Introduction
FPGA is Field Programmable Gate Array: Field－Programmable Gate Array
SOC is System on Chip Integration: system on chipset
DSP is Digital Processor: Digital Signal Processing
MCU is Microprocessor: micro control unite
CPU Central Processing Unit (Central Processing Unit)
GPU Graphics Processing Unit (Graphics Processing Unit)
NPU embedded neural network processor
MPU, microprocessor and memory protection unit The chip
classification diagram is as follows:
detailed introduction
FPGA
FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), that is, Field Programmable Gate Array, is a product of further development on the basis of programmable devices such as PAL, GAL, and CPLD. It emerged as a semi-custom circuit in the field of ASIC, which not only solves the shortcomings of custom circuits, but also overcomes the shortcomings of the limited number of original programmable device gates.
The FPGA chip is mainly composed of three parts, namely IOE (input and output unit), LAB (logic array block) and interconnect (internal connection line).
SoC
Generally speaking, SoC is called a system-on-a-chip, and it is also called a system on a chip. Refers to an integrated circuit that integrates a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. SoCs can handle digital signals, analog signals, mixed signals and even higher frequency signals. SoCs are often used in embedded systems. The integration scale of the system chip is very large, generally reaching several million gates to tens of millions gates. MCU is just a chip-level chip, and SOC is a system-level chip. It not only has built-in RAM and ROM like MCU, but also is as powerful as MPU. It not only puts simple codes, but can put system-level codes, that is to say The operating system can be run. Combining the advantages of integrated MCU and strong processing power of MPU into one. SoC is relatively flexible, and it can integrate an arm-based processor with some dedicated peripheral chips to form a system. In fact, the existing Hisi-3507, hisi3516 and other processors are all SoC systems.
DSP
Also known as a digital signal processor, it is a microprocessor dedicated to real-time digital signal processing. Structurally, it adopts Haval structure and also adopts pipeline technology. In addition, when the DSP is used in the host environment, it can operate as a direct memory access device, and also supports obtaining data from an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and finally outputs data converted into an analog signal by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Some parallel processing is supported.
In embedded applications such as mobile phones and digital cameras, where sound and image signal processing are the main tasks, DSP has two solutions. One is that DSP has undergone single-chip and electromagnetic compatibility transformation, and integrates functional components including digital baseband, SRAM, radio frequency, power management, etc. in the same chip to become a specialized embedded DSP; the other is in a general-purpose microprocessor. Extend DSP functionality. Or increase the DSP coprocessor core in the microcontroller (or SoC).
MCU
Microcontroller Unit (Microcontroller Unit), also known as Single Chip Microcomputer (Single Chip Microcomputer) or single-chip microcomputer, is to reduce the frequency and specifications of the Central Process Unit (Central Process Unit) appropriately, and the memory (memory), counter (Timer) ), USB, A/D conversion, UART, PLC, DMA and other peripheral interfaces, and even the LCD drive circuit are integrated on a single chip to form a chip-level computer for different combination controls for different applications. For example, mobile phones, PC peripherals, remote controls, automotive electronics, industrial stepping motors, control of robotic arms, etc., can all be seen with MCUs.
CPU
The central processing unit (Central Processing Unit) is a very large-scale integrated circuit, which is the computing core (Core) and control core (Control Unit) of a computer. Its function is mainly to interpret computer instructions and process data in computer software. The central processing unit mainly includes an arithmetic unit (ALU, Arithmetic Logic Unit), a cache memory (Cache), and a bus (Bus) for realizing data (Data), control, and status between them. It, together with internal memory (Memory) and input/output (I/O) devices, is called the three core components of an electronic computer.
GPU
Graphics Processing Unit (Graphics Processing Unit), also known as display core, visual processor, and display chip, is a graphics processing unit that specializes in image computing work on personal computers, workstations, game consoles, and some mobile devices (such as tablets, smartphones, etc.). microprocessor. The purpose is to convert and drive the display information required by the computer system, and provide line scan signals to the display to control the correct display of the display. It is an important component for connecting the display and the main board of the personal computer, and is also one of the important devices for "human-machine dialogue". . As an important part of the computer host, the graphics card undertakes the task of outputting display graphics. For those engaged in professional graphic design, the graphics card is very important.
NPU
The embedded neural network processor adopts the "data-driven parallel computing" architecture, and is especially good at processing massive multimedia data such as video and images. The advantages of miniaturization, low power consumption and low cost of embedded NPU accelerate the application of artificial intelligence technology. For example, drones have high requirements on the weight and power consumption of the camera, otherwise it will affect the take-off and endurance. However, "Xingguang Intelligent No. 1" is only the size of an ordinary postage stamp and weighs only a few tens of grams. Its birth has made it possible for many small devices such as surveillance cameras to be artificially intelligent, and it has taken artificial intelligence from the mysterious computer room to life applications. step.
TPU
TPU (Tensor Processing Unit), a processor built by Google, is tailor-made for machine learning. It requires fewer transistors to perform each operation and is naturally more efficient. Because it can accelerate the operation of TensorFlow, its second-generation artificial intelligence system, and its efficiency is much higher than that of GPU-Google's deep neural network is driven by the TensorFlow engine.
MPU
MPU has two meanings, microprocessor and memory protection unit. The MPU is a single chip, while the chipset is composed of a group of chips. In the early days, there were even as many as 7 or 8 chips, but most of them are currently combined into 2 chips, generally called North Bridge (North Bridge) chips and South Bridge (South Bridge) chips. Bridge) chip. MPU is the calculation, judgment or control center of the computer, some people call it "the heart of the computer".