Intel Centrino Mobile Technology

Seminar Report ’03 Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
1. INTRODUCTION
Intel is expanding its history of innovations with new

notebook PC capabilities designed specifically for the mobile
world. This technology allows users to work, play and connect
without wires and choose from a whole new world of thin and
light notebook PCs that are designed to enable extended
battery life.
This new innovative technology delivers breakthrough

mobile performance and low power enhancements to enable
extended battery life in notebook PCs, combined with
integrated wireless LAN capability and standards based
security support.
With Intel®Centrino mobile technology, three

components work together to deliver a breakthrough in
freedom and capability-to work , learn and play on the go,
these components include;
• Intel®Pentium® M Processor
• Intel® 855 chipset family
• Intel®PRO/Wireless network connection
The Intel Pentium M processor is offered at speeds of

1.30 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.60 GHz and 1.70 GHz. In the
Highest Frequency Mode(HFM), the notebook PCs can achieve
Dept. of CSE 1 MESCE, Kuttippuram

high performance on the most complex business and Internet

applications. The lowest frequency mode (LFM) speed on all
processor is 600 MHz which reduces power consumption and
enables extended battery life. The on demand performance
switches between HFM,LFM and intermediate Enhanced Intel
SpeedStep technology operating points based on user needs,
optimizing application performance and batterylife.
When an Intel Pentium M processor is used in

conjunction with the Intel® 855 chipset, the resulting platform
provides reliable , balanced performance for today’s
mainstream notebook PCs, with head room to remain
productive as new applications emerge. The Intel® 855
chipset family offers support for DDR memory technology and
offers a system bus frequency of 400 MHz.
The integrated Wi-Fi Certified Intel PRO/wireless 2100

network connection has been validated to work with all of the
Intel Centrino Mobile Technology components and is
interoperable with 802.11b Wi-Fi certified access points. It
supports industry standards- based wireless LAN security such
as 802.1x, WEP and WPA. Intel PRO/ wireless 2100 network
connection also supports WLAN security enhancements for
CISCO compatible extensions on certain models. Subject to PC
manufactures availability and validation this enables
interoperability with CISCO Aironet wireless LAN
infrastructure. For comprehensive security support The Intel

PRO/ 2100 network connection has been verified with leading

VPN suppliers like CISCO, Microsoft, Intel and CheckPoint.
Notebook PC performance does not depend on the

microprocessor alone. Hardware and software system
components such as the Operating Systems, the Graphics and
the IO subsystems, application software, and memory may
significantly affect performance results. For this reason this
report illustrates Intel Centrino Mobile Technology and its
performance on a consistent PC configuration.

2. THE INTEL PENTIUM M PROCESSOR
The Intel Pentium M Processor is designed with a mobile

optimized architecture that delivers advanced performance at
very low power.
The highlights of the Intel Pentium M Processor:

• Available at 1.3 GHz, 1.4 GHz, 1.4 GHz, 1.6 GHz, 1.7
GHz.
• Supported by the Intel 855 chipset family.
• Featuring a high performance, low power mobile
optimized micro architecture.
• On-die, primary 32KB instruction cache and 32KB write-
back data cache.
• On-die, 1MB level-2 cache with Advanced Transfer
Cache Architecture.
• Advanced power management including enhanced Intel
speed step technology support with multiple operating points.
• Fully compatible with existing Intel architecture based
software.
• Streaming SIMD Extension 2.
• Intel MMX media enhancement technology.
• Available in Micro FCPGA and micro FCBGA packages.

• Based upon Intel’s advanced 0.13µ maufacturing

process.
3. INTEL PENTIUM M PROCESSOR PRODUCT

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS
The Intel Pentium M Processor micro-architecture is

optimized for high performance and low power. It includes a
number of features including Enhanced Intel SpeedStep
technology support, a high performance power optimized
400MHZ system bus, 32KB level1 instruction and data cache,
1MB level 2 advanced transfer cache , streaming SIMD
Extension 2 support and advanced thermal monitoring
capabilities. These features and resulting benefits are
described in more detail below:
High performance and low power core
The Intel Pentium processor features a high

performance core architecture that uses techniques like
Micro–op fusion and Advanced Stack Management to
maximize performance. Micro-op fusion combines micro-ops
derived from the same macro-op. Advanced Stack
Management reduces the number of micro-ops in the stack
related operations by tracking relative stack pointer changes
locally. Reduction in the number of micro-ops results in more
efficient scheduling and better performance at lower power.

