Samsung has become an ARM Partner to license National Semiconductor’s PowerWise technology, specifically the Advanced Power Controller (APC) developed in a partnership between National Semiconductor and ARM. This technology will enable faster, feature-rich mobile phone applications, incorporating "intelligent" power control for increased battery efficiency.
The APC is a synthesizable AMBA methodology-compliant macrocell featured in National Semiconductor's PowerWise technology and includes a hardware performance monitor. This combination allows the APC block to automatically compensate and minimize the voltage supply based upon real-time, on-chip system conditions. This results in reduced system power and energy consumption for extended battery life.
APC technology, in conjunction with a dynamic voltage and frequency scaling SoC and ARM Intelligent Energy Manager (IEM) Software, can further reduce power and energy consumption demands upon the battery by as much as 30%.
The APC communicates to an external Power Management Unit (PMU) through the open-standard PWI interface (PWI) (www.pwistandard.org). The PMU then delivers the lowest level of required voltage to the SoC, minimizing active and static system power and energy consumption. The APC forms an integral part of the ARM IEM technology, which includes ARM Artisan Physical IP, AMBA 3 AXI interconnect, IEM software and IEC hardware.
National Semiconductor's AMBA technology-compliant PowerWise technology, APC, is available for licensing through ARM or National Semiconductor for use with any ARM processor. The ARM IEM technology is available from ARM. There are currently three IEM technology-enabled processors: the ARM1176JF-S processor, the ARM1176JZF-S processor, and the ARM11 MPCore multiprocessor.