Fast Models – Arm Developer

Getting Started

Fast Models are accurate, flexible programmer's view models of Arm IP, allowing you to develop software such as drivers, firmware, OS and applications prior to silicon availability. They allow full control over the simulation, including profiling, debug and trace. Fast Models can be exported to SystemC and TLM 2.0, allowing integration into the wider SoC design process.

Fast models 11.5 Evaluation Package
Download for Windows Download for Linux

Fast models 11.5 Third Party IP
Download for Windows Download for Linux

Components in a Virtual Prototype

A complete virtual prototype of a system contains more than just an Instruction Set Simulator. A full system consists of:

Fast, accurate models of cores, subsystems or systems
SystemC interface for integration with EDA tools and other IP blocks
APIs for debug (CADI) and trace (MTI), allowing full control and an interface to DS-5, MDK and 3rd party debug tools
Python based scripting for runtime control, checking and reporting
Visualization, file system access, peripherals and networking from virtual I/O
Fully compatible Linaro software stacks, from boot code to Linux and Android OS support

Software Development with Fast Models

Complete & Accurate

Fast Models are available for all Cortex processors, CCI and CCN interconnect, as well as other system IP. Fast Models are functionally accurate, so banked and co-processor registers, exception levels, translation tables and cache coherency are all available to programmers.

Hybrid Simulation

Connect a CPU subsystem to peripherals on hardware emulators via AMBA transactors for emulation acceleration. Compatible with Cadence, Mentor Graphics and Synopsys emulators for maximum flexibility in your software development and IP validation process.

Save and Restore

Checkpointing allows you to save your simulation once the OS has booted, so that you can restart from there and jump quickly back into your software. For regression testing, multiple simulations can be restarted from a single checkpoint.

Timing Annotation

Fast Models interact with TLM approximately timed models for high level software performance estimation. This helps to give an idea of how software will perform on the real device, saving software development time further into the project.

Fast Models Portfolio

Arm releases models of our IP to lead partners at an early stage, so please contact us for more information on upcoming Fast Models.

CPU Fast Models

CPU Family	Processor
Cortex-A Series	Cortex-A32, Cortex-A35, Cortex-A53, Cortex-A55, Cortex-A57, Cortex-A72, Cortex-A73, Cortex-A75, Cortex-A76 new, Cortex-A5, Cortex-A7, Cortex-A8, Cortex-A9, Cortex-A15, Cortex-A17
Cortex-R Series	Cortex-R52, Cortex-R8, Cortex-R4, Cortex-R5, Cortex-R7
Cortex-M Series	Cortex-M23, Cortex-M33, Cortex-M35P new, Cortex-M0, Cortex-M0+, Cortex-M3, Cortex-M4, Cortex-M7

Fixed Virtual Platform Downloads

Fixed versions of Fast Models are also available, giving software developers a ready-to-use model of a complete Arm system. They can be downloaded, licensed individually and imported into DS-5 for ease of use. Fixed Virtual Platforms are a convenient way of testing software without needing to wait for development boards to become available.

Learn more

System IP Fast Models

System IP	Family
Interconnect	CCI-400, CCI-500, CCI-550, CCN-502, CCN-504, CCN-508, CCN-512, CMN-600
Interrupt Controllers	GIC-400, GIC-500, GIC-600
System Memory Management Units	MMU-400, MMU-500, MMU-600
Other	DMC-620, DMC-500, DMC-520, DMC-400, DMA-330, TZC-400

Peripherals and Infrastructure

Type	Variant
Interfaces	Ethernet, MMC, CLDC, HDLCD, VirtIO Block, Virtio Plan, VFS
Peripheral	UART, MMU, Mouse and Keyboard, SSP, Timers, Clocks, GPIO
Memories	RAM, Flash, NAND Flash, PL080, PL340, PL350, L2C-310
TrustZone	TZIC, TZMA, TZPC
Other	Visualization, Bridges to AMBA-PV, PV Bus, File/App Loaders

Media IP Fast Models

Media IP
Mali Display Processors	Mali-DP500, Mali-DP550, Mali-DP650, Mali-D71
Mali Video Processors	Mali-V550, Mali-V61
Mali GPU	Mali-G51, Mali-G71, Mali-G72, Generic Graphics Accelerator (GGA)

Architectural Fast Models

	Available Models
CPU	Armv8-A (up to version 8.4), Armv8-M
Interrupt Controller	GICv2, GICv3
SMMU	SMMUv3

Community Blogs

Choosing the right platform for embedded software development

In this blog I’ll discuss the various platform options for embedded software development and go through when it is appropriate to choose one type over the others.

