No 02 Aug 2011

Developers give big

thumbs-up to

iWave’s SOM for

Freescale’s i.MX53 chip Ideal for vehicle infotainment apps

Developers worldwide have given an

enthusiastic thumbs-up to iWave’s high end, Low

cost, Low power SOM based on Freescale’s i.MX53

(Cortex-A8) Multimedia application processor --

launched on the same day Freescale announced

its i.MX53 processor development platform

availability

The iWave i.MX53 SOM has been seen to significantly

cut the development time for OEMs working to create a

whole family of automotive electronic systems from

dashboard displays to High Definition rear seat video

entertainment and Internet devices to in-vehicle health

monitoring and navigation systems to industrial control

systems.

This i.MX53 SOM module will support the major

operating system including Windows Embedded

Compact 7/CE 6.0 R3, Android 2.1, Linux and

QNX/VxWorks OS platforms. It provides all the latest

features such as Silverlight 3.0, Connect and Consume

Media, MPEG-4 HD, MTP, Multi-Touch, Expression

Blend, AirSync and also Adobe Flash10.1. A dedicated

video processor offloads the main core by performing

video 1080p decoding and 720p encoding for multimedia

applications like playing movies

and monitoring cameras. “To speed up the product

development at low cost, we have designed this module

in MXM-3 form factor. Anybody can buy this module

and quickly develop their own application specific

carrier card," says Immanuel Rathinam, iWave’s

Associate Director (Hardware).

This module is iWave's latest addition to its growing

family of multimedia focused products offering high

performance processing with a high degree of functional

integration, aimed at the growing Automotive

Infotainment, Telemedicine, HMI & Display based

cluster markets.

The key features are i.MX53 / 1GHz processor includes

3D and 2D graphics, 1080i/p video processing, on board

1GB/2GB DDR2 RAM, 8GB eMMC4.41 Flash, 16MB

SPI Flash for Boot, 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY, Micro

SD, UART and USB OTG.

The module supports MXM-3 form factor of size 85mm

x 85mm and MXM3 edge connector for IO expansion to

support Dual LCD, Dual Camera, USB2.0, SATAII,

SD/SDIO, CAN, MLB, ESAI, SSI, SPDIF, Video-In,

TVout, S PI, I2C, UART and various IO interfaces.

Freescale’s i.MX53 processors: made for multimedia

Freescale’s i.MX53 processor (left) and a display

application

The i.MX53 family of processors represents

Freescale's next generation of advanced

multimedia and power-efficient implementation

of the ARM Cortex™-A8 core. With core

processing speeds up to 1.2 GHz, the i.MX535 is

optimized for both performance and power to

meet the demands of high-end, advanced

applications requiring mobility and a long

battery life. 1080p HD video decode and 720p

video encode, two dedicated graphics cores,

multiple display and connectivity options, and

high level of integration make the i.MX535 a

choice platform for smart mobile devices

Consumer applications

The i.MX535 is the first i.MX processor to support

1080p multi-standard video playback with industry-

leading low power consumption. With up to 1.2 GHz

core speed, a faster graphics core enabling a more

responsive user experience, and higher level of system

integration, the i.MX535 leverages a common hardware

and software platform with the i.MX51 to boost

performance with reduced development effort and

faster time to market. Following in the i.MX535

processor's footsteps, Freescale introduces the i.MX538

processor which leverages the i.MX535 features and

puts them in a small compact Package-on-Package

(PoP) device for slim, mobile applications.

Automotive applications:

Freescale's automotive i.MX53 processors provide the

advanced performance required to drive the latest

automotive systems. These processors are designed for

applications that require advanced user interfaces,

sophisticated video processing, 2D and 3D graphics,

multiple connectivity options and a high level of system

integration.

Building on the success of the i.MX515 and i.MX535 in

the consumer market, the automotive family of i.MX53

processors will bring the consumer electronics user

experience and device connectivity into the vehicles of

the future.