The Intel Pentium M Processor core can operate at very low

voltages and use advanced techniques to minimize clock and
signal switching resulting in very low power dissipation in the
active state. The processor features dynamic power
management states that consists of Stop Grant, Sleep, Deep
Sleep, and Deeper Sleep Alert states that allow the processor
to quickly enter and exit from these states to provide fast
responsiveness and significant power savings.
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
The Intel Pentium M processor features Enhanced Intel

SpeedStep® technology. Unlike previous implementations of
Intel SpeedStep technology, this technology enables the
processor to switch between multiple frequency and voltage
points instead of two. This will enable superior performance
with optimal power savings. Switching between states is
software controlled unlike previous implementations where
the GHI# pin is used to toggle between two states. The
following are the key features of Enhanced Intel SpeedStep
technology:
• Multiple voltage/frequency operating points provide

optimal performance at the lowest power.
• Voltage/Frequency selection is software controlled by

writing to processor MSR’s (Model Specific Registers)
thus eliminating chipset dependency.

• The processor controls voltage ramp rates internally

to ensure glitch free transitions.
• Low transition latency and large number of transitions

possible per second.
• No bus master arbiter disable required prior to

transition and no processor cache flush necessary.
• Improved Intel Thermal Monitor mode.
400 MHz System Bus with low power features
The Intel Pentium M processor supports Intel’s highest

performance mobile system bus by delivering 3.2 GB of data
per second into and out of the processor .this is accomplished
through a physical signaling scheme of quad pumping the
data transfers over a 100-MHz clocked system bus and a
buffering scheme allowing for sustained 400-MHz data
transfer .the system bus features the following low power
enhancement:
• Low voltage swing
• Intelligent disabling of data, address and
control signal buffers
• Dynamic on-die termination disabling
32KB Level 1 Instruction and Data Caches

Both instruction and data Caches on the Intel Pentium

processor are 32KB in size. Large L1 caches provide fast
access to critical instructions and data, resulting in very high
performance.
1MB Level 2 Advanced Transfer Cache
The Level 2 Advanced Transfer Cache (ATC) is 1MB in

size and delivers an extremely high data throughput channel
between the level 2 Cache and the processor core. The
Advanced Transfer Cache transfers data on each core clock.
Features of the ATC include:
• Non-blocking, full speed, on-die Level 2 Cache

• 8-way set associativity
• data clocked into and out of the cache every clock cycle
Advanced Branch Prediction and Data Prefetching
The Intel Pentium M processor features an advanced

branch prediction architecture that combines three types of
predictors –Global, Bi-Modal and Loop Detector. The processor
automatically selects the most optimal algorithm to use,
significantly reducing the number of mis-predicted branches.
The processor also features an advanced data prefetcher that
can track up to 8 upstream and 4 downstream operations
simultaneously. Data is perfected from main memory to the L2

cache in advance, resulting in higher performance by reducing

the need to access system memory.

Streaming SIMD Extensions 2(SSE2)
The Intel Pentium M processor supports the complete

SSE2 instruction set. These instructions include 128-bit SIMD
integer arithmetic and 128-bit SIMD double-precision floating-
point operations. These instructions reduce the overall
number of instructions required to execute a particular
program task and as a result can contribute to an overall
performance increase.
Features used for test and performance/thermal

monitoring
• Built in Self test (BIST) provides single stuck at fault

coverage of the micro code and large logic arrays, as well as
the testing of the instruction cache, data cache, translation look
aside buffers(TLBs) and ROMs.
• IEEE 1149.1 standard test access port and boundary scan

mechanism enables testing of the Intel Pentium M Processor
and system connections through a standard interface.
• Internal performance counters can be used for

performance monitoring and event counting.

• Includes an on–die thermal diode and Intel thermal

monitor feature for thermal management purpose. The Intel
Pentium M processor features a new thermal monitor mode
which uses Enhanced Intel Speed Step technology instead of
clock control. This technique achieves efficient thermal
management with minimal performance impact.
• The Intel Pentium M processor has a maximum junction

temperature (TJ) specification of 100 degree Celsius.

