The subsystem, launched at the RISC-V Summit Europe in Barcelona, includes all the analogue IP required for a typical battery powered IoT system, including a power management unit (PMU), a sleep management unit (SMU), and data converters.
The subsystem is process agnostic, customisable and a digitally wrapped analogue IP subsystem that will help to solve many of the issues that System on Chip (SoC) designers currently encounter, as it pairs with a RISC-V core to form a complete solution.
According to Chris Morrison, Director of Product Marketing at Agile Analog, “The RISC-V architecture is enabling a surge of new SoC product developments, and the demand for more accessible and configurable IP solutions is increasing. One of the major challenges that digital chip designers face is in integrating the analogue circuitry to support their SoC designs.”
Morrison added, “With our RISC-V analogue IP subsystem, it’s possible to access the appropriate analogue IP for a specific process and foundry. This can then be integrated seamlessly with digital IP from a digital IP provider in the RISC-V space, simplifying chip design and accelerating the time to market for new RISC-V IoT applications. As with all of the Agile Analog IP, this subsystem is customisable to give the exact feature set required for the application.”
Traditional analogue IP has been a major bottleneck for many years, with limited options available, and chip designers have struggled to integrate multiple analogue IP blocks, often from multiple vendors.
The design and verification of the mixed-signal boundary between analogue and digital has been a particular challenge, as this is renowned for being time-consuming and expensive, requiring specialist knowledge and tools. However, because of Agile Analog’s technology and novel digitally wrapped approach, these integration and verification challenges can be addressed and resolved quickly by Agile Analog on behalf of the customer.
This analogue IP subsystem is verified in both analogue and digital environments, connects directly to the MCU’s peripheral bus, and is supplied with a SystemVerilog model for easy integration into an SoC’s existing digital verification environment.
Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International, said, “RISC-V is already seen in over 10 billion cores globally, and the RISC-V ecosystem is flourishing. It’s really important that there are innovative solutions like this to help chip designers in our community to fast-track the delivery of exciting new RISC-V IoT applications.”
Agile Analog’s initial RISC-V subsystem macro for IoT applications consists of the following sub-blocks:
agilePMU
The agilePMU Subsystem is an efficient and highly integrated power management unit for SoCs/ASICs. Featuring a power-on-reset, multiple low drop-out regulators, and an associated reference generator, this is designed to ensure low power consumption while providing optimal power management capabilities. Equipped with an integrated digital controller, this subsystem offers precise control over start-up and shutdown, supports supply sequencing, and allows for individual programmable output voltage for each LDO. Status monitors provide real-time feedback on the current state of the subsystem, ensuring optimal system performance.
agileSMU
The agileSMU Subsystem is a low power integrated macro consisting of the essential IP blocks required to securely manage waking up a SoC from sleep mode. Typically containing a programmable oscillator for low frequency SoC operation and RTC, a number of low power comparators which can be used to initiate the wake-up sequence, and a power-on-reset which provides a robust, start-up reset to the SoC. Equipped with an integrated digital controller, this subsystem offers precise control over wake-up commands and sequencing. Status monitors provide real-time feedback on the current state of the subsystem, ensuring optimal system performance over the full product lifecycle.
agileSensorIF
The agileSensorIF Subsystem is a low power integrated macro providing all the analog required to interface with external sensors. Featuring two up-to 12-bit and 64 MSPS SAR ADCs, a 12-bit DAC and multiple programmable comparators, this sensor interface provides all the connections needed to interface with the outside world. Integrated programmable gain amplifiers and buffers support a wide range of external sensors and systems. It is equipped with an integrated digital controller and status monitors to provide real-time feedback on the current state of the subsystem, ensuring optimal system performance over the full product lifecycle.
