cortex-m33 News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 21, 2025April 20, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Renesas RA4L1 ultra-low-power MCU family offers 168 µA/MHz operation, dual-bank flash, capacitive touch

Renesas has recently introduced the RA4L1 ultra-low-power Arm Cortex-M33 MCU family along with two evaluation/development boards. This new lineup consists of 14 ultra-low-power devices based on an 80 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor with TrustZone support and designed for metering, IoT sensing, smart locks, digital cameras, and human-machine interface (HMI) applications. The RA4L1 MCU family offers high power efficiency at 168 µA/MHz while active and a standby current of 1.70 µA while retaining SRAM. Additionally, they support segment LCD, capacitive touch, USB-FS, CAN FD, low-power UART, multiple serial interfaces (SPI, QSPI, I2C, I3C, SSI), ADC, DAC, real-time clock, and security features like the RSIP security engine with TRNG, AES, ECC, and Hash. Renesas RA4L1 microcontroller Renesas RA4L1 specifications MCU core Arm Cortex-M33 core (Armv8-M) Up to 80 MHz operating frequency Arm Memory Protection Unit (MPU) 8 secure regions (MPU_S) 8 non-secure regions (MPU_NS) CoreSight ETM-M33 Dual SysTick timers (secure & non-secure) […]

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Silicon Labs unveils low-cost BG22L BLE 5.4 and BG24L BLE 6.0 SoCs

Silicon Labs has unveiled the BG22L and BG24L SoCs for low-cost, ultra-low-power Bluetooth LE connectivity. These are Lite versions of the company’s BG22 and BG24 SoC families introduced in 2020 and 2022 respectively. The 38.4 MHz Silabs BG22L Arm Cortex-M33 SoC targets high-volume, cost-sensitive Bluetooth 5.4 applications like asset tracking tags and small appliances. In comparison, the 78 MHz BG24L Cortex-M33 SoC offers an affordable entry-level solution with AI/ML acceleration and Bluetooth 6.0 Channel Sounding to locate items or implement access control in crowded areas such as warehouses and multi-family housing. Since the specs for the BG22L and BG24L are similar to the ones for the BG22 and BG24 chips I won’t reproduce those here, and instead highlights the main features and cost-saving measures. Silicon Labs BG22L Bluetooth LE 5.4 SoC Silicon Labs BG22L highlights: MCU – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 38.4 MHz with DSP and FPU (BG22 is clocked at […]

January 13, 2025January 11, 2025 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

NXP MCX L14x and MCX L25x ultra-low-power Cortex-M33 MCUs target energy harvesting and battery-powered devices

NXP Semiconductors has launched the MCX L series of ultra-low-power Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs with the MCX L14x and MCX L25x SKUs. The new series offers similar peripherals as the rest of the MCX portfolio but uses a new “power management architecture that supports always-on, battery-powered applications” The MCX L series uses a dual domain architecture, with “real-time processing and ultra-low-power sensing functions in a single device.” The Arm Cortex-M33 core supports real-time processing functions while the Arm Cortex-M0+ core offers always-on operation in the ultra-low-power sense domain. The new microcontrollers reportedly use three times less power than their predecessors. The ultra-low-power series is targeted at energy-constrained applications, powered by a battery, ultracapacitor, or power harvesting circuit. These include building control, industrial sensing, smoke and fire alarms, flow meters, smart appliances, and motion detectors. NXP MCX L14x and L25x specifications: CPU Main core: Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ up to 96 MHz […]

November 21, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

216MHz GigaDevice GD32G5 Cortex-M33 MCU features analog interfaces and accelerators for industrial applications

Starting with the GD32G553 SKUs, the 216 MHz GigaDevice GD32G5 high-performance Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller family features 256KB to 512KB of embedded Flash with dual-bank Flash support, 128KB of SRAM, and a range of hardware accelerators including a DSP, single-precision FPU, a trigonometric function accelerator (TMU), and other hardware acceleration units, filter algorithms (FAC) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Designed for industrial applications, the GD32G5 microcontrollers also offer a wide range of digital and analog interfaces and enhanced security capabilities suitable for digital power systems, charging stations, energy storage inverters, frequency converters, servo motors, and optical communication. GigaDevice GD32G5 specifications: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M33 Armv8-M core clocked at up to 216MHz with DSP instruction set and single-precision FPU; up to 316 DMIPS, CoreMark score: 694. Memory/Storage 128KB SRAM (80KB SRAM0 + 16KB SRAM1 + 32KB TCMSRAM) 256KB to 512KB on-chip flash, QSPI interface for external storage External memory controller (EXMC) […]