2 days ago by Zach Lasiuk

Introducing Iris, the new generation of debug and trace interface in Arm Mo

The Iris Debug and Trace interface represents a major step forward in functionality for virtual prototypes incorporating Arm Fast Model.

a month ago by Rob Kaye

Slash Unit Testing Time in Embedded Software Regression Testing

Accurate and efficient tests are essential when developing software for embedded systems, particularly in continuous integration and functional safety flows. Quick pass/fail results from a comprehensive regression test suite enable teams to develop…

1 months ago by Zach Lasiuk

Using Arm Development Studio with Fast Models for early software developmen

This article outlines the process of using Arm Development Studio with custom Fast Model systems and provides tips to help connect Development Studio to Fast Model systems and start running and debugging as quickly as possible.

2 months ago by Jason Andrews

Develop Embedded Control Systems Efficiently in MATLAB with Arm Models and…

Developing software involving DSP, control systems, and complex algorithms running on embedded targets is a humbling task. To streamline this, Arm has several offerings to help verify and optimize code under development and testing.

3 months ago by Zach Lasiuk

Implementing Embedded Continuous Integration with Jenkins and Docker: Part

After reading through this blog series, you and your team will be armed with the knowledge to create a customized, consistent, and automated embedded software development workflow.

6 months ago by Zach Lasiuk

Community Forums

Not answered	When should APB slave Sample address/Data for read/write transaction from APB master?	27 views	0 replies	Started 2 days ago by arm_user	Answer this
Not answered	Timing simulation with ARM standard library	29 views	0 replies	Started 4 days ago by Yongchan Jeon	Answer this
Not answered	Can the ARM corrupt the timing on the AXI bus SoC FPGA Timing & Addressing	51 views	0 replies	Started 9 days ago by skbrown	Answer this
Suggested answer	Cycle Model Studio software Cycle Model Studio	170 views	1 replies	Latest 15 days ago by Jason Andrews	Answer this
Suggested answer	why PSTRB signal in APB4 have four bits? AMBA 4	422 views	2 replies	Latest 1 months ago by Colin Campbell	Answer this
Not answered	[ARM GICv3 - GIC Stream protocol] An interrupt being retrieved from a CPU interface!	175 views	0 replies	Started 1 months ago by jaycekr	Answer this
Suggested answer	apb protocol checker (assertions)	492 views	1 replies	Latest 1 months ago by Colin Campbell	Answer this
Suggested answer	Any advice on running 180nm ROM/RAM compilers on modern Linux?	968 views	2 replies	Latest 2 months ago by yrpeng	Answer this
Suggested answer	apb 2.0 continuous transfer	474 views	1 replies	Latest 2 months ago by Colin Campbell	Answer this
Suggested answer	AMBA AXI reset	542 views	1 replies	Latest 2 months ago by Colin Campbell	Answer this
Not answered	Coresight 400 tool installation and IP generation	240 views	0 replies	Started 3 months ago by PKB	Answer this
Not answered	CHI/ ACE-Lite Interface	417 views	0 replies	Started 3 months ago by Sidhaarth	Answer this

Not answered	When should APB slave Sample address/Data for read/write transaction from APB master? Started 2 days ago by arm_user	0 replies 27 views
Not answered	Timing simulation with ARM standard library Started 4 days ago by Yongchan Jeon	0 replies 29 views
Not answered	Can the ARM corrupt the timing on the AXI bus Started 9 days ago by skbrown	0 replies 51 views
Suggested answer	Cycle Model Studio software Latest 15 days ago by Jason Andrews	1 replies 170 views
Suggested answer	why PSTRB signal in APB4 have four bits? Latest 1 months ago by Colin Campbell	2 replies 422 views
Not answered	[ARM GICv3 - GIC Stream protocol] An interrupt being retrieved from a CPU interface! Started 1 months ago by jaycekr	0 replies 175 views
Suggested answer	apb protocol checker (assertions) Latest 1 months ago by Colin Campbell	1 replies 492 views
Suggested answer	Any advice on running 180nm ROM/RAM compilers on modern Linux? Latest 2 months ago by yrpeng	2 replies 968 views
Suggested answer	apb 2.0 continuous transfer Latest 2 months ago by Colin Campbell	1 replies 474 views
Suggested answer	AMBA AXI reset Latest 2 months ago by Colin Campbell	1 replies 542 views
Not answered	Coresight 400 tool installation and IP generation Started 3 months ago by PKB	0 replies 240 views
Not answered	CHI/ ACE-Lite Interface Started 3 months ago by Sidhaarth	0 replies 417 views