Structure
A typical SoC consists of:
- A microcontroller, microprocessor or DSP core(s). Some SoCs—called multiprocessor system on chip (MPSoC)—include more than one processor core.
- Memory blocks including a selection of ROM, RAM, EEPROM and flash memory.
- Timing sources including oscillators and phase-locked loops.
- Peripherals including counter-timers, real-time timers and power-on reset generators.
- External interfaces including industry standards such as USB, FireWire, Ethernet, USART, SPI.
- Analog interfaces including ADCs and DACs.
- Voltage regulators and power management circuits.
These blocks are connected by either a proprietary or industry-standard bus such as the AMBA bus from ARM Holdings. DMA controllers route data directly between external interfaces and memory, bypassing the processor core and thereby increasing the data throughput of the SoC.
Read more about this topic: System On A Chip
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature.”
—Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918)
“Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986)