Atmel-powered AT-501 heads to EMEA

Arrow Electronics and ShiraTech will be bringing the jointly developed, Atmel-powered AT-501 system-on-module to customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“Combining a system-on-module with comprehensive development tool and software support eases the design process and reduces the development costs,” said Jacko Wilbrink, senior product marketing director, Atmel Corporation.

“These advances are critical for Arrow’s customer base.”

The AT-501 is built around Atmel’s ARM-based SAMA5D3 Cortex-A5 system on chip. According to a ShiraTech rep, the platform offers an optimal balance of the most power efficient Cortex A to date with a high performance CPU running at 536 MHz and a floating point unit.

The AT-501 is designed as a ready-to-use embedded control and processing module for applications such as medical and industrial devices, with low power consumption making the platform especially suited for battery-powered appliances.

Additional key AT-510 specs and features include:

• Controller module – Ready to use embedded control and HMI module.
• Low power consumption – SoC power consumption less than 200mW @536Mhz with all peripherals activated; supports multiple power efficiency modes.
• Extensive connectivity – Equipped with GE with IEEE1588, FE, multiple CAN, UART, SPI and I2C interfaces.
• Display and touch screen – Graphic LCD TFT controller scaling to 1280×720 pixels, resistive touch screen support.
• Software
 – Integrated Linux OS from ShiraTech or Timesys corporation.

Interested in learning more about the Atmel-powered AT-501 system-on-module? You can check out the official product page here. Readers may also want to browse a detailed breakdown of recent Atmel-powered industrial boards and platforms here.

Video: ARM interviews Atmel’s Jacko Wilbrink

Earlier today, the ARM crew interviewed Atmel exec Jacko Wilbrink on the sidelines of Embedded World 2014 in Nuremberg, Germany.

Wilbrink discussed Atmel’s popular ARM-based SAMA5D3 microprocessor, confirming that the MPU has been a “tremendous success for Atmel.”

Wilbrink also said Atmel will continue to offer scalable ARM-based MPUs, with an eye on introducing more dual-core implementations in the future. 

Last, but certainly not least, Wilbrink showcased Newark’s (element14) new $79 Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained evaluation kit – a low-cost, fast prototyping and evaluation platform for microprocessor-based design.

The board, which is powered by Atmel’s SAMA5D3 ARM Cortex-A5 processor-based MPU, is packed with a rich set of ready-to-use connectivity and storage peripherals, along with Arduino shield-compatible expansion headers for easy customization. In addition, the platform is a perfect target for headless Android projects, while a Linux distribution and software package facilitates rapid software development.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the SAMA5D3 series is ideal for wearable computing and mobile applications where low power and a small footprint are critical. Key SAMA5D3 Xplained features include:

• Fully documented and readily available Cortex-A5 based MPU solution
• Rich set of peripherals, specifically on connectivity
• USB power (no need for power adaptor)
• Flexibility – Arduino-compatible connectors, enabling the user to leverage the extensive Arduino shields ecosystem
• Open Source hardware – All design files available; easy to reuse in customer projects
Software package with drivers and examples for bare metal developers
• Qt developers kit and Linux distribution free of charge

The new SAMA5D3 Xplained evaluation kit – priced at $79 – is slated to ship in mid-March 2014 from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in APAC. You can pre-register for the board here.

Newark debuts new Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained board

Newark element14 has debuted a new Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained evaluation kit – a low-cost, fast prototyping and evaluation platform for microprocessor-based design.

The board, which is built around Atmel’s SAMA5D3 ARM Cortex-A5 processor-based MPU, is packed with a rich set of ready-to-use connectivity and storage peripherals, along with Arduino shield-compatible expansion headers for easy customization. In addition, the platform is a perfect target for headless Android projects, while a Linux distribution and software package facilitates rapid software development.

“Our partnership with Newark element14 on the development and manufacturing of this kit and its first set of expansion boards enables engineers from all communities to build applications requiring rapid prototyping and evaluation for their MPU designs,” said Jacko Wilbrink, Sr. Marketing Director of Microprocessors, Atmel Corporation.

“The new board offers features such as mid-range graphical user interfaces, capacitive touch capability, wired and wireless communication, free of charge Linux distribution and QT developer’s kit.”

Meanwhile, David Shen, Chief Technology Officer at Premier Farnell, noted that Atmel’s versatile ARM Cortex-A5 processor-based MPUs neatly balance performance with ultra low power consumption.

