Jacinto 6 processor enhances in-vehicle infotainment

With the increased demand for mobility and differentiation for entry- to mid-level In-Vehicle-Infotainment (IVI), the DRA72x has an optimal mix of acceleration capabilities. This includes the IVA-HD video co-processor capable of decoding H.264 1080p resolution at 60fps, which enables standard multimedia simultaneously streaming and the emerging bring your own device (BYOD) connectivity. Additionally, drivers and passengers will experience an enhanced user experience of voice functions while hosting Acoustic Noise Cancellation (ANC), speech enhancement and audio post-processing algorithms on the integrated digital signal processor (DSP).

The DRA72x stays true to TI’s automotive SoC approach of the “Jacinto” family including ARM Cortex-M4 to offload the main ARM Cortex-A15 CPU from real-time, interrupt intensive tasks, as well as vehicle connectivity peripherals including DCAN, Ethernet AVB, MOST Media Local Bus (MLB), PCIe, and USB2.0 and 3.0. The DRA72x processor also works with TI’s WiLink 8Q WiFi, Bluetooth and GNSS combo connectivity family, creating out-of-the box ready automotive infotainment offering.

Developed on the same architecture as other members of TI’s “Jacinto 6” platform, the DRA72x processor enables manufacturers to scale product investments and deliver a diverse portfolio of products with software and hardware compatibility with the broadest array of ARM Cortex-A15 devices. The addition of the “Jacinto 6 Eco” family creates a processor portfolio that includes single- and dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 configurations with a range of 2,800 to more than 10,000 Dhrystone million instruction per second (DMIPS), single- and dual-core Imagination Technologies' POWERVR SGX544-MPx graphics cores and automotive peripherals. Further scalability is achieved with processor variations having single and dual external memory interfaces and different CPU clock speeds. This allows customers designing infotainment systems to develop products for a broad range of vehicles, such as entry-to mid-level up to luxury, on the same platform and level of investment to reduce cost and time to market.

The “Jacinto 6 Eco” processor enables car manufacturers to reduce the overall cost to customers with integrated acceleration capabilities, auto peripherals and software availability. The integrated DSP, complete with flexible software-defined architecture, provides a simplified and cost-reduced multi-tuner radio solution for AM/FM/RDS, HD Radio, DAB, and/or DRM. The on-chip auxiliary CPUs (ARM Cortex-M4s) offload the main CPU of real-time, highly interrupted intensive tasks to increase software performance. The “Jacinto 6 Eco” tools, software and ecosystem, including QNX, Linux and Android high-level operating systems, are available to customers to ease design and reduce time to market.

The DRA72x "Jacinto 6 Eco" processor is currently sampling and is expected to be available for production by the first half of 2015. The DRA72x is intended for high-volume automotive manufacturers and is not available through distributors.