Allwinner T113-S3 is a dual-core Cortex-A7 processor with 128MB DDR3 on-chip memory that is designed for smart control and HMI applications in the automotive and industrial sectors.
At first glance, the new processor looks quite similar to Allwinner S3, but with twice the number of cores. However there’s more to it, as a a HiFi4 DSP has been added for smart audio applications, the H.264 encoder is gone replaced by an MPJEG encoder, and the company claims support for “industrial level working temperature”, plus a 10-year life cycle. among other differences.
Allwinner T113-S3 specifications:
- CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 with 32 KB L1 I-cache + 32 KB L1 D-cache per core, and 256 KB L2 cache
- DSP – Single-core HiFi4
- Memory – 128 MB DDR3
- Storage I/F – SD3.0/eMMC 5.0, SPI Nor/NAND Flash
- Video
- Decoding – H.264, H.265, MPEG-1/2/4, (M)JPEG, VC1 up to 1080p60
- Encoding – JPEG/MJPEG up to 1080p60
- Display
- Allwinner SmartColor2.0 post-processing engine
- De-interlacer (DI) up to 1080p60
- G2D hardware accelerator
- Video output I/F
- CVBS interface with support for NTSC and PAL formats
- RGB LCD interface up to 1920×1080 @ 60 Hz
- Dual-channel LVDS interface up to 1920×1080 @ 60 Hz
- 4-lane MIPI DSI interface up to 1920×1200 @ 60 Hz
- Video IN
- 8-bit parallel CSI interface
- CVBS interface with support for NTSC and PAL formats
- Audio
- 2x DACs and 3x ADCs
- Analog audio interfaces – MICIN3P/N, LINEINL/R, FMINL/R, HPOUTL/R
- Digital audio interfaces – I2S/PCM, DMIC, OWA IN/OUT
- Support for up to 8-mic array
- Networking – 10/100/1000M EMAC (Gigabit Ethernet) with RMII and RGMII interfaces
- USB – USB 2.0 DRD, USB 2.0 Host
- Other peripherals
- SDIO 3.0
- 2x SPI, 6x UART, 4x TWI/I2C
- 8x PWM
- 1-channel GPADC, 4-channel TPADC
- IR Tx & Rx
- Security
- AES, DES, 3DES encryption and decryption algorithms
- RSA signature verication algorithm
- MD5/SHA and HMAC tamper proong
- Hardware random number generator
- Integrated 2 Kbits OTP storage space
- Package – eLQFP128, 14 mm x 14 mm
Allwinner claims “the advanced process design with lower voltage and lower leakage, the power optimization design for typical scenes, and the enhanced heat dissipation package, improve the heating experience (sic.) of the product” without details.
Some of the specific use cases for the processor include infotainment solutions such as “Car MP5 Player” or “Car Instrument solution” as well as industrial products such as HMI and PLC as shown above. The product brief does not list any operating system but Allwinner T113-S3 should support the usual Tina Linux (OpenWrt based) and Melis RTOS based on RT-Thread open-source real-time operating system.
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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Are you aware of the Allwinner H700 SoC ?
I had forgotten about it, but mentioned it comments last year:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/02/27/allwinner-h616-tv-box-processor-comes-with-mali-g31-gpu-supports-android-10/#comment-572076
It’s apparently the same as Allwinner T5: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/09/10/allwinner-t5-processor-to-power-android-10-and-linux-multi-camera-infotainment-systems/
Still no info on frequency nor power consumption. I guess it’s close to the S3 which was found on sochip.com.cn to be 1.2 GHz (though no consumption info). The eLQFP package will probably take more room than an equivalent QFN. But overall these specs should allow to stuff it in plenty of devices.
MangoPi MQ-Dual will be one of the first boards with Allwinner T113-S3 processor:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/02/13/arm-or-risc-v-mangopi-mq-tiny-4x4cm-linux-board-with-wifi/
I hope dgp sees this when they get up. That package and the 10 year lifespan could make this a great maker processor.
I’ve been keeping an eye on these for a while. I was more interested in the RISC-V versions but it looks like AW made a complete shit show that part so the ARM bit is probably the most viable.
They seem to have fixed the major issue with the V3s that was if you boot from SPI flash you no longer have SPI for sensors etc. Looks like they have a memory mapped controller now too? Will be interesting to see that working.
There is a bit of step backwards it seems though. They have gigabit ethernet now but you now need an external PHY.
QFP package still isn’t great. It’s big and really easy to mess up while soldering. QFNs are smaller, really hard to damage while hand soldering..
Other than that it looks pretty comparable to the SigmaStar SSD202D which comes in a QFN and I think the price will be pretty close.
To make these worthwhile you need someone to get mainline running (I guess not so hard considering it’ll be mostly existing stuff), make bootable SPI NAND flash work and make it fast (quad io + memory mapped access),.. if you want to drive a display that isn’t the size of a postage stamp you need someone to write custom userland support for the 2D hardware.
I won’t be looking into this right now as I have a ton of SSD202D stuff. But interesting to see more things like this. I hope the people that do use this thing try to use mainline kernels and recent userland stuff instead of just building whatever shitty code AW provide.
Thanks for your insight!
Do you have a Q1000+ price estimate for SSD202D? It is on taobao Q1 for $7.
But T113 much better for my use case. I would expect it to be priced similarly to SSD202D. I’m hoping T113 will be close to $4.
Current spot market for 2Gb DDR3 chips is $2.27. No quote for 1Gb.
Q1 on taobao they used to be ~$4.. I don’t have an official contact or distributor but the price I got from dodgy shenzhen parts broker was $3.8 each for a full tray of 2080. That was a little while ago though.
For Automotive Market this chip need to support at least 1 or 2 CAN/CANFD, Fault Control and managment features, also will need AEC-Q100 Certify, as far as I see still long way for this chip to be in Automotive Market