Cortex-M55 for ST at last
05
Jan
2025
We had two darlings to close 2024 with ST showing the much anticipated STM32N6, a souped up Cortex-M55 with bells and whistles around AI and video while TI is pushing down the price boundaries, with a 82-cents part embedding 512 kB of Flash. We expect to see more Cortex-M55 and M85 in 2025 with of course a sprinkle of AI accelerators.
After much wait, the STM32N6 is finally there. Based on the Cortex®-M55 running at 800 MHz, it is the first CPU to introduce Arm Helium vector processing technology, bringing DSP processing capability to a standard CPU.
The STM32N6 is the first STM32 MCU to embed the ST Neural-ART accelerator™, an in-house developed neural processing unit (NPU) engineered for power-efficient edge AI applications. Clocked at 1 GHz and providing up to 600 GOPS, it enables real-time neural network inference for computer vision and audio applications.
A dedicated computer vision pipeline with a MIPI CSI-2 interface and image signal processing (ISP) ensures compatibility with a wide range of cameras. The STM32N6 also features an H264 hardware encoder and the NeoChrom™ Accelerator for graphics, making it suitable for feature-rich products.
It offers 4.2 Mbytes of contiguous embedded RAM, ideal for neural networks or graphics applications, complemented by high-speed external memory interfaces (hexa-SPI, OCTOSPI, FMC).
The STM32N6 offers advanced security features, meeting the latest standards with target SESIP level 3 and PSA level 3 certifications.
Available in six different packages ranging from 169 to 264 pins and from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm pitch, it supports up to 125°C ambient temperature, making it suitable for harsh environments.
Prices range from $8.64 to $10.73/10k.
TI released 11 parts, with 8 from the MSPM0 series. Interestingly, TI is moving up the Flash size dimension with the new samples having as much as 512kB. This is quite a bit for a sub-dollar/1k part and will certainly hurt ST whose lowest cost 512kB Flash part is at $1.69/10k (STM32G0B0KET6).
No significant changes this month.
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No significant changes.
AI on the edge
07
Dec
2024
There was a plethora of new products last month, between NXP’s MCXA Cortex-M33 and ST’s STM32WBA with the same core for Bluetooth applications. TI was also in the headlines with the announcement of the C29 core in the C2000 family. The first instance is a triple C29 core focused on Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D and SIL 3. In the same go, TI introduced the TMS320F28P55x with an integrated AI hardware accelerators. Expect to hear more of AI at the edge.
No significant changes this month.
Microchip added more to their AVR128 DA and DB families, a low end family with 128kB of Flash. It added TFBGA packages to the PIC32CK family and a few variants to the PIC32CZ (Cortex-M7). A few ARM-9 were added through the SAM9X with some above $10/5k.
No change this month.
Nuvoton added the first links to its not-so-new-anymore Cortex-M7 parts. Recall the KM1M7C series sports a 160MHz Cortex-M7 with a high-resolution PWM, a high-speed, high-precision AD converter, and a feedback control assist function. The family is focused on power control.
NXP has added 12 parts in the MCXA family. The MCX A13x, A14x, A15x microcontrollers feature a Cortex-M33 at up to 96MHz and 1 MB of Flash, 128 kB of RAM with high levels of integration and analog. The low-power and intelligent peripherals include timers that generate three complementary PWM pairs with deadband insertion, 4Msps 16b ADC with hardware windowing and averaging features. The innovative power architecture is designed to support high utilization of I/Os and power efficiency with a simple supply circuit in a smaller footprint.
Renesas added 30 parts in the RA0/2/4/8 series, mostly covering more package/pin combinations.
No significant changes.
ST added about 150 part numbers between the the STM32MP (MPU) the STM32WBA and the STM32G. ST added the STM32WBA6 doubling the Flash size to 2MB of the 100MHz Cortex-M33. The STM32WBA62 sports a BTLE 5.4 or 802.15.4 while the 63/64/65 add Zigbee, Thread and Matter as protocols.
TI released 26 parts, with the MSPM0L filling some package gaps, and a few parts in development around the announcement made at Electronica.
The new TMS320F28P55x series of C2000 MCUs with an integrated edge artificial intelligence (AI) hardware accelerator enables smarter real-time control, with up to 99% fault detection accuracy.
The latest 64-bit C29 core in the new F29H85x series more than doubles the real-time control performance of existing generations and will have an integrity level up to Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D and SIL 3.
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