Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor was/is one of the most popular Allwinner SoCs thanks to its low cost, the availability of interfaces such as SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 1.4, and multimedia support with H.264 encoding and decoding.
The company has now introduced new processors that build upon A20, but working in industrial and military temperature ranges, and compliant with various standards (TBD).
Allwinner A40i & A40pro
The first two models are quad core Cortex A7 processors with A40i being the industrial version, and A40pro the military grade one. Both share most of the same specifications:
- CPU – 4x Arm Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz
- GPU – Mali-400 MP2
- Memory I/F – DDR2/DDR3/LPDDR2/LPDDR3 up to 3GB RAM
- Storage I/F – 32-bit NAND, eMMC, SD card, SPI NOR flash, SPI NAND flash, 1x SATA
- Video Engine
- Decoder – Multi-format decoder up to 1080p60
- Encoder – H.264 encoder up to 1080p45
- Video I/F
- Output – 1x HDMI, 4x TVOUT, 2x 4-lane LVDS, 2x RGB, 4-lane MIPI DSI
- Input
- 2x parallel CSI, 4x TVIN
- No ISP; No EVE (Embedded Vision Engine)
- Audio – 2x DAC, 2x ADC
- USB – 4x USB 2.0 (3x host interfaces, 1x OTG interface)
- Ethernet – 1x EMAC (Fast Ethernet), 1x GMAC (Gigabit Ethernet)
- Others – 8x UART, 4x SPI, 5x TWI (I2C), 2x TS, PS2, RTP
Allwinner A60i & A60pro
Allwinner A60 processors have many of the same features but come with six A7 cores, a 4-core Mali instead, support H.265 video codec, lack SATA & HDMI, etc…:
- CPU – 6x Arm Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz
- GPU – Mali-400 MP4
- Memory I/F – DDR2/DDR3/LPDDR2/LPDDR3 up to 3GB RAM
- Storage I/F – 32-bit NAND, eMMC, SD card, SPI NOR flash, SPI NAND flash
- Video Engine
- Decoder – Multi-format decoder up to 1080p60, including H.265
- Encoder – H.264/H.265 encoder up to 1080p60
- Video I/F
- Output – 1x TVOUT, 2x 4-lane LVDS, 1x RGB, 4-lane MIPI DSI
- Input
- 2x MIPI CSI, 2x parallel CSI, 4x TVIN
- dual ISP up to 5MP/30fps
- EVE for computer vision applications such as face detection
- Audio – 2x DAC, 3x ADC
- USB – 4x USB 2.0 (3x host interfaces, 1x OTG interface)
- Ethernet – 1x GMAC (Gigabit Ethernet)
- Others – 10x UART, 3x SPI, 10x TWI (I2C), 1x TS, 1x RSB, 1x CIR
Again A60i is the industrial grade SKU, and A60pro the military version.
The processors should be used in the aerospace industry for infotainment, retail industry for digital signage and vending machines, security applications like face detection, and so on.
I’ve been informed all A-series processors have a 10-year life cycle. Software (SDK) provided by Allwinner might be different than for Allwinner A20, as I’ve been told the automotive business unit (BU4) is in charge of those new processors, while processors like A20 or A33 for consumer goods are managed by BU2.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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