Microcontrollers & their associated sales distribution channel are the prime vehicle for IoT pervasion. This presentation encourages innovators to bring [compute] disruptions to fuel significant growth in ubiquity by bringing about breakthroughs in power consumption [thereby significantly extending battery life]. GreenWaves Technologies {a start up} is show cased as one such industry disruptor;

1. MICROCONTROLLERS DISRUPTION
Jim Nicholas
January 12th 2019

2. AGENDA
• [my] Credentials [to speak]
• The challenge: Q&A
• STM32: ARM was not obvious choice
• Ecosystem considerations
• GreenWaves Tech: The way ahead
• Conclusion

3. [MY] CREDENTIALS [TO SPEAK]
• AutonomyN LLC Consultancy Founder
• Silexica Board Member
• Senior/top executive leadership roles held
in Engineering, Marketing & General-
Management/CEO
• GPS, Packet Routing, STB/DVD, Micros,
Mass Market, Consumer, BT, Wi-Fi, ZigBee,
Smart Phones, DAB, IP, 4G/5G, Security, AI
in Cars, Functional Safety
• Built world class ST R&D contributing to
global leading STB & DVD products
• Devised ST’s STM8 a world leading 8-bit
Microcontroller {Bs of units shipped}
• Created ST’s 32-bit STM32
Microcontroller contributing to ARM’s
leadership in Micros & IoT {Bs of units
shipped}
• Highest performance multi-core Smart
Phone Application Processor of its day
• Former VP of Marketing for ARM’s
Processor Division
• 1st Spotify Connect product as well as
establishing strategic relationship
• Positioned MIPS Multi-Threading as AI
differentiator {Mobileye as partner}
• Former MIPS CEO

4. THE CHALLENGE: Q&A
Question
• Why do we need to disrupt?
• Why won’t Micros supplier evolution fix this?
• What about the AI community?
• What’s useful in the Micros business model?
• How important is ecosystem?
• So what’s the disruption being presented?
• What are the implications for ecosystem?
Answer
ØAutonomy & compute proximate to sensors
ØConservative industry protecting & preserving
ØFocused on Cloud, Fog & Automotive
ØSupply chain; Serving millions of customers
ØDepends on the nature & scale of disruption
ØRadically changing the compute engine
ØThat depends on the extent of disruption

5. STM32: ARM NOT OBVIOUS CHOICE IN 2005
• The ambition was to create the “engineer’s micro”, the device of choice for all
• ST had a loss making microcontroller business based on more than 10 ISAs
• ISA rationalization was obvious but what criteria would drive this
• Competitive analysis showed that ecosystem was essential for success
• Developers were becoming frustrated with proprietary ISA lock-in
• Cortex-M3 had just been launched & was ARM’s most micro centric IP by far
• ARM was chosen because supporting a proprietary ecosystem would be exorbitant
• But ARM is today’s ISA for Micros [in part] because STM32 was an outstanding product
• There was no inevitability about ARM’s success, even if hindsight may suggest otherwise

6. ECOSYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS
• Microcontrollers need a strong ecosystem to be successfully adopted
• Ecosystem includes developers, boards, tools…
• An ecosystem’s size & assumptions about it’s evolution are important factors
• Open sourcing h/w needs to be backed by ecosystem [community] momentum
• It’s difficult for a Microcontroller GM to decide not to use ARM
• Disruption must be substantial to override [temporal] ecosystems concerns

7. GREENWAVES TECH: [THE] WAY AHEAD
• Disruptive Microcontroller potential even greater than STM32
• Enabling applications hitherto inconceivable on a battery
• Proprietary power & parallel processor architecture giving 20x energy efficiency
• AI extensions & co-processing for efficient computation
• Scalable compute platform from single Cortex-M0 core to multi-cluster Cortex-Axx
• Mkts addressable; Microcontrollers, Application Processors, AI “at the very edge”
• RISC-V based : An ecosystem with the highest projected growth rate
• PULP is the open source Parallel Ultra Low Power platform facilitating e-efficient multi-core

8. GAP8: Hierarchical high energy efficiency architecture
https://greenwaves-technologies.com/gap8-product/

9. CONCLUSIONS
• No compelling reason for microcontroller suppliers to switch to Open Source H/W
• We need to give them one... disruptive device innovation will stimulate adoption
• An Open Source ISA needs to have an executable strategy for mass acceptance
• Compute proximate to sensors, ie “Autonomous IoT”, is an obvious opportunity
• Disruptive products is a proven way of rapidly growing an ecosystem
• GreenWaves’ GAP8 delivers disruptive innovation

10. Tack
Merci
Grazie
감사합니다
Obrigado
ध"यवाद
Gracias
‫א‬‫ד‬‫א‬‫נ‬‫ק‬
Danke Grazie
Thank you
Cпасибо
Hvala
Mes
‫ﺷ‬‫ﻛ‬‫ر‬‫ا‬‫ﺟ‬‫ز‬‫ﯾ‬‫ﻼ‬