News CAST Releases Royalty-Free 32-bit BA22 Processor Cores for Embedded Systems

Versions from an 8051 step-up to an ARM-9 class applications processor lead industry on fast performance, small silicon area, and low power consumption

Woodcliff Lake, NJ, July 28, 2011 — Semiconductor intellectual property (IP) provider CAST, Inc. is shipping new 32-bit processor IP cores based on the BA22 design sourced from Beyond Semiconductor.

The royalty-free BA22 Processor IP Family from CAST gives developers competitive alternatives to popular processors for embedded system designs in ASICs or FPGAs. Engineered to provide high performance using little silicon area, the pipelined 32-bit RISC BA22 architecture delivers 1.41 DMIPS/MHz, with frequencies from 50 MHz to over 300 MHz, using from 12,000 to 38,000 gates, and requiring just 0.023 mW/MHz (in a 65nm process). Multiple customers have already used the BA22 processor in shipping products.

An innovative instruction set language (ISL) with best-in-class code density is key to the BA22’s competitive benefits. Optimized instruction lengths of 16, 24, 36, 48, or 64 bits contribute to programming code compactness; early customers estimate BA22 code to be 7% – 20% denser than that of the comparable ARM® Thumb-2 ISL. This significantly reduces both the physical size of the memory required for a system’s programming code and the number of power-consuming memory accesses required for system operation.

Configurable BA22 processors may include caches and memory management units, up to 32 general purpose registers, enhanced arithmetic processing capabilities such as divider and floating point units, a power-management unit, and an interactive, JTAG-based debug capability. CAST pre-integrates appropriate peripherals with each BA22 core, and additional peripherals are available.

Three preconfigured versions of the BA22 processor core are shipping now:

• The BA22-BASE (now BA22-DE) Basic Deeply Embedded Processor Core is targeted at embedded applications using on-chip instruction and data memories. (See http://bit.ly/cast-ba22base.) An excellent step up from 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers, it can offer more computing capability with comparable or even less area and power usage.
• The BA22-ADV (now BA22-EM) Advanced Deeply Embedded Processor Core is targeted at embedded applications that use off-chip instruction and data memories, and may need to run a real-time operating system. (See http://bit.ly/cast-ba22adv.) The eCOS and µClinux RTOSs are already ported.
• The BA22-AP Application Processor is targeted at demanding embedded applications that use off-chip instruction and data memories, and that may need to run a real-time operating system or a full operating system such as Linux or Android. (See http://bit.ly/cast-ba22ap.) Its performance is on par with the PowerPC 405, ARM® Cortex R4, Ensilica ESI-3200, or Aeroflex Gaisler Leon4, but it uses less power and area than any of these popular processors.

Additional microcontroller peripherals may be ordered for pre-integration and delivery with each BA22 core, individually or in a complete BA22 Platform. CAST also offers IP Integration Services to help integrate any BA22 processor core with memory controllers, image compression, or other CAST IP cores.

Programming with the processors is facilitated with an included C/C++ tool chain, Eclipse IDE, architectural simulator, and ported C libraries. A hardware reference design system board is also available.
Email beyond@cast-inc.com or call +1 201.391.8300 to learn more about the processors’ technical features and licensing details.

About CAST, Inc.

CAST, Inc. is a privately held company that provides semiconductor IP products and services. The company features advanced image/video processing and microcontroller IP families, plus the memory controllers, high-speed buses, peripherals, and other functions needed to build complete systems. Learn more at http://www.cast-inc.com/.