Freescale Aims PowerQUICC III SoC at Energy Efficiency in Embedded Processing
September 18, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
Samples are now available of the Freescale MPC8536E PowerQUICC III processor, a gigahertz class embedded system-on-chip (SoC) device.
Target applications include advanced multifunction printers (MFPs), home media server and point-of-sale displays, network attached storage (NAS) devices, as well as enterprise networking and storage equipment.
According to Freescale, the power and energy management features of the MPC8536E tackle next-generation embedded media processing while enabling designers to address environmental and energy specifications.
For instance, printers and other office automation equipment must demonstrate certain environmental benefits and energy usage efficiencies in order to qualify for the Energy Star program.
The power management features of the MPC8536E address this by pacing energy usage according to the required workload. This enables OEMs to decrease energy usage for their end products, Freescale said.
The MPC8536E processor implements features such as the Freescale joint operations graphic (JOG) technology, which lowers power consumption by changing the central processing unit (CPU) frequency.
"The MPC8536E delivers outstanding levels of performance while using less energy to provide optimal levels of service," said Nikolay Guenov, portfolio manager for the Freescale networking systems division.
"The innovative power efficiency capabilities of this device, together with the PowerQUICC hallmark of exceptional integration and embedded performance, make the MPC8536E an obvious choice for markets where performance, integration and energy efficiency are essential," Guenov said.
The device delivers up to 1.5 GHz of performance for applications requiring fast processing of rich media content, Freescale said.
"Energy savings is an increasingly important issue for manufacturers of embedded electronics and online equipment with cyclical workloads such as printers and office equipment," said Keith Kmetz, vice president of hardcopy peripherals solutions and services for IDC.
"Freescale's MPC8536E PowerQUICC III processor uses an innovative approach to allow designers to create flexible systems that pace workload with energy consumption in an intelligent and efficient manner. The result is a high-performance media processor that helps OEMs meet environmental and energy performance specifications," Kmetz said.
The MPC8536E is built on the Freescale e500 CPU core, based on Power Architecture technology, and is software compatible with the QorIQ communications platforms. Freescale said its QorIQ P2 platform series is expected to offer a migration path from the MPC8536E to multicore solutions.
The MPC8536E allows designers to power off areas of the device when not in use, while leveraging these states to match work accomplished with the correct level of energy consumed.
Freescale said the combination of the following features allows the MPC8536E to pace energy usage according to the required valued workload:
- High-performance gigahertz processing for heaviest workload periods.
- Core frequency change to reduce dynamic power consumption during light workload periods while CPU processing is required.
- Deep sleep mode splits power plane to turn off virtual device driver (VDD) to fast transistor in the core and cache, allowing for fast recovery to operational state without system rebooting.
- Advanced Ethernet packet filtering during deep sleep for packet-lossless deep sleep.
The MPC8536E processor also integrates key system-level peripherals to enhance performance and reduce total system chip count. Designers save system costs through reduced total system chip count, a small board footprint and six-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs), Freescale said.
The MPC8536E includes high-speed interconnect technology to balance processor performance with input/output (I/O) system throughput. It is engineered to achieve clock speeds scaling from 600 MHz, with headroom for 1.5 GHz.
The MPC8536E also integrates 512 KB L2 cache, a security engine, a memory controller with support for 64 b double data rate 2 (DDR2) and DDR3 synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), 32 b peripheral component interconnect (PCI), multiple PCI Express interfaces, local bus I/O interfaces, triple universal serial bus (USB), dual serial advanced technology attachment (SATA), secure digital multimedia card (SDMMC) and two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.
It also provides support for legacy PowerQUICC III interfaces such as PCI, inter-integrated circuit (I2C), dual universal asynchronous receiver/transmitters (DUART) and local bus connections.
Source: Freescale Semiconductor Inc.