Development tool extends Microchip’s PolarFire RISC-V SoC support
A second development tool has been added to Microchip’s Smart Embedded Vision initiative for designers using its PolarFire RISC-V SoC FPGAs. Microchip says the PolarFire is the industry’s lowest-power SoC FPGA in its class and the only mid-range device of its kind that simultaneously supports dual 4K video processing and quad core RISC-V application-class processors running both the real time operating system (RTOS) and rich operating systems like Linux.
Microchip’s Smart Embedded Vision development platform joins the VectorBlox software development kit (SDK) and IP for using the PolarFire devices to program a trained neural network without prior FPGA expertise. The PolarFire RISC-V SoC FPGAs tool simplifies edge-compute development in the thermally challenging environments of the IIoT and factory automation applications.
The platform’s IP, hardware and tools for these solutions include Embedded Vision, whic supports dual 4K MIPI CSI-2 cameras; HDMI 2.0 with expansion based on the FPGA mezzanine card (FMC); CoaXPress 2.0; SDI (six and 12Gbits per second); Universal Serial 10 GE Media Independent Interface (USXGMII) MAC IP with auto-negotiation; USB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2 protocols.
There is also the IIoT and factory automation tool. This enables Wi-Fi / Bluetooth; USB 2.0; SD card; embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC); fully integrated PCIe endpoint and root port functionality configured for four lanes; and a mikroBUS connector that can be used with Microchip’s Trust&GO platform for secure cloud connectivity.
The platform includes support for Microchip’s Mi-V RISC-V ecosystem including development tools from AdaCore, Green Hills Software, Mentor Graphics and Wind River. Commercial RTOS available includes VxWorks and Nucleus and free ones include Zephyr and FreeRTOS. Middleware solutions are available from DornerWorks, Hex Five and Veridify Security.
Microchip’s PolarFire SoC FPGAs combine thermal efficiency, and defence-grade security for smart, connected systems with half the power consumption of alternatives. The PolarFire SoC and the Smart Embedded Vision platform offer designers the choice of rich operating system-based edge compute, hard real-time, with large 2Mbyte memory and mixed real-time plus rich OS support. Users can learn one platform and serve three applications.
Microchip’s Smart Embedded Vision development platform is available now and PolarFire SoC FPGAs are in production.
