Stratix 10 NX FPGA are AI-optimised, says Intel

The Intel Stratix 10 NX FPGA include capabilities, such as AI Tensor blocks and hardware programmable AI, to implement customised hardware with integrated, high-performance AI.

The Stratix 10 NX FPGAs high performance AI Tensor blocks are up to 15 times  more INT8 throughput than Intel Stratix 10 FPGA DSP block for AI workloads and are hardware programmable for AI with customised workloads. Near compute memory and embedded memory hierarchy for model persistence are also included, together with integrated high bandwidth memory (HBM) and high bandwidth networking with up to 57.8G PAM4 transceivers and hard Ethernet blocks.

The flexible and customisable interconnect can scale across multiple nodes, adds Intel.

The Intel Stratix 10 NX FPGA fabric includes new types of AI-optimised Tensor arithmetic blocks (AI Tensor blocks). These blocks contain dense arrays of lower-precision multipliers typically used in AI applications. The AI Tensor Block’s architecture is tuned for common matrix-matrix or vector-matrix multiplications used in a wide range of AI computations for both small and large matrix sizes. The AI Tensor Block multipliers have base precisions of INT8 and INT4 and support FP16 and FP12 numerical formats through shared-exponent support hardware. All additions or accumulations can be performed with INT32 or IEEE754 single precision floating point (FP32) precision and multiple AI Tensor Block can be cascaded together to support larger matrices.

Other features are speech recognition, speech synthesis, deep packet inspection, congestion control identification, fraud detection, content recognition and video pre and post processing.

The Intel Stratix 10 NX FPGA also incorporate hard intellectual property (IP) such as PCI Express (PCIe) Gen3 x16 and 10/25/100G Ethernet media access control (MAC) / physical coding sub-layer (PCS) / forward error correction (FEC). These transceivers provide a scalable and flexible connectivity solution to adapt to market requirements.

http://www.intel.com

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SoC is optimised for cost-conscious, two-layer PCB wireless products

Available in a wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP), optimised for compact, two-layer PCB wireless products, the nRF52805 SoC adds Bluetooth 5.2 to Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52 series.

The nRF52805 SoC offers Bluetooth low energy (LE), high-throughput device can be used for cost-constrained applications such as disposable medical products, styluses, sensors, and beacons

The nRF52805 Bluetooth 5.2 SoC in a WLCSP measures just 2.48 x 2.46mm. The WLCSP SoC is optimised for two-layer PCB designs, avoiding the need for more expensive four-layer PCBs in compact, budget-constrained designs, says Nordic. The SoC is capable of Bluetooth LE high-throughput 2Mbits per second and enhanced Channel Selection Algorithm #2 (CSA #2) for improved co-existence.

Based on a 64MHz, 32bit Arm Cortex-M4 processor (144 CoreMark) with 65 CoreMark/mA efficiency, the SoC also includes 192kbyte flash memory and 24kbyte RAM. The multiprotocol (Bluetooth LE/2.4GHz) radio offers up to +4dBm power output and -97dBm sensitivity (1Mbits per second Bluetooth LE) for a link budget of 101dBm. The radio’s peak power draw is only 4.6mA (TX 0dBM, RX 1Mbits per second) and the SoC’s current draw is as low as 0.3 microA in system off and 1.1 microA in system on with 24kbyte RAM retained and real time clock (RTC) running. The SoC features a range of analogue and digital interfaces such as SPI, UART and two wire interface (TWI), a two-channel 12-bit ADC, and ten general purpose I/Os.

Nordic offers a 9.5 x 8.8mm reference layout with all ten general purpose I/Os available, which requires only 10 external passive components (including two crystal load capacitors).

The SoC can be powered from a 1.7 to 3.6V supply and integrates LDO and DC/DC voltage regulators.

The nRF52805 is currently supported by the S112 SoftDevice and Nordic confirms that support for the S113 SoftDevice follows soon. The S112 and S113 SoftDevices (Bluetooth 5.1-qualified protocol software) are memory-optimised peripheral stacks which support high-throughput 2Mbits per second and CSA #2 features. The stacks support up to four connections as a peripheral concurrently with a broadcaster.

The number of connections and bandwidth per connection is configurable, enabling memory and performance optimisation.

Both the S112 and S113 also support LE Secure Connections, improving security compared to LE Legacy Pairing. S113 also supports LE Data Packet Length Extension, resulting in higher throughput and less overhead per packet.