4. INTEL 855PM CHIPSET PRODUCT FEATURE

HIGHLIGHTS
As the next step in the evolution of Intel Hub

architecture for note book PCs using Intel Centrino mobile
technology, the Intel 855 PM Chipset was designed in tandem
with the Intel Pentium M processor.
The Intel 855 PM memory controller hub delivers

support for either PC 1600 and PC 2100 DDR memory
technology and a 400 MHz system bus , providing the latest
graphics support through 1.5 v ADP4X technology. Together
these features deliver the highest total bandwidth capabilities
to the PC platform. The enhanced 82801 DBM I/O Controller
Hub 4 (ICH4-M) delivers twice the I/O bandwidth over
traditional bridge architecture and provides dedicated data
path to fully optimize the additional bandwidth. The ICH4-M
makes a direct connection from the graphics and memory for
faster access to peripherals and provides the features and
bandwidth required for a high performance note book PC.
In addition to advanced application support , the Intel

855 chipset was designed with the following features to
enhance the end-user experience:

• 400MHz system bus delivers a high bandwidth connection

between the Intel Pentium M processor and the platform
• The DDR channel memory delivers up to 2.1 GB per
second of memory bandwidth to the processor. High memory
bandwidth, coupled with an efficient protocol, deliver a
balanced platform support and provide the memory bandwidth
necessary to extract the highest performance from the Intel
Pentium M processor.
• AGP4X interface allows graphics controllers to access main
memory over 1 GB/s, twice that of previous AGP platform
• Support for high speed USB 2.0 with backward
compatibility with USB 1.1
• AC97 2.2 interface with support for a third codec to
provide 20 bit resolution. The latest AC97 audio delivers six
channels of audio for enhanced sound quality and full surround
sound capability for live broadcast and other digital dashboard
programming.
• LAN Connect Interface (LCI) provides flexible network
solutions such as home phone line, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, and
10/100Mbps Ethernet with LAN manageability.
• Dual Ultra ATA-100 controllers support the fastest IDE
interface for transfer to storage devices.
• Support for ACPI-defined power states C1-C4, S1, S3-S5.
• Support for enhanced Intel Speed Step Technology.
• Support for “deeper sleep” power state.
• Allows wake up from sleep states S1-S4.

The 855PM Chipset is designed for low power and great

performance supporting architectural features for power
reduction techniques including:
• Chipset MCH core voltage reduced to 1.2V for reduced
power consumption
• Management of DDR SO-DIMM (platform) power by using
aggressive use of CKE Power-Down when memory interface is
idle and enhancement of per-bank page-closing policy for the
memory interface.
• Management of Intel 855PM MCH DDR I/O power with
aggressive tri-stating of control signals when not needed and
partial drive of command signals when possible and including
during idle cycles reducing toggle rates of control line.
• Support for DDR Read Throttling via External Thermal
Sensor to prevent memory overheating, disabling of I/O buffers
and DDLs when possible, turning off Hub interface and Host
PLLs also add to increased power savings for the 855PM chipset.
Some of the features added to the Intel 855PM Chipset
design to boost MCH performance include:
• Significant timing improvements to allow a robust DDR266
channel with a combination of significant logic changes and I/O
changes.
• Shorter memory refresh sequence with shorter memory
controller queues provides additional bandwidth.
• Reduction in page miss occurrences due to significant
improvements in page closing algorithms

5. INTEL PRO /WIRELESS 2100 NETWORK

CONNECTION
To access the Internet wirelessly, a laptop uses radio

signals to communicate with a wireless LAN via base band
circuitry, a media access controller, and a radio. (Centrino
does this with three chips.) A wireless LAN operates with one
of two IEEE standard protocols finalized in 1997 and differing
in data rate and signal frequency. The two standards are the
802.11a and 802.11b, the latter often called Wi-Fi. The
802.11a operates at 5 GHz and can transmit data at up to 54
Mb/s. The 802.11b operates at 2.4 GHz and transmits data at
11 Mb/s. The two protocols are not compatible: a laptop
equipped with 802.11b circuitry alone cannot access the
Internet at a hotspot running 802.11a. A newer protocol, IEEE
802.11g, is being finalized and should be out this summer. It
has the same data rate as 802.11a but operates on the same
frequency as 802.11b and is compatible with it.
According to Shane Rau, senior research analyst at

International Data Corp. (Framingham, Mass.), Centrino’s
success, at least initially, will not be due to its wireless
component. First, it uses separate chips for the 802.11b base
band and media access controller functions, whereas many
companies combine them on the same chip, and so are able
to provide a more compact two-chip set that includes the
radio. Second, although dual-band a+b chips are being sold by
Intersil Corp. (Irvine, Calif.), Atheros Communications Inc.

