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Benefits

  • Cycle-accurate modeling of instruction execution and pipeline stalls
  • System-level insights on how CPUs interact with caches, buses, and memory
  • Rapid trade-off analysis for core count, cache depth, memory speed, and interconnect topology
  • Built-in power and thermal profiling for Neoverse and Cortex cores
  • Enables full-stack performance validation—from IP to SoC to system

The ARM architecture model in VisualSim Architect enables cycle-accurate simulation and performance analysis of a wide range of ARM-based processors. This model supports both 32-bit and 64-bit ARM Instruction Set Architectures (ISA) and offers fine-grained control over pipeline behavior, cache hierarchy, memory access, and power states. It is optimized for SoC prototyping, firmware validation, and high-throughput embedded applications.

VisualSim models referencing vendors are independent abstractions developed and validated using publicly available architectural and software information, are not endorsed by the original owner, and all trademarks and product names remain the exclusive property of their respective owners.

Overview

The VisualSim ARM ecosystem provides full-stack modeling support including processor cores, buses, memory, interconnects, DMA, and chip-to-chip links:

ARM Processor Core Support

  • Cortex-M Series: M0, M3, M4, M7, M23, M33, M55, M85 (for microcontrollers and ultra-low-power SoCs)
  • Cortex-R Series: R4, R5, R85 (for real-time, safety-critical systems)
  • Cortex-A Series: A7, A8, A9, A53, A65, A72, A76, A77, A78, A720 (for application processors and mobile devices)
  • Neoverse Series: V1, V2, N1, N2, N3, X1, X2 (for data center, edge, and high-performance compute)
  • Custom Processor Pipelines: Execution pipeline depth, parallel units, and branch predictors are all configurable

Bus & Interconnect Protocols

AMBA Standards:

  • AHB, AHB-Lite (for low-latency shared memory)
  • APB, APB-Lite (for low-speed peripherals)
  • AXI3, AXI4, AXI5, AXI-Lite (for high-performance system interconnects)
  • CHI (Coherent Hub Interface for multi-cluster CPUs and memory sharing)

Integrate with RISC-V cores for task handoff

CoreLink Support:

  • CoreLink 600, 700, and Cyprus family (for ARM IP integration with memory and IO systems)

NoC & Communication Fabrics

  • Generic NoC (mesh, torus, ring) with parameterized routing, arbitration, and QoS
  • Arteris NoC – Virtual channel, adaptive routing, and protocol-aware transaction modeling
  • Crossbar, Serial Switch, Bridges, and DMA with traffic shaping and performance isolation
  • UCie and chip-to-chip (C2C) interconnects for multi-die systems and 2.5D packaging

Memory and Data Movement

  • Memory Controllers: DDR, LPDDR, HBM with timing, power, and burst modeling
  • Cache Hierarchies: Configurable L1, L2, and L3 caches with write policies and coherence
  • DMA Engines: Block transfer, scatter-gather, and AXI-based burst DMA with priority arbitration

Supported Standards

Supports all the ISA up to 9.x

Key Parameters

  • Processor Name – Model of ARM core used
  • Processor Speed – Clock rate in MHz or GHz
  • Pipeline Width, Instruction Issue Depth, Branch Prediction Type, Cache Size and Policy

Applications

  • SoC architecture design and performance validation
  • Embedded system modeling across automotive, aerospace, mobile, and IoT verticals
  • Firmware and RTOS tuning for ARM-based platforms
  • AI/ML acceleration validation with ARM CPU–NPU–memory pipelines
  • Comparison of processor clusters under varying workloads, power constraints, and memory policies
  • Multi-core scheduling and bus arbitration analysis

Integrations

  • Works seamlessly with VisualSim models of AMBA, TileLink, Arteris NoC, CoreLink, and memory controllers
  • Easily integrates with GPU, DSP, TPU, and NPU models for heterogeneous compute exploration
  • Supports trace import from instruction traces, and custom traffic generators
  • Enables integration with RTOS (e.g., ARINC653) and peripheral models for full software stack simulation

View Demo

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