Freescale Unveils Multicore Processor for Telematics, Consumer, Industrial Applications
May 25, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
Freescale Semiconductor introduced the MPC5121e, a system-on-chip (SoC) processor for high-performance, power-sensitive applications requiring complex graphics, multimedia and real-time audio processing.
Because the MPC5121e processor is automotive-qualified, it can be used for telematics, connectivity and driver interactive vehicle applications.
Other uses include embedded applications, such as networked industrial control and security/surveillance systems, networked patient monitoring systems, gaming and media gateways, set-top boxes and other digital home applications.
The device meets the reliability requirements of the AEC-Q100 standard and TS14969 specification and is designed to withstand harsh environmental conditions, Freescale said.
Built on Power Architecture technology, the SoC device is part of the Freescale mobileGT processor family.
Manufactured on 90 nanometer (nm) low-power complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the MPC5121e is designed to provide multimedia performance and feature-rich user interfaces within a low power envelope, without sacrificing flexibility and robustness, according to the company.
"The … multicore architecture unites a Power Architecture core with a dedicated 2D/3D graphics core and a powerful co-processor enhanced for real-time audio and multimedia," said Mike McCourt, vice president and general manager of the Freescale microcontroller division.
"The combined horsepower of these cores makes this processor ideal for next-generation applications that require sophisticated displays, graphics/multimedia acceleration, network connectivity and mass storage."
The primary processing engine of the MPC5121e microprocessor is the e300 core built on Power Architecture technology, scaling to 400 MHz. The MPC5121e combines the e300 core with an integrated 2D/3D graphics core and a fully programmable 32 b reduced instruction set computer- (RISC-) based multimedia acceleration core optimized for audio processing. Freescale also plans to offer a version of the MPC5121e without the 2D/3D graphics core.
The MPC5121e processor contains the PowerVR MBX Lite 2D/3D graphics core, which supports 3D texturing and shading and includes the PowerVR vertex geometry processor (VGP Lite) for high-performance vector processing.
According to Freescale, the processor's fully programmable multimedia acceleration core is designed to enhance the performance of compressed audio formats and optimize performance of real-time applications. This acceleration core also supports sample rate conversion, noise reduction and acoustic echo cancellation for speech recognition and in-vehicle hands-free applications based on Bluetooth wireless technology.
The multicore architecture enables fast system throughput without driving clock rates and power consumption to excessive levels, Freescale said. The processor architecture balances high performance with low operating power consumption, resulting in lower system cost and high reliability. Low standby power consumption also makes the device suitable for automotive system designs and mobile applications.
According to Freescale, the processor's on-chip integration can reduce bill of materials (BOM) costs and provides a flexible processing platform for a variety of embedded applications.
The device offers a set of integrated peripherals, including:
- 10/100 Ethernet.
- Peripheral component interconnect (PCI).
- Serial advanced technology attachment (SATA).
- Parallel advanced technology attachment (PATA).
- Two universal serial bus (USB) 2.0 on-the-go (OTG) with an integrated high-speed physical layer (PHY).
- Four controller area network (CAN) modules.
- 12 programmable serial controllers.
The integrated display controller supports liquid crystal display/ thin film transistor (LCD/TFT) displays.
The 128 KB of on-chip static random access memory (SRAM) and embedded memory buffers help balance system performance and system bus throughput while reducing latency demands.
Processing performance is enhanced by system resources for the e300 core, graphics core and multimedia acceleration core, as well as the double data rate (DDR) 1/DDR2/mobileDDR memory controller with integrated 64 channel direct memory access (DMA) support.
Samples of the MPC5121e processor will be available in late 2Q.
Source: Freescale Semiconductor.