MCU for multimedia systems
20 July 2011
DSP, Micros & Memory
STMicroelectronics introduced a new embedded microprocessor with advanced multimedia capabilities. The latest addition to the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 microprocessor family, the SPEAr1340 targets smart connected devices, from high-resolution video conferencing to intelligent displays and web-connected devices.
The device integrates a powerful ARM Mali 200 graphics processing unit for advanced 2D and 3D acceleration in user interfaces, navigation systems, browsing and gaming. It also embeds a hardware video encoder and a decoder supporting popular compression standards (including H.264, AVS and VP8), with video resolution up to 1080p and 30 frames per second. The SPEAr1340 can also handle multiple concurrent video flows (four camera inputs available) in multimedia-intensive applications like surveillance video cameras.
Hardware implementation of graphics and video capabilities results in state-of-the art multimedia performance at low power consumption, while maintaining the two Cortex-A9 cores available for performing concurrent tasks as requested by the user. With its multiple interfaces, including I²S and S/PDIF, the SPEAr1340 also provides excellent audio capabilities, handling up to 7.1 surround sound configurations in both input and output paths.
As for security, the chip integrates a multistandard cryptographic engine and one time programmable (OTP) registers for unique identification and external Flash memory anti-tamper protection.
The dual ARM Cortex-A9 processors support both fully symmetric and asymmetric operations, at speeds of 600 MHz/core (industrial worst-case conditions) for 3000 DMIPS equivalent. Network-on-chip is a flexible communications architecture providing Quality of Service (QoS) for the whole system as it enables multiple different traffic profiles while maximising data throughput.
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