Express Logic has ported its ThreadX RTOS to the ARC 700 family of configurable processors. ThreadX is a small, fast, royalty-free, µITRON 4.0-compatible real-time kernel, complemented by Express Logic’s NetX TCP/IP stack and FileX MS-DOS compatible FAT file system. All Express Logic products now support the ARC 600 and ARC 700 families of configurable processors.
The ARC 700 family of configurable cores combines a 32-bit CPU and DSP engine in a unified architecture. Capable of high clock rates, the ARC 700 was designed to avoid large trade-offs in area for performance. ARC 700 cores have the computing power to meet the needs of the most demanding SoC tasks, like graphics, media codecs and packet processing. The ARC 700 cores are also a fitting platform for embedded OSs, such as ThreadX.
ThreadX, NetX, FileX, USBX and PegX all are available for the ARC 700 core family from Express Logic. ThreadX/uITRON 4.0 is available from GRAPE systems, Tokyo, Japan, under licence from Express Logic. Prices start at US$12,500 for a royalty-free licence for ThreadX.
The ARC 700 family of high performance cores uses a seven-stage pipeline. Each core has DSP capability as a standard feature with optional DSP functions in the form of the ARC XY Advanced DSP subsystem. RTOS and secure processing support is provided, as is the option for a Memory Management Unit (MMU). The 700 core family also makes an ideal platform for devices requiring embedded Linux.