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The growing need for flexible product design is expected to drive a 74% growth in the FPGA and PLD (Programmable Logic Devices) market between 2016 and 2022. This is increasing pressure on many OEMs to develop flexible, application-optimized products at low cost and in a short timeframe.

Going forward, developers need easy access to the most widely used processors, including FPGAs, SoCs, and single-board computers (SBCs), along with the broadest set of software, tools, and know-how.

Arm announced at the Xilinx Developer Forum in San Jose, California on the 3rd that it is integrating the benefits of the Arm Cortex-M processor into FPGAs through the Arm DesignStart program, providing scalability and a standardized processor architecture across the Xilinx portfolio.

Cortex-M processors offer embedded developers a streamlined software development experience and are supported by a broad technology ecosystem of software, tools, and services. Developers have the flexibility to choose from a variety of options, including SBCs, off-the-shelf chips, FPGAs, and custom silicon, taking into account all important factors, including design requirements, budget, resource availability, and time-to-market.

Product manufacturers can build a competitive advantage through the design flexibility and differentiation offered by application-optimized FPGAs and custom silicon designs. Designers who choose Arm's FPGA solutions can take advantage of the following capabilities:

First, it maximizes choice and flexibility. Xilinx products provide easy and fast access to the Cortex-M1 (an FPGA-optimized version of the Cortex-M0 processor) and Cortex-M3 for FPGA integration, without licensing fees or royalties.

Next is software cost savings. Scalability from single-board computers to FPGAs allows for maximum software reuse across the entire OEM product portfolio, based on a standardized CPU architecture.

Another benefit is the ease of design. Create FPGA systems with Cortex-M processors using a drag-and-drop design approach, and easily integrate them with Xilinx system and peripheral IP through the Vivado Design Suite.

Finally, you can accelerate your time to market. You gain access to a broad software ecosystem, including Arm Keil MDK, a software development solution for Arm-based microcontrollers, and Arm's extensive design expertise.

The partnership between Arm and Xilinx opens the door to Arm processors for all developers. Arm for FPGAs simplifies development of consistent architectures across the Xilinx Spartan, Artix, and Zynq portfolios.

The collaboration between Arm and Xilinx enables developers to leverage the benefits of heterogeneous computing on a single processor architecture, using the Cortex-A processors built into the Zynq SoC portfolio, along with the newly available Cortex-M soft IP in DesignStart.

Developers can create sophisticated products by assigning processing tasks to the appropriate compute engine, whether it's high-performance Cortex-A, real-time Cortex-M, or custom logic.