"Open source" Passion is not just technicians represented by the word, it conveys such as research class of knowledge sharing and community building point of view. While open source has been in a positive impact - With the growing popularity of open source microprocessor instruction set architecture RISC-V, and promote innovation and open source software movement is now causing a sensation microprocessors, the semiconductor IP provider Arm (as 95% of smart phone embedded processor provides support) is not open source enthusiasts.
Recently, foreign media Synced with Arm embedded, networking and Rhonda Dirvin, senior director of automotive marketing conducted a dialogue on the difference between the open-source hardware and open source software, and thereby influence decisions Arm were brought.
Dirvin believes that today's open-source hardware pattern does not seem as straightforward as: "We are starting to see some people say free is not really free because in the final analysis, they must consider the content required for acceptance and to achieve the desired content of instruction or architecture. but they did not support the entire ecosystem as Arm or some other older established vendors. "
Then, verification and acceptance of open source hardware and open source software What is the difference? Mellanox Technologies of outside directors Thomas J Riordan told Synced, he believes the challenges faced by both actually very similar. Software (algorithms) "from the instruction set architecture (ISA) level, processor and open-source programs are written in some high-level language (HLL) In both cases, must be detailed way processor / acceptance procedures to ensure quality results. "
"Just in terms of implementing the instruction set architecture, it is open to the fact that almost guaranteed that you can get many implementations from multiple sources, and this is one situation Arm worried about. After all, the function of the open source model has been fully validated. If said processor RISC-V is a community Linux, it is like Linux and Microsoft hope there is never the same as Android, Arm hope RISC-V does not exist. "Riordan said so.
2019 could be a turning point in the Arm. British company to customers (mainly semiconductor companies) microprocessor IP licensed a series of significant changes in order to provide better access and more flexible chip design options. Earlier this year, we launched the Arm Arm flexible access (Arm Flexible Access) - can lower the cost of access to the company extensive technology portfolio, without obligation to purchase a full license by its customers.
In Arm TechCon annual technology conference this week in San Jose, held on, Simon Segars Arm CEO, announced that it will add custom instructions (Custom Instructions) in order to focus on IoT Cortex-M processor series, and from the first half of 2020 the Arm Cortex-M33 CPU started. Arm This will enable customers to add custom instructions to the IoT CPU Cortex-M-based, in order to tailor chips for specific markets.
Dirvin said: "For example, some mathematical algorithm is repeated if we want to use a silicon memory chip to maintain it, then the command will have a very good match but with Arm but now want to use a custom command... later, our partners will be able to chip specifically optimized for this market. "
For this reason, many analysts and industry practitioners will Arm of the declaration as a response to the RISC-V increasingly serious challenges. Since RISC-V has a very attractive advantage - a high degree of freedom, lightweight and scalable, it has attracted widespread attention NVIDIA and Qualcomm technology giants.
Dirvin stressed that even without the rise of RISC-V's, Arm will launch its policy change. "The pace of innovation seems to be accelerating. With 5G, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology, disruptive technologies emerge almost at the same time. I think this is a very good thing, because everything around us are constantly subversion, so we also subvert their own needs. "