ARM ARCHITECTURE

1. DEFINITION

ARM [Advanced RISC Machine] architecture specifies a set of rules that controls the hardware working when a particular instruction is executed i.e ARM CPU architecture defines what a CPU must do when software runs on it.

2. TYPES

Modern ARM families are Cortex series and include 3 architecture profiles, they are:-

3. big. LITTLE architecture

•     The big. LITTLE architecture from ARM uses a Cortex A15 processor as its “big” CPU, along with a Cortex A7 processor as the “LITTLE” CPU to form the combination of high- and low-powered cores within a single unit.
•      big.LITTLE based CPU design features two core “clusters” with differently designed cores for different tasks. These kinds of CPUs, are designed for demanding tasks and power efficient based conventional tasks.
•    High Performance core – are usually of high speed , power hungry and reach required high clock speed. Power Efficient core – are cores that consume less power , lower clocked.

•  The advantage of these 2 cores is that: everyday tasks are handled by smaller cores, which are less power hungry by nature and the high performance cores left for demanding tasks like mobile gaming and web browsing etc. which are performance efficient.

• Hence, through big.LITTLE ARM architecture used by processors provide a CPU that performs better and is also power efficient.

4. CONCLUSION

Due to low costs, minimal power consumption and higher performance, ARM processors are desirable for devices like Computers, Tablets, Smartphones, Networking devices and other embedded systems.