AMD Embedded now a Single SOC
October 2015 – Continuing their push into the combined CPU/GPU designs, AMD released the R Series SOC for embedded applications. The new chip, called the “merlin falcon”, is smaller than previous designs in this family by over 30%. The reduction in area and package size comes from the use of the Excavator architecture for the primary compute areas and the integration of the full southbridge into the same SOC. The chip now can support full DDR4 with ECC as well as PCI Gen 3, DP v1.2, USB3.0, iSATA, eMMC and 1GE ports.
The use of the Excavator core architecture brings HAS 1.0 compliance to the embedded world, simplifying the integration of high performance video and graphics into these products. To support the high end graphics, in addition to the GPU, the SOC has an integrated HEVC / H.265 encoder/decoder for 8 bit 4K 30fps video. According to Quixant, who was on their release discussion panel, the new chip in combination with the Radeon 8870 GPU card, is their new preferred platform for their casino gaming machine offering. For the gaming and other applications, the new SOC includes a security engine for video and media encryption and secure subscription/account management. The architecture of the southbridge is optimized for the gaming multi-screen application area, including the dual & triple screen configurations of slot machines.
Partners like Mentor Graphics help bring the full “roll your own” linux environment and RTOS to the embedded product. This allows end products to be designed with higher levels of optimization and support than “off the shelf RTOS”, and are in line with the 10 year manufacturing production commitment on the SOC. The use of the advanced OS development tools and the HSA support bring an extremely low power envelope to the product that includes IO power control.
The new R series processor is sampling in 2015.