“This new Atmel Xplained kit, in addition to our soon-to-be-available expansion boards which will add more capabilities to the SAMA5D3 platform, will be very helpful to professional engineers as well as Makers, hobbyists, educators and students, both within and outside their main employment.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the SAMA5D3 series is ideal for wearable computing and mobile applications where low power and a small footprint are critical. Key SAMA5D3 Xplained features include:

• Fully documented and readily available Cortex-A5 based MPU solution
• Rich set of peripherals, specifically on connectivity
• USB power (no need for power adaptor)
• Flexibility – Arduino-compatible connectors, enabling the user to leverage the extensive Arduino shields ecosystem
• 
Open Source hardware – All design files available; easy to reuse in customer projects
Software package with drivers and examples for bare metal developers
• Qt developers kit and Linux distribution free of charge

The SAMA5D3 Xplained – priced at $79 – is slated to ship in mid-March 2014 from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in APAC. You can pre-register for the new Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained board here.

Active-Semi goes turnkey with Atmel’s eMPUs

Active-Semi has debuted a number of reference design solutions for Atmel’s ARM Cortex A5 and ARM9-based eMPUs (Embedded Micro Processor Units) using Active-Semi’s ACT8865 and ACT8945A PMICs (Power Management Integrated Circuits).

According to Jacko Wilbrink, Senior Product Marketing Director of ARM eMPU & Secure at Atmel, the above-mentioned embedded solutions offer high differentiation, specifically for low-power applications such as smartwatches, wearables, POS (Point-of-Sale) and HMI (Human Machine Interface).

“These turnkey, highly integrated power IC solutions from Active-Semi fit well with Atmel’s eMPU platform approach by reducing design cycle-time up to 80% and enabling the lowest standby power (under 2mW), critical in conserving battery life in portable applications,” Wilbrink explained. “Working with Active-Semi to develop the ACT8865 and ACT8945A Family of PMICs has helped to further simplify our customer’s system design and reduce the number of power components by as much as 80 percent.”

As Mark Cieri, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Active-Semi notes, the ACT8865 and ACT8945A PMICs integrate the complete voltage regulator requirements of Atmel eMPU-based systems, including three step-down DC-DC converters and two low-dropout (LDO) linear regulators – all while leaving free two additional LDO for auxiliary customer-specific functions.

The devices also include pre-configured power rail sequencing that removes the associated design complexity of discrete solution alternatives. In addition, the ACT8945A offers an integrated battery charger and ActivePath power path management to efficiently regulate battery charging. Both products offer serial communication interfaces to configure and control the operation of the PMICs.

“We see tremendous market opportunity for high density and energy efficient microprocessors such as Atmel’s SAMA5 and SAM9 that are enabling a new class of consumer and industrial embedded applications,” Cieri added. “Our ACT8865 and ACT8945A devices have proven valuable, as they enable up to a 50% reduction in both size and total cost of the power solution but at higher performance than the discrete alternatives.”

The ACT8865 and ACT8945A are in production today. For more information and to order samples, evaluation kits or Atmel reference design information, readers can visit www.active-semi.com/AtmelPMU.

Atmel expands Cortex-A5 MPU lineup

Atmel has 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.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel’s Cortex-A5 processor-based MPUs are capable of achieving 850DMIPS at 536MHz and hitting 1328MB/s at 166MHz bus speed. Indeed, the devices facilitate fast connectivity along with advanced user interfaces for home automation and control panels. Meanwhile, ultra-low power consumption comes in under 200mW in active mode at maximum speed – slipping below 0.5mW in low-power mode for wearables such as smart watches.

“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. The SAMA5D36 – along with the SAMA5D35 – also supports an ambient temperature range of -40 degrees to 105 degree C.”

According to Wilbrink, Atmel has been shipping its Cortex-A5 processor-based MPUs for over 10 months to customers in a number vertical markets.

“We’ve listened closely to our customers, implementing additional features and functionality to our Cortex A5 processor-based MPUs to ensure we improve their designs or make it possible,” he said. “Simply put, Atmel’s diverse portfolio offers customers all the right features, from high performance and low power to expanded temperature ranges, smaller packaging and a more robust ecosystem environment.”

In addition, says Wilbrink, Atmel’s already robust SAMA5D3 MPU ecosystem has been expanded to include close collaboration with various partners. For example, the free Atmel Linux distribution is now available on the Yocto build system, along with a free Android 4.2 port here.

Meanwhile, more C-language examples are available in the Atmel software package (aka softpack) for non-OS users, with Atmel significantly bolstering its SAMA5D3 ecosystem to include Windows Compact 7 BSP, QNX, NuttX BSP, Micrium uC-OS/III operating system support, Rowley Crossworks or ATollic True Studio development tool support, as well as active-semi power management ICs.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s expanded Cortex-A5 MPU lineup? You can check out our extensive device portfolio here.