Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chips

4.4. Survey of General-purpose 32-bit Embedded Microprocessors

In this section, we survey the architectures of several general-purpose 32-bit embedded microprocessors. Sections 4.4.1 (ARM MPUs), 4.4.2 (IBM, Intel, and MIPS MPUs), and 4.4.3 (Ubicom) are each intended to represent a point in the embedded application space. For example, ARM MPUs deliver moderate performance with very low power and small packages. Accordingly, they are widely used in cell phone handsets and PDAs. IBM, Intel, and MIPS MPUs provide high-end embedded performance by integrating relatively complex memory hierarchies (e.g., larger caches and multiple pending memory requests) and moderate instruction-level parallelism (e.g., dual superscalar execution) for consumer electronics ...