(Sunnyvale, Calif.), and others, Intel’s chips contain only the

radio for 802.11b and not the one for 802.11a. So a Centrino-
based machine can access the Internet only at 802.11b
hotspots. “The consensus is that to be competitive, you at
least need a dual-band solution,” says Rau.
Another source of dismay may well be that only one of

the three chips, the media access controller, was designed
and built by Intel. IDC’s Ken Furer told IEEE Spectrum that
Intel’s original plan was to develop its own 802.11a+b chipset
as a part of Centrino. “However, it was apparent Intel was still
having some problems with the 802.11a RF component, so
they launched Centrino in a tiered approach.” The current
version uses an 802.11b base band chip that incorporates a
good deal of intellectual property from Symbol Technologies
Inc. (Holtsville, N.Y.) and is manufactured by Texas
Instruments Inc. (Dallas). Intel is buying 802.11b radio chips
from Royal Philips Electronics NV (Amsterdam, the
Netherlands).
According to Intel spokesperson Howard High, the

company had built 802.11a radio ICs before the Centrino
launch, but decided it needed more time to ensure the chip
lived up to Intel’s reliability and quality standards. The RF
circuitry for 802.11a should be ready by midyear. The 802.11a
base band circuitry is already part of the media access
controller chip.

Highlights of the Intel PRO/ wireless 2100 network connection

include:
• Single band support ,providing the ability to connect to

802.11b networks
• Industry standards and extended wireless security
support(WEP,802.1X and Cisco LEAP)
• Available Intel PROSet software with advanced profile
management support, allows multiple setup profiles to connect
to different WLAN networks
• Available Intel PROSet software with automatic WLAN
switching support enables automatic switching between wired
and wireless LAN connections
• Available Intel PROSet software supports
Cisco*,Checkpoint*,Microsoft* and Intel VPN connections
• Intel Wireless Coexistence system support enables
reduced interfernce between PRO /Wireless and Bluetooth*
devices
• Per-packet antenna section enables optimized WLAN
performance
• Intel Intelligent Scanning Technology, reduces power by
controlling the frequency of scanning for access points
• Power Save Protocol(PSP) is a user selectable feature
with five different power states, which allows the user to make
their own power versus performance choice when in battery
mode.

6. PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
Mobile Experience- Mobile Mark *2002
Mobile Mark *2002 is used to evaluate notebook PC

user experience by measuring both performance and battery
life at the same time on the same workload. Mobile Mark
*2002 is a tool that measures notebook PC performance on
popular business- oriented applications in Microsoft*
Windows* operating environment. The productivity usage
model provides computations representing today’s business
users using popular Office productivity and content creation
applications. This usage model reports a performance score
and a battery life score.
The productivity workload of Mobile Mark *2002

consists of emerging usage model and popular productivity
applications including;
• Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1
• Macromedia Flash 5.0
• McAfee Virus Scan 5.13
• Microsoft Excel 2002
• Microsoft Outlook 2002
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
• Netscape Communicator 6.0
• WinZip 8.0



7. CONCLUSION
Although the wireless package is less than ideal,

Centrino shines at improving battery life and performance.
Power consumption is less than 60 percent that of the mobile
version of Intel’s Pentium IV, while performance is better by
15 percent, as measured by the notebook PC benchmark
Mobile Mark 2002.
These pluses are largely due to Centrino’s centerpiece,

the Pentium M processor, which was designed to save power
by weighing the benefits of each processor function against its
power consumption. Also, an enhanced version of Intel’s
Speed- Step technology, included in the processor, saves
power by stepping the operating voltage and frequency up or
down to match the processing demands of the application
running on the processor. Granted, previous Pentium mobile
processors have also included SpeedStep. But for the Pentium
M, designers have increased the number of steps over which
frequency and voltage can be varied, to better match
processor speeds to the needs of the application.
Power is also saved by turning off clocks and circuits

when they are not needed and running the secondary on chip
cache more slowly than the processor. All told, then, laptop
batteries can last much longer on a single charge. For
example, Robert Enochs, IBM’s product manager for the T-

series ThinkPad, told Spectrum that the company’s Centrino-

based T40 can run up to 5.5 hours on a single charge of the
standard T40 battery—almost three times the battery life of
previous models. An optional high-capacity battery gives 7.2
hours of use, which can be extended a further 2.5 hours by
plugging a second battery into the computer’s peripheral bay.
The low power consumption can also do away with the need
for fans, allowing notebook makers to design slimmer, lighter
notebooks.

