TI AM625 Updates Industrial SoCs

TI has updated its low-cost SoC family with 64-bit CPUs, lower power, and improved security and functional-safety support, enabling it to target automotive as well as industrial applications.

Bryon Moyer

TI’s newest Sitara processors address connected systems where safety and security are a concern. They update the much older AM335 chips and expand the Sitara line beyond industrial to include automotive applications.

Sporting up to four Cortex-A53s with an embedded microcontroller (MCU) domain that features a Cortex-M4F, the AM623 and AM625 (AM62x) handle high-level applications as well as low-level control code. An optional real-time unit with its own I/O subsystem assists with machine control and other interactions that have timing constraints. The AM625 includes a 3D GPU; the AM623 doesn’t. Application performance is up to 12 DMIPS per megahertz. A simple power architecture cuts system power and adds three power-down modes.

The updated architecture has features that target the automotive market but that are also popular in industrial systems, including automotive Ethernet, a sandboxed MCU subsystem, and CAN-FD I/Os. The company is seeking functional-safety (FuSa) certification for the automotive versions and, depending on customer demand, industrial versions.

The AM62x chips handle industrial and commercial applications such as retail automation, human/machine interfaces (HMIs), appliance connectivity, and medical equipment. Automotive tasks include driver monitoring, telematics, vehicle connectivity (V2V and V2X), and instrument clusters. Software running on the A53 CPUs, which include Neon SIMD units, can implement simple AI functions such as face recognition and other HMI enhancements. The company plans to release AI benchmark data in 4Q22.

Models for industrial equipment are sampling now, with production scheduled for 4Q22. Automotive units are scheduled for 1Q23. Volume pricing for the industrial versions runs from $5 for a minimal single-core configuration to $10 for a fully loaded quad-core configuration. The company has thus far withheld automotive pricing, which will be higher.