The SOCK-ARC provides the essential IP cores and infrastructure software needed for systems using a microprocessor from the ARC 600 or 700 families with the AMBA bus, a de facto open standard. Ready for software development out of the box but also easy to customize and extend, it serves as a basic platform for the rapid development of a variety of system-on-chip (SOC) applications.

The platform is well suited to a variety of AMBA-based SoC designs. It includes the multi-master and arbitration features of the high-performance AHB bus, and a bridge to the slower APB peripherals bus. The architecture makes it straightforward to add additional IP cores or custom logic to either bus.

The platform includes synthesizable HDL cores for the AHB and APB buses, plus various timers, controllers, interface functions, communications functions, and an internal SRAM block. (FPGA netlist versions are also available.) The individual cores are also available separately.

Generous standard deliverables include Software device drivers, boot code, service routines, and support for an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS). The included SOC test and validation suite features an AMBA Bus Functional Model.