Embedded Technology
opinions. In embedded systems, however, the lower-power consumption of RISC architectures makes them more suitable for power-limited applications, particularly battery-powered devices.
Open and closed standards x86 is proprietary and owned by Intel, but AMD has created processors that are compatible and can run the same code. ARM is also a proprietary ISA that is licensed out to companies along with the design for the processor core to implement the instruction set. RISC-V, however, takes a very different approach. It is an open-standard ISA, which means that anyone can use it to design their own chips without paying any licensing costs. It can also be customised by the developer. According to a 2019 study by Semico Research, increasing numbers of companies
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bit, according to the California-based Grand View Research, so it’s not surprising that engineers feel that 32- or 64-bit architectures will dominate. It is interesting that they feel that the potential lower costs and greater fl exibility of the open-source RISC-V will not make it more attractive than proprietary ISAs. ARM, however, has gained the confi dence of many engineers and embedded companies who have invested in developing their expertise in this architecture, writing code that can be reused and purchasing a number of new development tools.
Catering for all options
Although it may have been surprising to see that less than a quarter of engineers and developers approached by Farnell reckoned RISC-V would be the dominant embedded processor architecture in ten
If engineers and developers back the wrong horse, this could result in there being signifi cantly reduced choice in the market and they could have no opti on but to use less- than-ideal devices in their designs
of various sizes are beginning to design RISC-V solutions, to the extent that the market is expected to consume 62.4 billion RISC-V cores by 2025 (of which the industrial sector will account for 16.7 billion). This represents about twice the number of ARM cores shipped in 2022.
However, it would appear that engineers do not believe this migration towards RISC-V will materialise, with the majority of them who took part in a recent survey of the Avnet element14 community indicating that they feel the industry will be 32-bit dominated.
Modular RISC ISAs
Taking into consideration the relative strengths of the different embedded software architectures, 51 per cent of those questioned by Farnell said that ARM will dominate the market in the following decade. This is compared with 23 per cent who backed RISC-V, and 13 per cent who opted for x86. Of the fi nal 13 per cent who felt there would be a different winner, most felt that it was more likely that a new architecture would be developed within the next ten years that will come to dominate the market and take over from all existing architectures, rather than an existing architecture, such as MIPS, coming to the fore.
Nearly half of the embedded market is 32-
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years’ time, it was less of a shock that x86 fared so badly in the survey. That was more expected because the focus on optimisation for PCs tends to mean that processors based on this architecture are less suited to embedded applications, and the IoT revolution is driving huge demand for very low-power, battery operated embedded products. Nevertheless, x86 architecture is still expected to be used in a significant number of embedded systems for the foreseeable future.
Whichever direction the market takes – and Farnell has placed itself in a position where it is able to cater for all options – it is essential that those who operate within the embedded processor market keep a close eye on trends and developments because they must avoid the danger of being wedded to an architecture that is unsuccessful and, therefore, has fewer processors on the market. If engineers and developers back the wrong horse, this could result in there being signifi cantly reduced choice in the market and they could have no option but to use less-than-ideal devices in their designs. This is clearly something that simply does not bear contemplation if the market is to develop in a way that enables it to meet the demanding requirements of users.
https://uk.farnell.com/ Components in Electronics March 2024 19
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