Tag Archives: Cortex-A5 based MPU

Atmel announces ARM Cortex-A5-based MPUs

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Atmel has announced that it has expanded its Atmel® | SMART portfolio with the SAMA5D4, a new series of high-performance microprocessors (MPUs) based on the ARM®Cortex-A5 processor. The SAMA5D4 offers OEMs seamless technology for Internet of Things (IoT), consumer and industrial applications including control panels, communication gateways, imaging terminals and more.

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Atmel’s SAMA5D4 series expand on the SAMA5 family by offering H264, VP8 and MPEG4 720p video playback capability at 30fps for an enhanced user interface experience, bringing significant increases in processing and system performance. Additionally, the series also provides higher security leveraging ARM® TrustZone® technology to protect the system against counterfeiting, remote firmware updates and allow safe storage of critical data.

“With the large market acceptance of the Atmel SAMA5D3 Cortex®-A5-based MPUs, we are continuing to shape experiences surrounding the user interface for industrial and consumer applications. The SAMA5D4 enables the addition of video playback to control panels and displays at an unrivalled cost point,” explained Jacko Wilbrink, Atmel Senior Director of MPUs. “Security and counterfeiting are becoming growing concerns within the rapidly growing IoT market. These applications require MPUs with advanced encryption while maintaining the same level of high performance. Atmel® | SMART™ SAMA5D4 is positioned to deliver the security and performance many Internet-connected systems require.”

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Featuring an ARM NEON™ engine for accelerated signal processing for multimedia and graphics, the SAMA5D4 runs up to 528MHz and includes a 720p hardware video decoder, along with 128kB L2 cache for improved system performance. The MPU integrates powerful peripherals for connectivity and user interface applications including a TFT LCD display controller and dual EMAC.

The SAMA5D4 series offer advanced security functions to protect customer systems against counterfeiting by running authentic software and secure data. These include on-the-fly execution of encrypted code stored in external memory, tamper detection with erasure of critical data, and hardware encryption engines supporting private and public keys algorithms.

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To support the new series of SAMA5D4 MPUs, Atmel® has developed a free Linux® distribution available on linux4sam.com and published on a mainline kernel. A free Android KitKat port will also be available in December 2014 on http://www.AT91.com/android4sam. Atmel offers a free graphics software development kit (SDK) based on Qt5 including demos, widgets, background images, icons, and useful graphical elements to ease a designer’s interface development and customization. For non-operating system (OS) users, Atmel delivers more than 40 peripheral drivers in C. Atmel collaborates with an expanded global network of partners, including IAR, Timesys, Free Electrons, Active Semi, Micron, ISSI, Segger, FreeRTOS, Express Logic, eForce and NuttX that deliver development tools, PMIC, memories, Systems-On-Module (SOM) and software solutions.

To evaluate and prototype your application, Atmel provides a kit covering all SAMA5D4 devices, including a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen. A Linux distribution and a graphic user interface demo with video playback based on Qt5 are made available for initial demonstration.

For those interested, SAMA5D4 samples are now available while production is ramping. Evaluation kits are available using order code ATSAMA5D4-EK for $695 each.

The SAMA5D4 series is comprised of four devices and is shipping in BGA289 and BGA361 packages. Pricing for the SAMA5D43 with the 720p hardware video decoding option starts at $8.95 USD for 1,000-piece quantities.

The newly-unveiled MPU will be on display this week at the Atmel booth (#205) at the ARM TechCon. Visitors will have a chance to explore a number of additional hands-on demos including:

 

Atmel’s fast Cortex-A5 based MPU is low power

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Last week, Atmel expanded its ARM Cortex-A5 microprocessor (MPU) portfolio with new SAMA5D3 devices that deliver smaller packaging, extended temperature support and an alternative peripheral mix.

The latest SAMA5D3 devices – designed to neatly balance high performance and low-power operation – also offer an expanded ecosystem with new software and hardware.

“To better meet wearable, portable computing and medical application requirements, we have added a smaller package option to the SAMA5D31 to include a tiny, fine-pitch 12x12mm BGA324 0.5mm ball pitch package,” Jacko Wilbrink, Sr. Director of ARM Products, Atmel Corporation, explained.

“For volumes starting at 100,000 pieces, Atmel offers the SAMA5D3 in-die, facilitating the development of Silicon in Package (SiP) solutions for even smaller form factor designs. Incremental support for the industrial and automotive aftermarket is provided by the new SAMA5D36, a superset device providing a unique combination of user interface (UI) and connectivity features including an LCD, 2x Ethernet ports and dual CAN support.”

As the folks at Electronic Products note, the Cortex-A5 based SAMA5D3 (ATSAMA5D3xA) microprocessor now offers a smaller 12 mm package and -40° to 105°C temperature support. The device – which delivers up to 850 DMIPS at 536 MHz – sips under 150 mW in active mode at maximum speed and boasts a 64-bit advanced interrupt controller, SHA algorithm, AES security support and 192 customer allocated fuse bits.

In addition, the MPU lineup series features an multi-layer internal bus structure and 39 DMA channels, plus support for DDR2/LPDDR/LPDDR2 and MLC NAND flash memory with 24-bit ECC and a floating point math unit (VFPv4). The MPU is also equipped with a 12-channel 12-bit A/D converter, a GbE MAC with 1588 support, a 10/100 Ethernet MAC, two CAN controllers, a four channel 16-bit PWM controller along with many other I/O.

Atmel’s SAMA5D3 lineup can be purchased from Electronic Products here.