employed in designing a
system-on-chip (SoC) based around a microprocessor core and in designing the
microprocessor core itself. The principles of microprocessor design are made con-
crete by extensive illustrations based upon the ARM.
The aim of the book is to assist the reader in understanding how SoCs and micro-
processors are designed and used, and why a modern processor is designed the way
that it is. The reader who wishes to know only the general principles should find that
the ARM illustrations add substance to issues which can otherwise appear somewhat
ethereal; the reader who wishes to understand the design of the ARM should find that
the general principles illuminate the rationale for the ARM being as it is.
Other microprocessor architectures are not described in this book. The reader who
wishes to make a comparative study of architectures will find the required informa-
tion on the ARM here but must look elsewhere for information on other designs.
The book is intended to be of use to two distinct groups of readers:
• Professional hardware and software engineers who are tasked with designing an
SoC product which incorporates an ARM processor, or who are evaluating the
ARM for a product, should find the book helpful in their duties. Although there
is considerable overlap with ARM technical publications, this book provides a
broader context with more background. It is not a substitute for the manufac
turer's data, since much detail has had to be omitted, but it should be useful as an
introductory overview and adjunct to that data.
• Students of computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering
should find the material of value at several stages in their courses. Some chapters
are closely based on course material previously used in undergraduate teaching;
some other material is drawn from a postgraduate course.
Prerequisite This book is not intended to be an introductory text on computer architecture or
knowledge computer logic design. Readers are assumed to have a level of familiarity with these
subjects equivalent to that of a second year undergraduate student in computer sci-
ence or computer engineering. Some first year material is presented, but this is more
by way of a refresher than as a first introduction to this material. No prior
familiarity with the ARM processor is assumed.
The ARM
On 26 April 1985, the first ARM prototypes arrived at Acorn Computers Limited in
Cambridge, England, having been fabricated by VLSI Technology, Inc., in San Jose,

iv Preface
California. A few hours later they were running code, and a bottle of Moet &
Chan-don was opened in celebration. For the remainder of the 1980s the ARM was
quietly developed to underpin Acorn's desktop products which form the basis of
educational computing in the UK; over the 1990s, in the care of ARM Limited, the
ARM has sprung onto the world stage and has established a market-leading position
in high-performance low-power and low-cost embedded applications.