Integrated SoC for hybrid and solid-state instrument clusters

19 April 2006 DSP, Micros & Memory

Toshiba Electronics Europe has launched two new single-chip solutions for the control of colour graphic displays in new and emerging hybrid and solid-state vehicle instrument clusters and centre consoles. The new Capricorn-M and Capricorn-L ICs integrate, in a single chip, a powerful 64-bit processor, a floating point unit (FPU), an advanced graphical display controller with dedicated accelerator functions, and a comprehensive range of on-board peripherals and interfaces.

Supplied in a P-BGA456 package and operating at 240 MHz, the Capricorn-M is targeted at high-end instrument cluster and centre console display applications. Capricorn-L, which offers the same functionality, is targeted at cost-sensitive display applications and operates at 120 MHz. Each device combines Toshiba's TX49/H3 64-bit CPU core with graphical processing functions, a quadbus DDR-SDRAM controller, and on-board peripherals and interface blocks. Separate buses for video, graphics and MCU functions ensure optimised processing of all key functions simultaneously.

Toshiba's low-power, high-performance TX49/H3 core is based around the 64-bit MIPS instruction set architecture (ISA). The core includes 16 KB of instruction cache and 16 KB of data cache, and features a completely integrated single-/double-precision FPU co-processor unit complying with IEEE754. The Capricorn-M/L graphics processing and display control capabilities are delivered by the integrated GDC graphics accelerator unit. The GDC is designed for automotive displays with resolutions from standard VGA range to very wide custom displays supporting more than 2000 pixels horizontally.

The Capricorn devices provide a number of interfaces commonly demanded by automotive applications. A TXCAN controller provides three CAN channels, while a dedicated MediaLB interface allows for connectivity with an external controller for the MOST bus. Further connectivity includes a single-channel I²C module, a three-channel, high-speed SIO/UART with FIFO, a two-channel fast queued/FIFO-SPI (ESEI), and general-purpose I/Os.

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