Nuvoton has introduced the NuMicro MA35D0 sequence, a brand new line of microprocessors (MPUs) focused at industrial and IoT edge computing functions. It comprises a set of highly effective Arm Cortex-A35 cores, as much as 256 MB of SDRAM, and native performance for safety and belief, as is important in at present’s industrial surroundings.
Nuvoton President Hsin-Lung Yang at an Embedded World 2024 press convention presenting the M2L31 sequence, which, just like the MA35B0 lined on this article, emphasizes safe edge computing.
Packing Efficiency With Twin Arm Cortex-A35 Cores
The MA35D0 sequence suits just under the MA35D1 sequence in Nuvoton’s product lineup.
MA35B0 product line in comparison with MA35D1. Picture used courtesy of Nuvoton
It’s powered by twin 64/32-bit Arm Cortex-A35 cores at as much as 650 MHz. Every core has 32/32 KB I/D of L1 cache and 512 KB of shared L2 cache. The MPUs comprise a 128 KB inside boot ROM and may boot from USB, SD/eMMC, NAND, and SPI Flash (SPI NOR/SPI NAND).
The sequence contains two elements (datasheet linked): the MA35D03F864C with 256 MB of DDR and the MA35D03F764C with 128 MB of DDR. Each are available in a 24 mm x 24 mm, 216-pin LQFP bundle with 154 GPIO. The chips are industrial temperature rated for operation from -40°C to 125°C. To maintain the bundle measurement down, the MPUs use inside stacked DDR SDRAM. The 3F764C makes use of DDR2, and the 3F864C has increased capability and sooner DDR3L.
Nuvoton offers a full-featured ecosystem for its MPUs, together with the brand new MA35D0. The product line helps a number of working programs or may be run “naked steel” for microcontroller-like operations that want the bottom overhead.
Nuvoton MA53D0 ecosystem. Picture used courtesy of Nuvoton
MA35D0 MPUs have full I/O and peripheral characteristic units, making them suited to industrial and edge functions akin to good residence and constructing merchandise, industrial management, manufacturing unit automation, and good gateway programs. They embody broad connectivity options, together with 2x megabit Ethernet, high-speed USB host and gadget modes, SD3.0/eMMC, 3x CAN FD, and 11x UART. The MPUs have a built-in TFT 1280 x 800 LCD controller with touchscreen help, 2D {hardware} graphics, and native JPEG picture decoding for straightforward human interplay.
Sturdy Safety for Industrial Functions
Safety is a significant factor within the MA35D0 sequence MPUs. Not way back, safety was usually an afterthought for computing on the sting. Now, nevertheless, as industrial and embedded programs develop into extra ubiquitous, builders now underscore that safety is each bit as necessary on the sting as it’s in all places else. Nuvoton is displaying its understanding of this by making safety a core characteristic within the new processor line.
The sequence has safety that covers boot, execution, communications, and chip-level storage. The MA53D0 has safe booting and encrypted communications performance built-in. It takes benefit of Arm TrustZone, which prevents non-secure packages from accessing safe {hardware} capabilities and offers safe booting. As well as, it has snoop Management Unit (SCU) L2 cache safety and Arm cryptographic extension with AES, SHA, ECC, RSA, and SM2/3/4. It additionally has a real random quantity generator (TRNG) to boost programs that depend upon randomness to forestall assaults. Different safety features embody a cryptographic key retailer and one-time programmable (OTP) reminiscence to forestall in-field tampering.
Analysis Board and Instance Units
Together with the MPUs, Nuvoton launched a full-featured analysis board. The NuMaker-IoT-MA35D0-A1 comes pre-loaded with distant management examples, together with cloud connectivity and browser-based standing and management, and board-to-board communications examples.
Net demonstration set for NuMaker-IoT-MA35D0-A1 analysis board. Picture used courtesy of Nuvoton
Mass manufacturing of the MPUs will start in Q2 2024.
Featured picture (modified) used courtesy of Nuvoton.