The DesignWare® ARC® HS family of 32-bit processors is based on the scalable ARCv2 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and is optimized to deliver maximum performance efficiency (DMIPS/mW and DMIPS/mm2) making it ideally suited for embedded applications with high-speed data and signal processing requirements. All HS processors are available in single-, dual- and quad-core configurations.

The ARC HS3x Family includes the multicore-capable HS34, HS36 and HS38 processors. The HS34 is a high-performance cacheless processor, while the HS36 includes up to 64KB of instruction and data caches. The HS38, optimized for applications running Linux, has a full-featured memory management unit (MMU) supporting a 40-bit physical address space and page sizes up to 16 megabytes, giving designers the ability to directly address a terabyte of memory with faster data access and higher system performance.

The ARC HS4x/HS4xD Family, which includes the HS44, HS46, HS48, HS45D and HS47D processors, implements a dual-issue superscalar architecture that delivers up to 6000 DMIPS per core (16ff typical conditions). The HS46 and HS48 offer instruction and data caches (up to 64 KBs of each) and support for full Level 1 (L1) cache coherency. The HS48 also incorporates up to eight megabytes of Level 2 (L2) cache and a full-featured memory management unit (MMU) supporting symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) Linux. The HS45D and HS47D support more than 150 DSP-optimized instructions, delivering a unique combination of high-performance control and high-efficiency digital signal processing. To speed the execution of math functions, the HS45D and HS47D give designers the option to implement a hardware integer divider, instructions for 64-bit multiply, multiply-accumulate (MAC), vector addition and vector subtraction, and a optional IEEE 754-compliant floating point unit (single- or double-precision or both). The ARC HS4xD processors are compatible with the ultra-low power ARC EMxD processors and have the same instruction set, making it easy to migrate code between the two processor families.

All ARC HS processors are highly configurable and extensible, enabling designers to tailor each HS processor instance on their SoC for the optimum balance of performance, power and area.

The ARC HS Family is supported by a robust ecosystem of software and hardware development tools, including the MetaWare Development Kit, a complete solution for developing, debugging, and optimizing embedded software on ARC processors, the MQX real-time operating system (RTOS) and a portfolio of third-party tools, operating systems and middleware from leading industry vendors through the ARC Access Program.