November 12, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

NXP i.MX 94 octa-core Cortex-A55/M33/M7 processor targets Edge AI industrial and automotive applications

NXP i.MX 94 is an octa-core Arm SoC with up to four Cortex-A55 application cores, two Arm Cortex-M33 real-time/functional safety cores, two Arm Cortex-M7 real-time/functional safety cores, and an NXP eIQ Neutron NPU designed for Edge AI industrial and automotive applications I initially thought it would be a cost-down version of the NXP i.MX 95, and while it shares many of the same features, it’s more an application-specific processor designed specifically for industrial and automotive applications, lacking a 3D GPU, camera input interfaces, a MIPI DSI display interface, and 10GbE networking, but increasing the number of real-time cores (at the cost of application cores) and adding several networking features such as an Ethernet time-sensitive networking (TSN) switch, 2.5GbE interface, an Ethercat controller, and support for industrial protocols like Profinet or OPC-UA FX. NXP i.MX 94 specifications: CPU Up to 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores 2x Arm Corex-M7 cores, one for functional […]

October 8, 2024October 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

NXP RW612 Arm Cortex-M33 Wireless MCU offers Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 radios

The NXP RW612 is an Arm Cortex-M33 SoC with three radios, namely WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 for Thread and Matter connectivity. It also has a small sibling called the RW610 without the 802.15.4 radio. I first came across RW61x chips, when Debashis wrote about the Trimension SR250 UWB chip mentioning it can work with “host processors like NXP’s i.MX, RW61x, and MCX families”. I initially thought it was a typo for the iW612 tri-radio solution introduced in 2022, and the RW612 is indeed similar, but it’s a complete wireless microcontroller/SoC with an Arm Cortex-M33 application core so it can be used independently as a host instead of a companion chip. NXP RW612 and RW610 specifications: MCU sub-system Core – 260 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 with TrustZone-M Memory On-chip 1.2 MB SRAM PSRAM interface for memory expansion Storage – Quad FlexSPI Flash XIP with on-the-fly decryption Peripheral interfaces Up to […]

September 27, 2024September 27, 2024 by Debashis Das - No Comments

NXP i.MX RT700 dual-core Cortex-M33 AI Crossover MCU includes eIQ Neutron NPU and DSPs

NXP i.MX RT700 AI crossover MCU block diagram

NXP has recently announced the release of NXP i.MX RT700 RT700 AI crossover MCU following the NXP i.MX RT600 series release in 2018 and the i.MX RT500 series introduction in 2021. The new i.MX RT700 Crossover MCU features two Cortex-M33 cores, a main core clocked at 325 MHz with a Tensilica HiFi 4 DSP and a secondary 250 MHz core with a low-power Tensilica HiFi 1 DSP for always-on sensing tasks. Additionally, it integrates a powerful eIQ Neutron NPU with an upgraded 7.5 MB of SRAM and a 2D GPU with a JPEG/PNG decoder. These features make this device suitable for applications including AR glasses, hearables, smartwatches, wristbands, and more. NXP i.MX RT700 specifications: Compute subsystems Main Compute Subsystem Cortex-M33 @ up to 325 MHz with Arm TrustZone, built-in Memory Protection Unit (MPU), a floating-point unit (FPU), a HiFi 4 DSP and supported by NVIC for interrupt handling and SWD […]

May 7, 2024February 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Microchip PIC32CK 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 MCU combines Hardware Security Module with Arm TrustZone for IoT cybersecurity compliance

Microchip PIC32CK is a new family of 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 microcontrollers clocked up to 120 MHz with Arm Trustzone and an optional integrated Hardware Security Module (HSM) that can help companies meet the cybersecurity requirements for consumer IoT devices and critical infrastructure mandated in the US, Europe, and other countries. Two sub-families are available with the PIC32CK GC and PICK32CK SG with the latter integrating the HSM, and the company claims it is the first 32-bit device on the market that combines an HSM with TrustZone technology for optional security. The PIC32CK is also said to support ISO 26262 functional safety and ISO/SAE 21434 cybersecurity standards. Microchip PIC32CK specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at up to 120 MHz with 4KB combined instruction and data cache, TrustZone security Memory and Storage 128KB, 256KB, or 512KB SRAM 512KB, 1MB, or 2MB flash 128KB boot flash memory 64KB of configuration flash […]