Microchip Unveils a One-Core 1 GHz MPU with MIPI Camera Interface for Machine Learning at the Edge

The Arm Cortex-A7 CPU can handle 720p video at 30 frames per second or 8 megapixel still pictures.

Image Credit - Microchip

Microchip has released a single-core embedded CPU for machine learning activities at the edge. The SAMA7G54 is an ultra-low-power CPU with integrated image and audio subsystems, as well as a MIPI-CSI2 (D-PHY) camera interface, which makes it ideal for vision-based applications.

The SAMA7G54 is an Arm Cortex-A7 CPU with a single core that runs at 1 GHz. This MPU, according to Microchip, uses less power while still handling image and audio processing duties since it uses a single higher-performance core.

128 kilobytes of SRAM and 5 kilobytes of safe backup RAM are on the chip. In addition, a secure boot loader can use 80 kilobytes of maskable ROM. Quad-SPI, eMMC, and other external ROM formats are supported.

SAMA7G54 Features

Arm Cortex-A7 based MPU

• Performance up to 1GHz
• 256KB L2 cache, up to 533MHz DDR3L

Complete Imaging and Audio Sub-System

• MIPI CSI-2 (2-lane up to 1.5 Gbps each) and 12-bit parallel camera
• Up to 8 Mpixel @ 30 fps
• Audio: up to I2S, PDM, SPDIF (Rx/Tx), 4 stereo channel ASRC
• Quad SPI, Octal SPI
• Up to 12x FLEXCOMs

Optimized BGA ball-out facilitates 4-layer PCB designs

Optimized Power Management IC and Integrated LDOs

Well-suited for IoT security requirements

• Secure Boot
• HW Cryptography (AES/TDES/SHA/RSA/ECC)
• On-the-fly encryption/decryption from external memories
• 11 kB OTP for key storage

Large number of connectivity options

• Dual Ethernet MAC (10/100/1000 Gbit + 10/100)
• Three HS USB PHY, 6x CAN-FD, 3x SD/eMMC
• TFBGA343 14mm x 14mm, 0.65 mm pitch

The SAMA7G54 supports up to 16 Gbit of (LP)DDR2 and (LP)DDR3 operating at 533 MHz for off-chip RAM. There are several other memory interfaces available.

Cameras use a 12-bit parallel or MIPI-CSI2 interface for vision. The SAMA7G54 can handle still photographs up to 8 megapixels or 720p video at 30 frames per second. There are (up to) four I2S interfaces, one SPDIF transmitter and receiver, and a 4-stereo channel sample rate converter for audio interfaces.

The twin Ethernet connections, three high-speed USB PHYs, six CAN-FD channels, and three SD card (or eMMC) interfaces all allow communication with the processor.

All of this is contained in a TFBGA343 container of 14 by 14 millimeters!

Image Credit - Microchip

Microchip also sells an assessment kit that separates the different IO interfaces. A Pi CSI camera interface, an unpopulated pad for an ATWILC3000 WiFi/BT module, and two mkroBUS connections are also included on the board. Finally, it includes a DDR3L chip with four gigabytes of memory, one gigabyte of flash memory, and two EEPROMs.

For further information, see the SAMA7G54 product page, datasheet, or Microchip's press release.