Industrial applications

The i.MX537 with core processing speeds up to 800

MHz, is optimized for both performance and power to

meet the demands of high end, advanced industrial and

medical applications. Integrated display controller,

1080p HD video decode and 720p video encode,

enhanced graphics and connectivity features make the

i.MX537 suitable for a wide range of applications such

as Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) and patient

monitors which require rich user interfaces with high

color displays and user interaction.

The i.MX537 provides key environmental

differentiators for the industrial market. These include

3.3V I/O support, a 0.8 mm pitch package to reduce

PCB and manufacturing costs, extended temperature

coverage for harsh environments, industrial

qualification for extended reliability and a formal long

product supply guarantee to support product life spans.

Automotive infotainment systems are entering

their fourth generation of evolution, a phase in

which the capabilities of the hardware are

unlimited because they allow consumers to

customize their own experience, according to

market researchers, HIS (formerly iSuppli Corp).

“Infotainment hardware has undergone a rapid

evolution during the last 13 years, moving from the

traditional approach of dedicated hardware blocks, to

the advent of bus-connected distributed architecture

systems in the 2000 time frame, to the highly-

integrated navigation-centric systems of 2006, to the

new user-defined systems of today,” says Richard

Robinson, principal analyst for automotive

infotainment at iSuppli.

He adds: “With the launch of the fourth-generation

design in2010, a new architectural philosophy in

infotainment is born. This represents the first industry-

wide platform design that has been launched without a

limit to the features and functions that can be added by

the consumer after the purchase of the vehicle, using

links to external devices like smart phones and

personal media players.”

Advances in silicon technology mean that the fourth-

generation architecture can launch with a feature set

that is not pre-defined on the production line. The

consumer-driven approach of the fourth-generation

design represents a dramatic departure from the

previous approach to infotainment, where the

capabilities of the hardware were defined by the

automotive engineers.

Amid this evolution in hardware design, global

revenue from shipments of automotive

infotainment systems is set to rise from $30.8

billion in 2010 to $37 billion in 2016.

iWave ‘cool’ solutions on Intel's new Stellarton, processor-FPGA combo Intel's Atom E600C, a processor paired with an Altera

Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) in a single

package has created a compelling option for designers

and original equipment manufacturers with the

flexibility to incorporate a wide range of standard and

user-defined I/O interfaces, high-speed connectivity,

memory interfaces and process acceleration to meet the

evolving needs of embedded device market segments

such as industrial machines, portable medical

equipment, communications gear, vision systems, voice

over Internet protocol devices, high-performance

programmable logic controllers and embedded

computers. The main features of an integrated FPGA

from Altera are: communication speed up to 3.125 Gb/s;

Support for DDR3, DDR2, DDR, QDR II and QDR II +

memory;Up to four universal PLL;312 18 × 18

multipliers;350 user I / O pins. iWave is happy to

announce that it is among the first in the

industry to provide complete solutions for a wide

spectrum of applications, built around the E

6X5C series. These include the PCIe to SDXC

host controller implementation on the Stellarton

platform. Other IPs that can be tested are as below:

The setup consists of Altera PCIe Hard core, application

logic and SDXC controller as shown in graphic below.

The host Processor (Intel E600 on Stellarton MCP) can

access the SDXC card by performing memory cycles for

BAR0 space. The SDXC host controller which supports

SD specification version 3.0, is implemented on user

interface of the application logic. The SDXC host

controller consists of, Host interface, command and

data path modules and synchronous FIFO module on

both transmit & receive path.

iWave’s PCIe to SDXC Host Controller Test setup

iWave’s multibus platform using 64bit processor and x86 FPGA, is used by Japanese Air Traffic Control

iWave’s x86 FPGA Core fuels mission-critical systems for Japan’s

Air Traffic Control iWave Systems Technologies is honoured and proud

that x86-based 16-bit processor cores, designed at

developed at its India centre have been chosen for

mission critical applications in Japan's Air Traffic

Control system. The complex design was realised in

the first prototype itself, with no cuts or straps

The project involved the development of a legacy

multibus platform using 64bit processor and x86 SOC

(FPGA) and the complete platform software.

