Atmel targets M2M with latest SAM devices
Atmel has described connectivity as being the ‘real focus’ of the latest SAM9 devices and has partnered with Conexant to embed soft modem IP that allows the devices to interface directly to Conexant’s SmartDAA line driver.
The software enablement for the driver is delivered by Conexant on purchase of the line driver and it currently only support Linux, although other operating systems are expected to be supported in the future.
While the soft modem technology is described as ‘unique’ to the new SAM9 devices, another ‘value add’ feature is the integration of an LCD controller which features hardware acceleration and a graphics overlay controller, delivering alpha blending, image scaling, rotating and colour space conversion.
Furthermore, the devices also integrate better support for external memory and are able to interface to up to 256Mbyte of DRAM and ‘many Gbytes’ of DDR2. Support for DDR2 is through a 24bit ECC and is seen as supporting the industry transition from SDRAM to DDR2, allowing larger density memories using single and multilevel cell technology.
The core voltage of the devices is 1V and consume as little as 110mW at 400MHz. Evaluation kits are available based on production-ready SODIMM modules, which are supplied by Atmel’s partners. There are also plans to provide an LCD module that integrates support for capacitive-touch sensing.
For more information, visit www.atmel.com
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