Page 39 - ARM Based Microcontroller Projects Using MBED

CHAPTER
3

The ARM Microcontrollers

3.1 OVERVIEW

In this chapter we shall be looking briefly at the history and architecture of the ARM
processors and ARM processor-based development boards.

3.2 BRIEF HISTORY OF ARM PROCESSORS

The history of ARM processor is interesting. In 1981, the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) invited the computer firms to supply a computer to be used in educational projects. The
Acorn Computers Ltd. was the winner and they developed a home computer based on the
8-bit microcontroller 6502, manufactured by the company MOS Technology. Although
the 6502 was not a powerful microprocessor with today’s standards, it was fast enough in
those days and became very successful in the early 1980s.
The founders of the Acorn Computers Ltd. were Christopher Curry and Herman Hauser.
Christopher used to work closely with Clive Sinclair of Sinclair Radionics Ltd. for over a de-
cade. Sinclair had some financial troubles and later formed a new company called Sinclair
Research Ltd. where Christopher was one of the main people in this new company. After
a disagreement with Sinclair, Christopher left the company and formed the Acorn Computers
Ltd with the Austrian physicist Herman Hauser.
During the early and late 1980s IBM produced their first PC based on the 16-bit micropro-
cessor 8088. During these years IBM became very popular in the PC market with the early
MSDOS operating system and many small competitors faded. The Acorn 6502 was only 8 bits
and it was not powerful enough for graphics-based applications. During this time Acorn
decided that they needed a new architecture with faster processor and they considered
designing their own processor.
In 1990s Acorn came to the conclusion that their future lied not only in selling computers,
but also in developing new computer architectures. Therefore, in 1990 Acorn Computers Ltd.
established a new company called Advanced Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)
Machines Ltd. (ARM for short) as a joint venture with Apple Computer and VLSI Technology.

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ARM-based Microcontroller Projects Using mbed # 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102969-5.00003-3