The board design included an 8 layer PCB with the

TX4938 Processor from Toshiba, x86 FPGA core from

iWave and separate SRAM & FROM Interface to x86

core. There were two FPGAs and a CPLD. Xilinx

Spartan III FPGA for X86 SOC logic, Xilinx Spartan-3E

FPGA for Multibus & DPRAM control logic and Altera

CPLD for address decoding and various peripheral

control signal generation. iWave ported customer

proprietary iTRON software onto TX4938 and

developed the iTRON drivers, PCI Stack & Common

memory driver.

iWave has a bundle of well tested and proven FPGA IP

cores, which include Processor & peripheral cores,

video/multimedia cores and storage cores. The

Processor Cores includes 8086/80186/80188/V53 and

Peripheral Cores includes Multi Protocol SCC (8251,

8530), DMA Controller (8237), Timer (8254), Interrupt

Controller (8259), I2C, SPI, Parallel port, Key pad. The

storage cores consists of the Host controllers - SDXC

Host, IDE Host (ATA / ATAPI-5), SD/SDIO/MMC/CE-

ATA Host, NAND Flash (MLC) and the Slave

Controller – SDIO Slave

The Video/Multimedia cores consists of Video

Processing cores – De-interlacer, Chroma Resampler,

Color Space conversion, Image scaling, Alpha Blender

and Video Interface Cores - LCD Interface, Camera

Interface, Encoder & Decoder Interface, Scatter Gather

and DMA Controller.

Latest addition to iWave’s SOM

family: Q7-compatible i.MX51 Module

iW-Rainbow-G8 Q7M the i.MX51 Q7-based SOM

iWave Systems has released its latest low power,

high performance, Q7 compatible SOM module

based on Freescale's i.MX515 ARM Cortex-A8

Application processor. This is iWave's latest

addition to its growing family of low power

multimedia focused SOM modules offering high

performance processing with a high degree of

functional integration, aimed at the growing

Industrial automation, healthcare and general

embedded control applications. The board will

support the major operating system including

WinCE6.0, WEC7*, Android 2.3 and Linux OS

platforms.

This Q7 design allows customer to design a simple

custom carrier board that meets their specific

embedded requirements without investing time

and cost on CPU module development. This allows

quick time to market and great cost savings. If

customer doesn’t have in-house capability to

design custom carrier board, iWave offer quick

customization design services at minimum NRE

charges. iWave also provides ARM compatible

generic Q7 carrier board which can be used for

initial prototyping. The module is compatible to

Q7 R1.20 ARM specification and features i.MX515

/ 800MHz CPU, on board 128MB DDR2 RAM,

128MB Nand Flash, Micro SD slot and JTAG

headers. The module is highly packed with

optional on board PATA to SATA converter and

SPI based CAN controller.

Meet iWave engineers and executives at these international shows in 2011:

Freescale Technology Forum:

Bangalore, India, August 24-25 2011, at Leela Palace

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=FTF_2011_INDIA_HOME_CAT

iWave is a Silver Sponsor of the Bangalore FTF. Look out for our exciting new solution announcements, for the Freescale family of processors: Our Technical Session is at 4 pm, on Aug 25.

Tokyo, Japan, September 13 2011, at Prince Park

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=FTF_2011_JAPAN_HOME_CAT

ARM Connected Community Technical Symposia

Bangalore, India, September 19 2011, at Le Meridien

http://www.arm.com/about/events/arm-technical-symposia.php

Designing With Freescale (DWF)

Stutggart, Germany, September 22 2011, at Marriott Sindelfingen

https://getregisterednow.com/Training/Register/Regi

ster.asp?e=MarketSolutionsStuttgart2011

Paris, France, October 4 2011, at Cap 15

https://getregisterednow.com/Training/Register/Regi

ster.`asp?e=MarketSolutionParis

www.iwavesystems.com mktg@iwavesystems.com