ARM debuts Cortex-M7 processor

ARM has presented a new company product and this time it is the Cortex-M7 processor, designed for use in various microcontrollers. The new chip doubles the performance compared to its predecessor in both calculations and digital signal processing. Thus per 1 MHz the new chip achieves 5 CoreMark points, which is an impressive achievement.

“The addition of the Cortex-M7 processor to the Cortex-M series allows ARM and its partners to offer the most scalable and software-compatible solutions possible for the connected world,” said Noel Hurley, general manager, CPU group, ARM. “The versatility and new memory features of the Cortex-M7 enable more powerful, smarter and reliable microcontrollers that can be used across a multitude of embedded applications.”

The Cortex-M7 will find its place in various vehicles, industrial manufacturing systems and in smart homes where it can be used for voice recognition. The chip features 6-stage superscalar pipelines that reach 2000 CoreMarks at 400 MHz, optional data and instruction caches and an internal AXI interface that supports 64-bit transfers. There are tightly coupled memory interfaces for rapid, real-time response, extensive implementation configurability to enable a wide range of cost and performance points to be targeted and an optional safety package as well as built-in fault detection features.

The ARM Cortex-M7 processor has already been licensed to Atmel, Freescale and ST microelectronics. In the past year ARM’s partners have shipped more than 3 billion ARM-based microcontrollers, thus making it the industry leader in its class.

Source: ARM