There is a guide explaining how to use the nRF52805 with Nordic’s nRF5 software development kit (SDK). Nordic recommends the nRF52 development kit can be used to emulate the nRF52805 and is a good hardware basis to start designs before moving over to a custom development board.

 The nRF52805 is now in volume production.

http://www.nordicsemi.com/nRF52805

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Lynx software bundles strength mission-critical edge computing

Software bundles, based on Lynx MOSA.ic have been introduced by Lynx Software Technologies. Initial introductions are for industrial, unmanned aerial vehicles/satellites and avionics.

Lynx MOSA.ic for Industrial, Lynx MOSA.ic for UAVs/Satellites, and Lynx MOSA.ic for Avionics bundles bypass the restrictions imposed by typical embedded approaches to mission-critical systems, allowing developers to create edge computing with robust system-safety mechanisms, security and real-time determinism with sub-microsecond latency, says the company.

Lynx’ secure hypervisor technology, which has been proven in mission-critical environments including commercial aviation, healthcare, and military aircraft and helicopters, is at the heart of the bundles.

Pavan Singh, vice president, product management at Lynx, observed: “Each is designed to let developers of security and safety critical systems, including certifiable systems, take advantage of powerful workflows and techniques such as containers and sensor fusion, easily connect to cloud services, and to scale and adapt intelligently to changing market requirements.”

The bundles are tailored to handle emerging use cases, such as industrial robotics, drone aviation, and complex satellite constellations carrying payloads owned and accessed by multiple users. The Lynx MOSA.ic bundles provide the tools needed to deploy systems efficiently and manage assets securely and safely, while letting developers create, certify, and deploy robust platforms cost-effectively, said Lynx.

The three initial domain-optimised offerings contain common features of the MOSA.ic software framework, including real-time operating systems (RTOS), bare metal and third party operating systems. Lynx MOSA.ic for Avionics and Lynx MOSA.ic for UAVs/Satellites support Arm and x86 processor architectures. Both include LynxOS-178, Lynx’s DO-178 certified operating system, the LynxSecure separation kernel hypervisor, Linux, a set of tools and support for the SR-IOV extension to the PCIe specification.

The initial alpha release of MOSA.ic for Industrial removes Lynx’s RTOS and adds Azure IoT Edge and Windows 10 support for x86 platforms. It also provides Virtual PLC functionality to let manufacturers quickly scale, reconfigure and update software-driven capacity, says Lynx.

Future iterations will extend capabilities including guest operating systems, IoT connectivity, and processor architectures, confirmed Lynx.

http://www.lynx.com

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Wafer level automotive camera module boasts lowest power consumption

For driver monitoring systems in vehicles, OmniVision offers what is claimed to be the first automotive wafer level camera module. The reflowable OVM9284 CameraCubeChip is a 1Mpixel module which measures 6.5 x 6.5mm. It is claimed to provide maximum flexibility regarding placement within the cabin while remaining hidden from view. It also has, says OmniVision, the lowest power consumption among automotive camera modules; over 50 per cent lower than the nearest competitor.

The OVM9284 is built on OmniVision’s OmniPixel 3-GS global-shutter pixel architecture, which provides best quantum efficiency at the 940nm wavelength for high quality driver images in near or total darkness. The integrated OmniVision image sensor has a three micron pixel and a ¼ inch optical format, along with

1280 x 800 resolution.

Driver monitoring systems (DMS) is expected to be the next growth area for ADAS cameras to address driver distraction.

“Most existing DMS cameras use glass lenses, which are large and difficult to hide from drivers to avoid distraction, and are too expensive for most car models,” said Aaron Chiang, marketing director at OmniVision. “Our OVM9284 CameraCubeChip module is the world’s first to provide automotive designers with the small size, low power consumption and reflowable form factor of wafer-level optics,” he added.

The OVM9284’s integration of OmniVision’s image sensor, signal processor and wafer-level optics in a single compact package reduces the complexity of dealing with multiple vendors, and increases supply reliability while speeding development time. Furthermore, unlike traditional cameras, CameraCubeChip modules are reflowable. This means they can be mounted to a PCB simultaneously with other components using automated surface mount assembly equipment, which increases quality while reducing assembly costs.

OVM9284 module samples are available now, and mass production is expected in Q4 of 2020.

OmniVision Technologies develops digital imaging based on its award-winning CMOS imaging technology for consumer and commercial applications, including mobile phones, security and surveillance, automotive, tablets, notebooks, webcams and entertainment devices, medical and AR, VR, drones and robotics imaging systems.

http://www.ovt.com

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