PULP vs ARM

[kgf]

Hey Aaron,

Thanks for the info, SiFive indeed has a nice breakdown, and we should also do something similar. As a research group we do not have the same manpower to work on these things, so it takes a bit of time for us to get it done.  

Generally, the following would hold true:

• RI5CY is something that would compare to ARM M4(F) in terms of capability. (There is a FPU option in RI5CY)
  
• Zero/Micro Riscy is more like the ARM M0/1/3 core
  
• Ariane is a 64bit core, more similar to a ARMV8-A architecture, a bit like A53 and A57, but implements a simpler architecture (single issue, in order) 
  

Notice that RI5CY is the RISC-V core, and PULPino is the (older and simpler) micro-controller that can use RI5CY (or zero-riscy or micro-riscy) as its core. The newer micro-controller architecture is called (PULPissimo) and it can also use any of the three 32bit cores we have.

I hope that helps