Dual and quad core A15 based devices added to KeyStone range
1 min read
Texas Instruments has expanded its KeyStone multicore processor range with the addition of two parts said to allow engineers to create power efficient and reliable embedded systems.
The AM5K2Ex processor family features devices with two and four ARM Cortex-A15 cores. Each core can run at up to 1.4GHz and, in the case of the quad core device, offers up to 19,600DMIPS while consuming less than 10W.
Elizabete de Freitas, pictured, EMEA industrial system applications manager, said the parts have been developed specifically with industrial applications in mind. "Most such applications run 24/7, so it is important to ensure the processor can also run 24/7 for many years. These new devices are intended for use in high performance apps."
Also included are power management features that can shut down unused cores or peripherals and bring them back online quickly when the processing load increases. "The clock rate can be slowed," said de Freitas, "or cores shut down if they aren't needed."
The two devices both feature a 4Mbyte coherent L2 cache, the largest such memory block on any ARM based device from TI. Other features include a further 2Mbyte of SRAM, an eight port gigabit Ethernet switch and a two port 10GbE switch, whilst a DSP core is optional.
