EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.—November 8, 2006—New certified processor benchmark scores published today by the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC®) for the NXP Semiconductors™ ARM7-based LPC2129 microcontroller provide a striking indication of the impact of embedded high-speed flash memory design on device performance and the differences among ARM7-based devices from various suppliers.

The LPC2129 is a representative microcontroller from NXP’s LPC2000 family, and it uses the same embedded flash subsystem as other devices in that family.

The 32-bit LPC2129 was tested against kernels from EEMBC’s AutoBench™ suite of automotive/industrial benchmarks along with a group of other ARM7-based devices. For all devices, the EEMBC benchmark source code was compiled using the IAR Embedded Workbench and C/C++ compiler and was run on similar versions of KickStart development boards.

In all seven benchmark tests, the NXP LPC2129 showed a consistent performance edge of 37 percent to 51 percent compared with the other ARM7-based devices, demonstrating the impact of the LPC2129’s optimized flash interface. The results further indicate the limited validity of the 0.9-MIPS/MHz Dhrystone MIPS score typically reported for the ARM7, which fails to take into account the memory subsystem and the real workloads that exercise the CPU.

“These EEMBC benchmark scores for NXP’s LPC2129 give an unusually clear illustration of why it’s so important to look at more than just the core when evaluating a processor,” said EEMBC President Markus Levy. “The Dhrystone MIPS rating for every ARM7-based processor is 0.9MIPS/MHz, but in reality every ARM7 implementation is different. The core’s performance is certainly influenced by factors such as the memory subsystem, and the application of the real-world workloads represented by the EEMBC benchmarks reveals this impact clearly.”

The LPC2129 is based on a 32-bit ARM7TDMI-S CPU with real-time emulation and embedded trace support, together with 256 kB of embedded high-speed flash memory. Device features include 128 kB of on-chip flash, 16 kB of on-chip RAM, a 10-bit ADC, and two interconnected CAN interfaces with advanced acceptance filters. Typical applications for the LPC2129, which is available in a 10-mm by 10-mm 64-pin package, include automotive and industrial control applications, as well as medical systems and fault-tolerant maintenance buses. The device also is suited for communication gateways and protocol converters as well as many other general-purpose applications.

Detailed AutoBench benchmark scores for the NXP LPC2129 are available for free at www.eembc.org.

EEMBC is a registered trademark and AutoBench is a trademark of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.