CORDIS Archive

SPP (29173)

The goal of the SPP project is to create a new generation of microcontrollers which can combine a high performance RISC processor and an application specific but reconfigurable peripheral device.

Their main application will be in the hand-held cartographic display systems (called in this market-area plotters) for use in the marine/terrestrial/aeronautical environments.

A multi-core CPU chip will be the final result in the ASIC development phase, and as demonstrators:

• A development board to demonstrate the full functionalities of the new ASIC.
• A Hand-Held Cartographic plotter, suitable for a successive industrialisation and market introduction.

The main characteristic of this project is the use of a RISC ARM core, plus a programmable part, with complex macrobloks (Graphic Engine, Communication ports, GPS Engine). The use of an asynchronous design methodology, as the one used for the ARM CPU, together with the sharing of the I/O resources toward different processes will drastically reduce the cost and power consumption of the final system. This is a strategic task to be performed for the next generation of hand-held cartographic plotters. The development of a new generation of multicore debuggers on behalf of ARM technology and of system level evaluators on behalf of Department of Information Engineering (University of Pisa), will guarantee the implementation and optimisation of the new chip.

The main advantages of this implementation are:

• Reuse of the same core for a wide application typology
• Strong reduction of the components on the system
• Reuse of high level software (same core for all applications)
• Reuse of the firmware procedures in all the applications
• Strong standardisation of the system
• Reduction of device cost and power consumption

Start date: August 1998
End date: May 2000

Project Coordinator:

Gianpaolo Petrocchi
C-Map (Italy)
Via Caboto 9
54036 Marina Di Carrara
Tel: 0039-585 7721
Fax: 0039 585 631282
Email: gpetrocchi@c-map.it

Project Contact:

Sarah Clayton
CPR-Team
Via Capiteta 11/1
56014 Ospedaletto, Pisa
Italy
Tel: 0039-5984382
Fax: 0039-5984323
Email: s.clayton@cpr.it

Partners:

C-Map (Italy)
Cetrek (United Kingdom)
Alcatel Mietec (Belgium)
CPR-Team (Italy)
DEIT (Italy)