Contact: Heejin Choi
Email: hjchoi2@etri.re.kr
Phone: +82. 42. 860. 4946
Aldebaran Microcontroller
SoC for Mobile Robot
(Low Power MCU Core
Technology)
For mobile robot and micro industrial instruments
2
TECHNOLOGY BRIEF
▣ Technology Overview
Low Power MCU Core Technology
• High performance processor technology specialized for mobile
computing applications
• Low power multi-core processor technology based on dynamic energy
regulation architecture
• Fault-tolerant architecture for automotive application and unmanned
vehicle
• Real-time parallel processing support including video encoding/decoding
and DSP
Application Processor, Fault Tolerance, Mobile Robot, Low-power,
Interface Integration
□ Keywords
□ TRL
Automobile ECU
Smart Security Camera
Smart Appliances
Smart Home/Building
Wearable/IoT
Intelligent device
5
Technology Classification Code
Sector
Sub Sector
Industry
Intel igent Semiconductor
Intel igent Semiconductor
Intel igent Semiconductor
3
TECHNOLOGY BRIEF
Low Power MCU Core Technology
▶ Specifications of low-power MCU Core
• Dual-issue in-order superscalar 32bit MCU
• Low-power MCU Core
• BTB: 2-way x 256-entry x 58-bit = 3.7Kbytes
• BP: 10-bit GHR, 256 x 16 x 2b = 1Kbyte
• I/D cache: Each 32K bytes, Tag 2.12Kbytes, 1$ + D$ 68.25Kbytes
• Dual-rail decode and in-order scheduler with Scoreboard
▣ Technology Description
[Low-power MCU Core Architecture]
▶ Automotive ECU, unmanned mobile vehicle,
drone, wearable device
□ Target Application
4
▶ Key Features and target application field
• Fault-tolerant architecture: Malfunction of automotive ECU directly
threaten drivers’ safety. Considering the road vehicle’s functional safety
standard, ISO 26262, Aldebaran SoC is composed with exquisitely
designed fault-tolerant multi-core and cache architecture which operate as
dual-core lockstep and support ECC checksum. The dual-core lockstep
architecture compares each core’s processing result every cycle and ECC
checksum detects a bit flip on cache data. These fault-tolerant and
recovery schemes guarantee the functional safety of Aldebaran SoC.
• Various peripherals and applications: Aldebaran SoC provides various serial
interfaces for actuator and sensor control. It includes multiple channels of
JTAG, CAN 2.0 A/B FD, UART, GIOCAP, PWM, I2C, SPI, QEI. Image and
video processing modules are also included such as video input/output
module and decoder/encoder. In addition RTOS is ported to support real
time applications.
• Low-power design: For mobile wearable and unmanned vehicle
applications, design methodology for low power consumption is applied
to Aldebaran SoC and its cores. Aldebaran SoC consumes 0.24mW/MHz,
one of the best power efficiency ever achieved in SoC industry.
• Aldebaran SoC and al peripherals mentioned above are ETRI’s own
property. Al design technology and relative rights are protected by
patents.
Aldebaran, the low-power microcontroller SoC based on superscalar
architecture is developed by ETRI’s own technology. The proposed SoC
integrates legacy I/F, fault-tolerant safety micro-architecture, and DSP
processor technology for automotive and unmanned robot applications.
▣ Outstanding Features
▣ IPR Status
Korean patent : 4 articles applied
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• Most of Korean system-
semiconductor companies have
imported foreign processor IP paying
expensive loyalties because of the
absence of domestic high-
performance embedded processor
and software technology.
• In case of smal businesses, expensive
cost of processor IP reduces the
opportunity of the innovative product
with a competitive price.
• Major companies are spending
enormous expenses to IP licensing.
The effort for developing their own
processor core is inefficient and
insufficient.
• ARM Co. provides various
solutions differentiated by
performance and power
consumption through CortexTM
product line based on ARMv7
architecture.
