Developing Embedded Applications with ARM® Cortex™-M1 Processors in Actel IGLOO and Fusion FPGAs (WHITE PAPER)

Introduction 

Until recently, the embedded market has been primarily the domain of 8-bit microcontrollers. While embedded applications existed for 32-bit processors, they were limited to a few high-performance areas. The level of processing required for many embedded applications is increasing dramatically due to the convergence of communication and consumer applications and the delivery of higher levels of content, including video and high-end audio. This is driving the wider usage of 32-bit processors in system-on-chip (SoC) applications. Figure 1 shows the percentage of ASIC designs that have incorporated a processor in recent years.

At the same time, a transition is occurring in SoC implementation. Designs in markets from communications to consumer and automotive are moving from ASICs to FPGAs due to increasing mask and silicon costs. As ASIC development costs increase, the break-even volume required to justify the expense is also increasing, pushing a larger number of designs into programmable devices.

The same market and process dynamics that are causing ASIC costs to increase are also reducing the cost per gate of FPGAs. This boosts the level of integration, leading to larger devices that can support complex system-level applications. Just a few years ago, such applications could only be implemented in ASICs. When coupled with the fast time-to-market that FPGAs offer, this implementation shift will continue, presenting programmable logic vendors with a huge market opportunity.