Imagination Releases Its First Real-Time Embedded RISC-V CPU: IMG RTXM-2200
June 27, 2022
News
Imagination Technologies' first real-time embedded RISC-V CPU, IMG RTXM-2200, is a highly scalable, feature-rich, 32-bit embedded solution with a flexible design for a wide range of high-volume devices. The IMG RTXM-2200 is a commercial core in Imagination's Catapult CPU family, which was previously announced in December 2021.
Imagination's IMG RTXM-2200 can be integrated into complex SoCs for a variety of applications such as networking solutions, packet management, storage controllers, and sensor management for AI cameras and smart metering, accelerating the expansion of its RISC-V offering. Imagination's new CPU cores, in conjunction with its market-leading GPU and AI accelerator IP, provide customers with access to innovative heterogeneous solutions.
This real-time embedded core has up to 128KB of tightly coupled memories (both instruction and data) for deterministic response and up to 128KB of Level 1 cache for robust performance. The new CPU supports a variety of floating-point formats, such as single-precision and bfloat16. The latter enables manufacturers to deploy AI applications via this core without the need for a separate chip. This decreases silicon area, resulting in a more cost-effective and optimized design for AI cameras and smart metering applications.
The new CPU is supported by the rapidly expanding open-standard RISC-V ecosystem, which continues to shake up the embedded CPU industry through compute democratization, unlocking innovative and open technological development for companies at all levels.
Software
At launch, Imagination real-time embedded cores include a fully functional software SDK and tools package. They work on multiple platforms out of the box to help develop and support the RISC-V ecosystem.
The Catapult Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a modern, cutting-edge IDE based on Visual Studio code that provides a more familiar environment for modern developers and designers.
According to Imagination, the IDE:
- runs on Windows, Ubuntu, CentOS, and macOS
- offers full Linux support (including reference bootloaders, kernel, and filesystem)
- is compatible with gem5 software, unlocking simulation environments for enhanced power and energy-efficiency testing
Chris Porthouse, Chief Product Officer, Imagination, says: “We are excited to announce IMG RTXM-2200, our first real-time RISC-V CPU, which underpins our continued commitment to driving growth for the RISC-V ecosystem. Imagination now has a unique and broad portfolio of compute IP, including GPU, AI accelerators, and now CPU, designed for this innovative architecture.”
For more information, visit imaginationtech.com.
Chad Cox. Production Editor, Embedded Computing Design, has responsibilities that include handling the news cycle, newsletters, social media, and advertising. Chad graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in Cultural and Analytical Literature.
