A Single Platform and Integrated System on Chip

Today is an era of smartphones and tablets. The past decade technology has evolved so much that using this smartphone and tablets we can do almost all the stuff that we are used to with desktop and laptop. We do web browsing, gaming, editing photos, creation of documents, streaming media and much more. The main advantage is that the devices are quite compact when compared to the desktop and laptop. We can do almost all the work that can be done on desktop and laptop. Components in the motherboard of desktop / laptop are integrated into a single chip.

This is System on Chip. Leading manufacturers like QUALCOMM, Samsung, Apple and MediaTek made it possible to integrate all the components inside a single chip. The size of the system on chip is very small when compared to the normal chip.

How is it possible to integrate all the parts inside a single chip?

The processor inside the smartphone is not as powerful as the processor in laptop or desktop. Processor requires a lot of power to run that drains the battery. The components inside the chip have to draw less power and produce less heat.

Manufacturers have to save energy somehow which usually translates to less powerful components with fewer transistors which makes them physically smaller. These components on an SOC don’t pack the punch of their desktop PC counterparts doesn’t mean that they’re bad. It depends on many factors such as type of installed application, screen size and others. In  fact many mid-range and higher-end SOC a very smooth performance in part because their CPUs use the ARM architecture which runs a smaller simpler instruction set to make processing easier though perhaps less versatile.

Operating systems designed for mobile and tablets are optimized for the System on Chip.  Android SOC s have to work with tons of different devices and brands.  Apple SOC s only need to work with their own hardware and their own software.  iOS has been further optimized to run well on Apple chips that are at times less impressive sounding than their Android equivalents.

What is inside the System on Chip?

• Processor

The design of the processor in the smartphone is designed with ARM architecture. The System on Chip which is designed using this ARM architecture is quite powerful and power efficient.

• GPU (Graphical Processing Unit)

The Graphical Processing Unit is responsible for all graphic related activity inside your smartphone or tablet.

• Digital Signal Processor

Digital Signal Processor is responsible for the activities related to audio processing, video processing and somewhat related to display. Processing modules for audio and video can also be given as different modules. While in some cases, they are integrated inside the same module.

• Memory element

Memory element contains the storage memory that is Read only Memory. It also includes Random Access Memory which is volatile.

• Connectivity module

Connectivity module ensures that the user has all kinds of connectivity Like Wi-Fi, FM radio, USB, Bluetooth, sometimes GPS and Cellular Radios.

The above modules are basic in any System on Chip. System on Chip for a higher end computing includes modules for camera, location, sensors and security. In some cases, Random Access Memory cannot be integrated inside System on Chip. These memory packages can be stacked above System on Chip which are connected with a ball grid array. This package arrangement is called Package on Package arrangement which reduces cost and size. Connection between the CPU and the memory is to be established where memory is outside the System on Chip. This is carried out by a module known as Northbridge. This module ensures the connectivity between the RAM and the CPU.

The best example to learn about SoC is augmented reality. In augmented reality we can see a virtual object placed in front of us. We can see it on the display and if we move around that environment reacts to it. The display reacts in a certain way that the camera module takes care of the camera processing data. The feed that’s coming from the camera module gets processed in the camera body, the feed from sensor to sensor code and display takes care of putting them together and showing out of the display. CPU really does all of these calculations who really mix this camera with sensor to the display and get the interaction done properly. GPU takes care of the camera sensor.

The processors are more powerful and they can run a full-fledged personal computer OS in System on Chip.