Fast Models – ARM Developer

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

Evaluate Fast Models 10.3
for Linux

Evaluate Fast Models 10.3
for Windows

The following packages contain useful extensions to the Fast Models software, including SystemC support libraries, example platforms, trace modules and more.

Examples and libraries for use with
Fast Models Linux evaluation

Examples and libraries for use with
Fast Models Windows evaluation

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-A57, Cortex-A72, Cortex-A73, 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-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.

See available Fixed Virtual Platforms

System IP Fast Models

System IP	Family
Interconnect	CCI-400, CCI-500, CCI-550, CCN-502, CCN-504, CCN-508, CCN-512
Interrupt Controllers	GIC-400, GIC-500
System Memory Management Units	MMU-400, MMU-500
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 Video Processors	Mali-V550, Mali-V61
Mali GPU	Mali-G71, Generic Graphics Accelerator (GGA)

Architectural Fast Models

	Available Models
CPU	ARMv8-A, ARMv8-M
Interrupt Controller	GICv2, GICv3
SMMU	SMMUv3

Modelling ARM-Based SoCs and Subsystems with Fast Models