New SoC products break the game RISC-V high-end intelligent applications
In recent years, the appearance rate of risc-v has become higher and higher, which seems to be close to x86 and arm. Even Intel has announced that it has officially joined risc-v standards organization and become a senior member, and plans to invest heavily in risc-v ecological construction. At present, there are hundreds of members of risc-v standards organization, and almost all mainstream manufacturers have joined the track of risc-v. in the future, the pattern of three-thirds of the world in the field of CPU is gradually clear.
Risc-v as a new reduced instruction set architecture, compared with X86 and arm, its biggest feature is that it is completely open source without authorization restrictions. At the same time, coupled with its inherent advantages such as lightweight and modularity, risc-v has taken root and sprouted all over the world. However, the ecology of risc-v is still relatively weak. Taking the Chinese market as an example, the mainstream risc-v products are mainly concentrated in entry-level MCU applications such as small household appliances and wearable devices, far from touching the medium and high-end fields dominated by x86 and arm (such as servers, PCs, mobile phones, etc.). However, with the sustained and vigorous development of risc-v ecology, the current situation of risc-v application is changing, and related products and applications are extending to deeper and wider fields.
First high-end chip
LeapFive technology recently launched a new risc-v SOC product NB2.
Nb2 positioning risc-v application processor adopts advanced 12NM technology and is oriented to high-order edge side system applications such as edge computing and deep learning. Different from the medium and high-end risc-v processor scheme dominated by MPW on the market, Nb2 is the first full mask risc-v architecture high-end application processor at present.
Chip application
Nb2 is equipped with a quad core 64 bit risc-v core developed by Yuefang technology, with a dominant frequency of 1.8GHz; The external memory supports DDR4 / lpddr4 (x), and the bandwidth can reach 3200mt / s and 4266mt / s respectively; Built in a variety of hardware acceleration engines, including 3D GPU, 4TOPS computing power NPU, independent image, audio and data processing engines, etc; At the same time, it integrates various standard high, medium and low speed interfaces, such as usb3 0 / 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, sdio4 0. LVDS / DSI, PDM, I2S / PCM, ADC, SPI, UART, I2C, PWM, etc; Nb2 meets the industrial standard, with the working temperature range of – 40 ℃ ~ 85 ℃. The package is FCBGA 19×19 mm / 0.65pitch/728pin, and the typical power consumption is as low as 5W.
NB2 application scenario
About chip
Nb2 focuses on smart energy, smart logistics, smart manufacturing, data security and other fields, enabling industrial Internet of things applications from multiple dimensions. Nb2’s inherent risc-v open source advantage, coupled with the security and controllability of independent research and development, has avoided the supply chain risk for the system application; Nb2’s original industrial standard and low-power design supported by advanced technology make it possible for demanding industrial and industrial application requirements; The enhanced security features of Nb2 also ensure the data security in the application of industrial Internet of things system; Nb2’s complete risc-v platform development kit and documents can effectively support the system application development.
During the development of Nb2, Yuefang technology has cooperated with the industry’s top customers, made up for the lack of bottom software for the imperfect ecology of risc-v, and developed middle and upper software applications in advance. For example, in the cooperation with a smart energy customer, the two sides use the prototype platform to build edge intelligent devices in the energy network, realize the functions of data collection, calculation and analysis, storage management and other functions of the South Terminal of the energy network, and can interact with the North cloud platform on demand. In 2021, the two sides conducted a pilot in the actual application scenario. After nearly a year of efficient and stable operation, the customer fully affirmed the application effect of Yuefang technology risc-v products and looked forward to the promotion prospect in the future.
In addition, LeapFive technology also maintained in-depth interaction with customers in smart logistics, data security and other market segments, and laid out the risc-v application ecology in advance through technology development. For different application scenarios, LeapFive technology has developed a targeted edge computing framework and successfully transplanted docker operating environment, go / rust and other language support, and even Ethereum and other blockchain solutions to risc-v platform to provide customized and differentiated solutions for customer system applications. The characteristics of Nb2 prototype system in edge intelligence and enhanced security also make customers full of confidence and expectation for risc-v application.
Once upon a time, risc-v was questioned in terms of cost, ecology, security and other aspects, but now risc-v’s ecology has been increasingly improved and expanded. Although there is still a big gap compared with X86 and arm, the rapid rise of risc-v is an indisputable fact.
The new generation of high-end risc-v SOC product Nb2 of LeapFive technology is expected to achieve mass production in Q3 of 2022. With the application in various industries, Nb2 will become a force that can not be ignored in the rising trend of risc-v. Yuefang technology will also bring the outstanding advantages of high-end risc-v products to create a new era of high-end edge intelligent applications.