8. REFERENCES
• www.intel.com
• www.pcquest.com
• www.ibm.com
• www.whitepapers.com

ABSTRACT
Intel announced a new brand name for its next

generation mobile processor technology: Centrino. It was
designed to help manufactures to build notebooks that use
less power and offer extended battery life along with better
wireless networking facilities. Centrino family will also include
supporting chipsets and wireless radio modules designed to
allow new notebooks to use 802.11 wireless networking. The
Pentium–M Chip runs at speed of about 1.4 GHz. Centrino
extends its performance by adding features extended battery
life and introducing enhanced speed step technology. The
performance is also increased by using large caches. A wide
range of notebook manufactures are expected to adopt the
Centrino technology in a multitude of so called thin and light
notebook models weighing 5 pounds or less.

CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Intel Pentium M processor
3. Intel Pentium M processor Product Feature highlights
4. Intel 855PM Chipset product feature highlights
5. Intel PRO /Wireless 2100 Network Connection
6. Performance Summary
7. Conclusion
8. Reference

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I express my sincere thanks to Prof. M.N

Agnisarman Namboothiri (Head of the Department,
Computer Science and Engineering, MESCE), Mr. Sminesh
(Staff incharge) for their kind co-operation for presenting the
seminar.
I also extend my sincere thanks to all other members

of the faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Department and my friends for their co-operation and
encouragement.
ARUN SIDHAN

Intel Centrino Mobile Technology

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Seminar Report ’03 Intel Centrino Mobile Technology

Intel is expanding its history of innovations with new

This new innovative technology delivers breakthrough

With Intel®Centrino mobile technology, three

The Intel Pentium M processor is offered at speeds of

Dept. of CSE 1 MESCE, Kuttippuram

high performance on the most complex business and Internet

When an Intel Pentium M processor is used in

The integrated Wi-Fi Certified Intel PRO/wireless 2100

Dept. of CSE 2 MESCE, Kuttippuram

PRO/ 2100 network connection has been verified with leading

Notebook PC performance does not depend on the

Dept. of CSE 3 MESCE, Kuttippuram

2. THE INTEL PENTIUM M PROCESSOR

The Intel Pentium M Processor is designed with a mobile

The highlights of the Intel Pentium M Processor:

Dept. of CSE 4 MESCE, Kuttippuram

• Based upon Intel’s advanced 0.13µ maufacturing

3. INTEL PENTIUM M PROCESSOR PRODUCT

The Intel Pentium M Processor micro-architecture is

High performance and low power core

The Intel Pentium processor features a high

Dept. of CSE 5 MESCE, Kuttippuram

The Intel Pentium M Processor core can operate at very low

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

The Intel Pentium M processor features Enhanced Intel

• Multiple voltage/frequency operating points provide

• Voltage/Frequency selection is software controlled by

Dept. of CSE 6 MESCE, Kuttippuram

• The processor controls voltage ramp rates internally

• Low transition latency and large number of transitions

• No bus master arbiter disable required prior to

• Improved Intel Thermal Monitor mode.

400 MHz System Bus with low power features

The Intel Pentium M processor supports Intel’s highest

32KB Level 1 Instruction and Data Caches

Dept. of CSE 7 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Both instruction and data Caches on the Intel Pentium

1MB Level 2 Advanced Transfer Cache

The Level 2 Advanced Transfer Cache (ATC) is 1MB in

• Non-blocking, full speed, on-die Level 2 Cache

Advanced Branch Prediction and Data Prefetching

The Intel Pentium M processor features an advanced

Dept. of CSE 8 MESCE, Kuttippuram

cache in advance, resulting in higher performance by reducing

Dept. of CSE 9 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Streaming SIMD Extensions 2(SSE2)

The Intel Pentium M processor supports the complete

Features used for test and performance/thermal

• Built in Self test (BIST) provides single stuck at fault

• IEEE 1149.1 standard test access port and boundary scan

• Internal performance counters can be used for

Dept. of CSE 10 MESCE, Kuttippuram

• Includes an on–die thermal diode and Intel thermal

• The Intel Pentium M processor has a maximum junction

Dept. of CSE 11 MESCE, Kuttippuram

4. INTEL 855PM CHIPSET PRODUCT FEATURE

As the next step in the evolution of Intel Hub

The Intel 855 PM memory controller hub delivers

In addition to advanced application support , the Intel

Dept. of CSE 12 MESCE, Kuttippuram

• 400MHz system bus delivers a high bandwidth connection