ARM Makes Major Upgrades To Cortex-M3

In its latest released of the Cortex-M3 processor, ARM has included a new Wake-Up Interrupt Controller (WIC) that allows almost instantaneous return to fully active mode from an ultra-low leakage retention state. The upgrade also introduces enhanced power-management features that address the ongoing need in the embedded market for increased performance and longer battery life in next-generation designs.

In addition, the Cortex-M3 is now supported by the ARM Power Management Kit (PMK) and is tightly integrated with, and optimized for, low-power physical IP standard cell libraries and memories from the ARM Artisan physical IP family. Additional enhancements include the ability to integrate solutions for safety-critical and fault-robust applications in industrial, medical, and automotive applications.

The company has significantly extended configurability of debug and trace capabilities to enable the creation of extremely cost-sensitive, high-volume 32-bit devices like electronic toys and consumer electronics systems. The processor also was given enhanced signaling to power-management controllers.

The Cortex-M3 processor upgrade was announced during the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley in San Jose. The features will be available during Q2 2008.

ARM
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