Hercules (microcontroller)

Hercules is a line of ARM architecture-based microcontrollers from Texas Instruments built around one or more ARM Cortex cores. This "Hercules safety microcontroller platform" includes a series of microcontrollers specifically targeted for Functional Safety applications, through such hardware-base fault correction/detection features as dual cores that can run in lock-step, full path ECC, automated self testing of memory and logic, peripheral redundancy, and monitor/checker cores.

ARM architectures
The ARM logo
DesignerARM Holdings
32-bit architectures (Cortex)
VersionARMv8-R, ARMv7-A, ARMv7-R, ARMv7E-M, ARMv7-M, ARMv6-M
Encoding32-bit except Thumb2 extensions use mixed 16- and 32-bit instructions.
EndiannessBi (Little as default)
ExtensionsThumb-2 (mandatory since ARMv7), NEON, Jazelle, FPv4-SP
Registers
General-purpose16 x 32-bit integer registers including PC and SP
Floating pointUp to 32 × 64-bit registers,[1] SIMD/floating-point (optional)

This line includes the TMS470M, TMS570 and RM4 families. These families were "designed specifically for IEC 61508 and ISO 26262 safety critical applications".[2] However, they differ significantly in the degree of support for these safety standards:[3]

TMS470
  • Value Line Transportation and Safety MCUs
  • Supports Safety for
    • IEC 61508 systems
RM4
  • High Performance Industrial and Medical Safety MCUs
  • Developed to Safety Standards
    • IEC 61508 SIL-3
TMS570
  • High Performance Transportation and Safety MCUs
  • Developed to Safety Standards
    • IEC 61508 SIL-3
    • ISO 26262 ASIL D
In particular, TMS570 support for ASIL D is accomplished through dual lock-step cores.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Procedure Call Standard for the ARM Architecture" (PDF). ARM Holdings. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Hercules Safety ARM MCUs". Texas Instruments.
  3. ^ "Hercules ARM® CortexTM-R4 Safety Microcontrollers" (PDF). Arrow Electronics. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
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