Ambarella Unveils A9 4K Ultra HD Camera SoC

Ambarella has recently today introduced the A9 camera System on Chip (SoC) with support for the new 4K Ultra HD video standard in order to power next generation of mirrorless, sports, and digital still cameras. Ambarella A9 SoC features two ARM Cortex A9 cores (surprisingly), as well as Ambarella Image and Video DSPs. The A9’s video features include video timelapse modes, capture of high-resolution still images during video recording, Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), and burst capture of up to sixty 12-megapixel still images per second. Ultra-wide angle and small form factor lenses are supported with full lens distortion correction. The A9 also support High Dynamic Range (HDR) video. Ambarella A9 Feature Summary: 4K Ultra HD video recording @ 30 fps. High definition video recording at 720p @ 240fps and 1080p @ 120fps. Burst mode support for still image capture of over 700 Megapixels per second. Multi-exposure High Dynamic Range (HDR) […]

ST-Ericsson To Launch 2.3 GHz NovaThor L8580 Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor

ST Ericsson is working on a new application processor manufactured with 28 nm FD-SOI technology by ST Microelectronics. The new processor NovaThor L8580 features 2 Cortex A9 core that can be clocked at 2.3 GHz and is aimed at smartphones and tablets. The company also improved power efficiency, as L8580 consumes 35% less energy than L8540 (28 nm) when clocked at 1.85 GHz (maximum frequency for L8540). If you need even lower power consumption, L8580 can be clocked at 1.0 GHz with an input voltage of 0.6 V, whereas current competitors’ processors require at least 0.9V to operate at 1GHz. ST-Ericsson estimates that Novathor L8580 will be able to offer an extra day battery life compared to L8540 on a typical smartphone, which correspond to about 4h and 2h30 extra for web browsing and HD video playback respectively. NovaThor L8580 SoC will embed a PowerVR SGX544 GPU clocked at 600 […]

Zedboard Xilinx Zynq-7000 Community Board is Now Available

Based in March, I wrote about Xilinx Zynq-7000 Extensible Processing Platform (EPP), a SoC comprises of a Dual Cortex A9 and an FPGA, as well as the corresponding development boards and kits: Xilinx Zynq-7000 EPP ZC702 Evaluation Kit based on Zynq-7020 with all the basic components (595 USD). Xilinx Zynq-7000 EPP Video Kit based on Zynq-7020 with all necessary hardware, software and IP components for the development of custom video applications (1195 USD). Zynq-7000 EPP ZedBoard, a low cost development board for the developers community. At the time, the first 2 (expensive) boards were available, but there was little information about the Zedboard. But yesterday evening, I noticed Zedboard website had a lot more information and we now know details about the board and it is even possible to purchase it. Here are the Zedboard specifications: Processor – Xilinx Zynq-7020 Dual ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore @ 677 MHz Memory 512 MB […]

Xilinx Zynq-7000 Extensible Processing Platform (EPP): Dual Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC

The Xilinx Zynq-7000 EPP (Extensible Processing Platform) is a new class of device, offering a mix of a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 subsystem (including cache, memory controllers, interface, and peripheral functions) with a 28-nm programmable digital FPGA and programmable analog capabilities. This  combination opens the door to a range of demanding applications, including automotive (video processing and analytics requirements for driver assistance systems), broadcast (high-bit-rate bandwidth for high-accuracy video processing and analytics), and industrial control systems that combine high-processing demands with tight integration requirements. There are actually 4 models which share the same processing subsystem (CPU core, memory, peripherals, etc…) and only differ by the programmable logic used: Z-7010 – Artix-7 FPGA with 28K logic cells. Z-7020 – Artix-7 FPGA with 85K logic cells. Z-7030 – Kintex-7 FPGA with 125K logic cells. Z-7045 – Kintex-7 FPGA with 350K logic cells. The Zynq-7000 EPP platform allows concurrent software and hardware development: System […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design