• Apple, Samsung, Nvidia,
Qualcomm develops AP by
integrating their own IP based on
ARM Co.’s. Thus, dominance of
ARM Co. in mobile processor
market is being intensified.
Rapid growth of electric devices in automobile component attracts IT
companies to focus on the automotive field as the next mobile platform. In
addition, recently emerging mobile robot technology requires real-time
high performance and interface integrated application processor.
□ Korea
□ Global
▣ Technology Trend
▶ Massive demands on high performance and robust MCU
•
Automotive applications: Emerging safety issues on vehicle induce the
establishment of ISO 26262: ‘Road vehicles – Functional safety’. After the period
of the operation frequency and performance competition, the upcoming core
technology on automotive ECU is the fault detection and recovery technique.
Al MCU vendors are concentrating on designing robust ECU micro-architecture
and applying for patents about fault-tolerance schemes.
•
Autonomous vehicle applications: IT and automotive companies slowly move
the control ability of the automobile from human to automotive ECUs,
ultimately aiming autonomous vehicle. The way on ful y autonomous vehicle,
driving assist systems are evolving such as ABS, LDWS/LKAS, FCW. These system
requires high performance and real-time OS ported automotive processor.
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기술수요
적용처
Application
Industry
Microcontroller SoC for
unmanned mobiles
include cognitive robot,
autonomous automobile
Microcontroller SoC of
mobile robots for
industrial machinery,
distribution, farming,
forestry
▶ Current World Leading Vendors
• Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm
Explosive growth of mobile multiprocessor is expected. On 2018, more than
10 billion mobile device market (10 times of PC) is expected.
*Reference : Morgan Stanley
▶ Current Domestic Leading Vendors
• Samsung etc.
▣ Market Trend
□ Market Leaders
□ Technology Demand
Classification
Year of 1st
(2015)
Year of 2nd
(2016)
Year of 3rd
(2017)
Year of 4th
(2018)
Year of 5th
(2019)
Mobile
SoC
Foreign
160
167
200
233
300
Domestic
1000
2000
2333
2500
2667
▶ Domestic and foreign mobile processor market scale
(unit: Foreign - $1 million, Domestic - 100 million \)
▶ Domestic and foreign mobile processor market share (unit: %)
Classification
Year of 1st
(2015)
Year of 2nd
(2016)
Year of 3rd
(2017)
Year of 4th
(2018)
Year of 5th
(2019)
Mobile
SoC
Foreign
0
3
10
15
20
Domestic
5
10
15
20
40
7
§
The proposed technology is “Low-power MCU Core Technology”, which
run and compile algorithm written in C/Assembly for various digital
signal processing with MCU core. Entire technology is listed below.
▶ Applications
• The main application of proposed technology is the automotive processor
supporting fault detect and recovery schemes.
• Unmanned vehicle, drone, mobile application processor and video/image
processing are also supported with various peripherals.
▶ Effects
• Low-power MCU core is a key component of system-semiconductor and
the MCU design technology is directly related to the technological
competitiveness of domestic system-semiconductor industry.
• Securement and propagation of ETRI’s own MCU processor to domestic
system-semiconductor industry with reasonable prices wil strengthen the
price competitiveness of domestic system-semiconductor industry.
▣ Applications and Effects
▣ Scope of Technology Transfer
• Dual-issue in-order superscalar 32bit MCU
• Low-power MCU core
- High-performance mode: 0.24mW/MHz@800MHz,65nm
- Low-power mode: 0.08mW/MHz@300MHz,0.7V
• BTB: 2-way x 256-entry x 58-bit = 3.7Kbytes
• BP: 10-bit GHR, 256 x 16 x 2b = 1Kbyte
• I/D cache: Each 32K bytes, Tag 2.12Kbytes, I$ + D$ 68.25Kbytes
• Dual-rail decode and in-order scheduler with Scoreboard
• Execution queue
- Queue containing decoded/scheduled blocks
- Run-time OS support for LP execution
• Superscalar execution unit
- 2 integer units, 1 load store, and FPU for single/double floating point
operations
- Multi-port register file
