Microchip Announces New Next-Generation Development Tools for Edge Embedded Vision Design

     Microchip Technology Inc. announced a second development tool for smart embedded vision designs for developers using PolarFire RISC-V system-on-chip (SoC) field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). As the industry's lowest power SoC FPGA in its class, PolarFire is also the only one in its class that supports dual 4K video processing and quad-core RISC-V application-level processors and supports rich operating systems such as real-time operating systems (RTOS) and Linux® mid-range devices.

     Microchip's intelligent embedded vision development platform, coupled with the company's previously released VectorBlox™ software development kit (SDK) and IP, can be used to program trained neural networks using PolarFire devices without prior FPGA expertise. The latest products simplify the development of edge computing solutions in the thermally challenging environments of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and factory automation applications. IP, hardware and tools for the new platform include:

     Embedded Vision - Supports the following features: Dual 4K MIPI CSI-2 cameras; HDMI® 2.0 with FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) expansion; CoaXPress® 2.0; SDI (6 gbps and 12 gbps); Universal with auto-negotiation mode Serial 10 GE Media Independent Interface (USXGMII) MAC IP; and USB3.1 Gen1 (Gen1) and Gen2 (Gen2) protocols.

     Industrial IoT and Factory Automation - Supports: Wi-Fi®/Bluetooth®, USB 2.0, SD card, Embedded Multimedia Card (eMMC), fully integrated Peripheral Interconnect Express (PCIe®) endpoints and quad-lane configurations root port capability; and a mickroBUS™ connector for use with Microchip's Trust&GO platform for secure cloud connectivity.

     The new platform supports the Microchip Mi-V RISC-V ecosystem including development tools such as AdaCore, Green Hills Software, Mentor Graphics and Wind River. Commercial RTOS solutions include VxWorks® and Nucleus®, as well as free solutions such as Zephyr® and FreeRTOS™. Middleware solutions are available from DornerWorks, Hex Five and Veridify Security.

     Combining thermal efficiency and defense-grade security, Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGAs can be used in intelligent, connected systems while consuming half the power of competing products. The PolarFire SoC and smart embedded vision platform provide developers with choices for edge computing based on rich operating systems, hard real-time, 2 MB large memory and hybrid real-time + rich operating system support. Users learn one platform and can serve three applications.