The ARM VFP9-S synthesizable Vector Floating Point (VFP) coprocessor is compatible with all of the ARM9ETM family of CPU cores.  It supports both single and double precision floating point; giving full IEEE754 compliance with ARM support software, or near IEEE754 compliance with hardware only.  The support code has two components, a library of routines which perform unimplemented functions (such as transcendental functions) and some supported functions (such as division); and a set of exception handlers for processing exception conditions.

VFP9-S features

• ARM VFPv2 ISA
• 16 double precision or 32 single precision registers
• Full IEEE754 compliance with ARM support code
• Run-Fast mode for near IEEE754 compliance (hardware only)
• Binary compatible with VFP10 and VFP11
• Portable to any process with supporting tools and cell library
• 100 - 130K gates
• 1.3Mflops/MHz
• Area <1.0mm2 TSMC 0.13µm G
• 180 - 210MHz (worst case) TSMC 0.13µm G
• <0.4mW/MHz (typical) power consumption on TSMC 0.13µm G

VFP9-S Benefits
The vector processing capability of the ARM VFP9-S offers increased performance for floating point arithmetic used in automotive powertrain and body control applications, imaging applications such as scaling, transforms and font generation in printing, 3D transforms, FFT and filtering in graphics.  The next generation of consumer products such as Internet appliances, set-top boxes, and home gateways, can directly benefit from the ARM VFP9.

VFP9-S Applications

• Automotive control applications:

• Powertrain (with ARM966E-S)
• ABS, Traction control & active suspension

• 3D Graphics

• Digital consumer products
  • Set-top boxes, games consoles
• Imaging
  • Laser printers, still digital cameras, digital video cameras

• Industrial control systems
  • Motion controls

Many real-time control applications in the industrial and automotive fields benefit from the dynamic range and precision of floating-point offered by the ARM VFP9-S. Automotive powertrain, anti-lock braking, traction control, and active suspension systems are all mission-critical applications where precision and predictability are essential requirements.

Incorporating the VFP9-S into a SoC design can give faster development and more reliable performance, as technical computing tools (MatLab, MATRIxx, etc.) can be used to directly model the system and derive the application code, ensuring that the behavior of the system design is more precise, reliable, and predictable. To ensure the optimum implementation and to maximise the performance of the VFP9-S, it will need to be synthesized with the ARM9x6E core to ensure the best timing between the core and the VFP9-S.

The VFP9-S will then need to be placed in the SoC layout as near as possible to the coprocessor interface of the ARM9x6E-S core. This is to keep wire lengths as short as possible and to minmise delay paths to the VFP9-S.