Texas Instruments OMAP 5 based on ARM Cortex A15 Core

Texas Instruments announced its new generation of mobile chips OMAP 5 based on the latest ARM core Cortex A15.  Press release excerpt:

DALLAS (Feb. 7, 2011) /PRNewswire/ — Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) announced today the next generation of its popular OMAP™ family: the OMAP 5 mobile applications platform, which is positioned to transform how mobile devices, such as Smartphones, tablets and other mobile form factors are used, making them even more valuable in our daily lives.

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The 28 nanometer OMAP 5 applications processors carry on the OMAP family tradition of delivering significant increases in performance and functionality, while lowering power consumption compared to their predecessors. Specifically, they offer up to 3x processing performance and five-fold 3D graphics improvement, yet provide a nearly 60 percent average power reduction compared to a sample user experience on the OMAP 4 platform. Additionally, the OMAP 5 platform’s software is designed for maximum reuse to ease migration from the OMAP 4 platform.

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The OMAP 5 processor leverages two ARM^® Cortex™-A15 MPCores™ – the most advanced ARM architecture to date – capable of speeds of up to 2 GHz per core in the OMAP 5 implementation. With a 50 percent boost in performance over the Cortex-A9 core (at the same clock frequency), combined with up to 8GB of dynamic memory access and hardware virtualization support, the Cortex-A15 core can enable true mobile computing experiences, such as the ones referenced above.

The OMAP 5 architecture utilizes an intelligent combination of many different processing cores – each tailored and power-optimized for specific functions – and all harmonized to provide the best possible user experience. In addition to the two Cortex-A15 cores, the OMAP 5 processor includes individual, dedicated engines for: video, imaging and vision, DSP, 3D graphics, 2D graphics, display and security. The processor also includes two ARM Cortex-M4 processors for offloading real-time processing from the Cortex-A15 cores to improve low-level control and responsiveness of mobile devices.

Two OMAP 5 processors will be available:

• The OMAP5430 – targeted for products such as smartphones that demand the smallest size supporting dual-channel, LPDDR2 Package-on-Package (PoP) memory. Dual Core Cortex A15 up to 2GHZ with dual core Cortex M4 for standby operations and real-time responsiveness.
• The OMAP5432 – targeted for mobile computing and consumer products that are more cost-sensitive, without the extreme size constraint, supporting dual-channel DDR3/DDR3L memory. Dual Core Cortex A15 up to 2GHZ with dual core Cortex M4 for standby operations and real-time responsiveness.

It is interesting to note that this SoC won’t use the Mali T-604 GPU, but PowerVR SGX544-MPx GPU instead.

TI also provides OMAP 5 development kit for major operating systems including Windows, Linux, Android, Chrome, Meego and WebOS. The software development kit includes:

• Mobile OS drivers, BSP (board support package) and Base enablers
• Pre-integrated hardware accelerated multimedia codecs with multimedia and UI/Applications frameworks
• Pre-integrated connectivity (GPS, Bluetooth®, FM, Wi-Fi®) solutions as a single software package with system-level optimizations
• System-level power management
• Integrated 3D graphics and hardware based security framework
• Integrated application suite and UI across multiple OSes

If you are a small company you’re probably out of luck (for now), as these new processors will only be available for larger companies.

Availability Disclaimer

This product is intended for high-volume mobile OEMs and ODMs and is not available through distributors. If your company meets this description, please contact your TI sales office.

The video below shows the applications that TI expects its new processors to be used for such as pico projector, wireless video streaming, 3D stereoscopic display and video capture, HD video conference, augmented reality, mobile wallet, multi-os support, multi-screen support and more.

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