A PRESENTATION BY SAGAR CHANSAULIA

Institute Of Engineering Jiwaji UniversityGwalior

CPU Architectures in Mobile Phones

CPU Architectures for Android Devices

The CPU executes a sequence of instructions to control the hardware on your device.

Android supports 3 different processor architectures:• ARM • Intel• MIPS

These three CPU designs are for both 32-bit and 64-bit solutions.

INTRODUCTION

The most popular and ubiquitous of these three is the ARM.

(Advanced RISC Machines). Intel is well known for of its popularity in

the desktop and server markets, however on mobile it has had less of an impact.

MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by MIPS TECHNOLOGIES .

Inside the SoC

 The device consists primarily of :

Chipset - typically split into -• A Northbridge that connects to the processor and memory • A Southbridge that connects to various peripheral buses. A Central Processing Unit (CPU) Application Memory (RAM) Permanent Storage (Micro SD) A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) A Power Supply Peripherals

Efficiency vs Performance

Mobile devices are complex devices. CPUs need to execute millions of instructions to make

them behave as we expect. The speed and power efficiency of these CPUs is critical. The speed affects the user experience, while the

efficiency affects the battery life. The perfect mobile device is one that has high

performance and low power usage.Efficiency Performance

ARM ARM - founded in November 1990. ARM does not make processors themselves but

they license the technology to other vendors (partners). More energy efficient than intel (x86) based CPU. Best known for its range of RISC processor core designs. Other products – fabric IP, software tools, models, cell libraries. Made ARM v8 for 64-bit processor with backward compatibility

to previous 32-bit models for mobile devices.

ARM - CORES

Popular core design from ARM include ARMv7, ARM9, ARM11, Coretex-A8, Cortex-A9 and the most recent, Cortex-A15.

Companies like Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Samsung & Apple choose one of these designs and pack them along with a GPU and other components, into their own branded SoC.

SoC manufacturers like Qualcomm prefer to design their own custom CPUs . SnapDragon 821 is the latest CPU, designed by Qualcomm and is used in their Xiaomi Mi Mix SoC. 

VENDORS(partners) FOR ARM

The BIG four vendors for ARM are : Qualcomm (SnapDragon series) Texas Instruments (TI- OMAP series) Nvidia (Tegra series) Samsung (Exynos series)

Others: Apple(A-series), ST Ericsion (NovaThor), etc.

Qualcomm Snapdragon series

Snapdragon is a suite of SoC designed and marketed by Qualcomm.

Launched in 2007 , first launch was QSD8250. It’s SoC includes multiple CPU cores, a GPU,

a wireless modem, and other software and hardware.  Used in Android smartphones, Windows Phones,

Netbooks, in cars, wearable devices and many more. Introduced “krait” CPU architecture for QSD 800

series .

Texas OMAP series

OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform) is a series of image/video processors developed by Texas Instruments.

ST MC’s and Texas Instruments jointly created OMAP Interfaces after December 12, 2002. 

Was intended to be used with 2.5 and 3G phones, that were going to be produced during 2003.

Many mobile phones use OMAP SoCs : Nokia N9 series, Motorola Droid, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Sony Ericsson's Satio.

Nvidia Tegra series

The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture CPU, GPU, northbridge, southbridge, and memory controller on SoC.

Tegra 600 and 650 chips were intended for smartbooks and mobile Internet devices.

Xiaomi Mi 3 uses Tegra 4i Google Nexus 7 & HTC One X use Tegra 3.

Samsung Exynos series

Exynos is a series of SoC’s developed and manufactured by Samsung Electronics.

In 2010, Samsung launched the Exynos 3 in its Samsung Galaxy S with ARM Cortex-A8 CPU.

Manufacturing ARM v7 based SoC’s like Exynos 3, Exynos 4 & Exynos 5 since 2010.

Manufacturing ARM v8 based SoC’s like Exynos 7 & Exynos 8 since 2014.

Exynos 8890 used in galaxy S7 & S7 edge.

Intel (x86)

Intel manufactures CISC processors based on 32 bit and 64 bit format. Atom is a SoC platform designed for smartphones and tablet computers,

launched by Intel in 2012. Made Bonnell microarchitecture & Silvermont microarchitecture

for Android devices. Supports the Android operating system on Intel x86 processors. Moorefield and Merrifield(22nm), Sofia (28nm) based on Silvermont

Microarchitecture. SilverThorne(45nm) and Penwell(32nm) based on Bonnell

Microrchitecture.

MIPS

MIPS (Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies .

MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was founded in 1984.

Provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking, embedded and mobile applications.

On February 8 2013, MIPS Technologies was sold to Imagination Technologies.