AMD G-Series SOC Integrates CPU, GPU and I/O Controller Onto a Single Die
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COVER STORY AMD G-Series SOC integrates CPU, GPU and I/O controller onto a single die Special Features Transportation Safety & Security Solar Power Test & Measurement VIEWPOINT Dear Reader, If you look as an expert in the embedded industry at the com- munications industry and as well in the industrial automation you must be quite happy. Because the trend towards the internet of things (IoT) and to Industry 4.0 will bring a bright future to cyber physical systems – formerly known as em- bedded systems. According to the definition of Wikipedia “a cyber- physical system (CPS) is a system featuring a tight combination of, and coordination between, the computational and physical elements of the system. Today, a pre- cursor generation of cyber-physical systems can be found in areas as diverse as aerospace, automotive, chemical processes, civil infrastructure, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, entertainment, and consumer appliances. This generation is often referred to as embedded systems. In embedded systems the emphasis tends to be more on the computational elements, and less on an intense link be- tween the computational and physical elements. Unlike more traditional embedded systems, a full-fledged CPS is typically designed as a network of interacting elements with physical input and output instead of as standalone devices. Mobile cyber physical systems, in which the physical system in question has inherent mobility, are a prominent subcategory of cyber physical systems. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robotics and electronics transported by humans or animals. The rise in popularity of smartphones has increased interest in the area of mobile cyber physical systems. Smart- phone platforms make ideal mobile cyber physical systems for a number of reasons. What means the convergence between consumer apps and industrial applications is still going on. Especially for mobile cyber physical systems the highest possible inte- gration and performance by lowest power consumption is paramount. An example for one of these early mobile CPS you can take the new AMD G-Series SoCs, described in our cover story starting at page 6. This new device offers a highly scalable single-chip platform for inno- vative small form factor applications based on x86 technology to the developer of embedded systems nowadays and cyber physical systems in future. Yours sincerely Wolfgang Patelay Editor 3 May 2013 CONTENTS Viewpoint 3 Cover Story: Cover Story AMD G-Series SOC integrates CPU, PAGE 6 AMD G-Series SOC integrates CPU, GPU and I/O controller onto a single die GPU and I/O controller onto a single die 6 Tansportation With the introduction of the G- Series SOC, AMD has completed the Computer systems for railway process of evolution from CPU, applications 8 chipset and dedicated graphics via Getting to the core of rugged APU and controller hub to a single transportation systems 12 fully-integrated x86 building block. What benefits can developers Embedded computing technology expect from the new G-Series SOC improves rail hygiene 15 platform? Box PCs Computer systems for railway A small form factor challenge: box PC with camera system 18 transportation systems PAGE 8 More and more electronic systems are Safety & Security being built into trains, the underground, Safety in civil airplanes via DO-254 streetcars and buses. If you talk about certifiable MIL-STD-1553 interfaces 20 the overall railway engineering market, you don’t only mean vehicles – in which areas and applications can one find Mainboards these computers and which functions Mainboards in precision scales dodo ttheyhe ttakeake oover?er? AndAnd why are they so different to the office PC pull their weight 24 or the one at home? Product News 26-30 Getting to the core of rugged transportation systems PAGE 12 Mobility and environmental extremes are critical in transportation applications; by selecting the right core and rugged framework, focusing on and prioritizing any added customization becomes much simpler. A small form factor challenge: box PC with camera system PAGE 18 Trivial looking demands may turn into tough challenges once there are enough of them to be combined. Here we describe a small box PC COVER STORY based camera system for military secu- AMD G-Series SOC integrates CPU, rity applications like face and object GPU and I/O controller onto a singl e die recognition in a forbidding outdoor environment. The question is whether ttoo bbuyuy oorr ttoo mmakeake iiff ttimeime iiss sshort and costs must not explode? Safety in civil airplanes via DO-254 certifiable MIL-STD-1553 interfaces PAGE 20 This article introduces a wide range of MIL-STD-1553 compo- Special Features Transportation nents, test cards, rugged embedded cards, and software from a Safety & Security Solar Power single company. Originally intended for military requirements, Test & Measurement AMD the standard is increasingly considered for use in civil aircraft. May 2013 4 COVER STORY AMD G-Series SOC integrates CPU, GPU and I/O controller onto a single die By Craig Bryant, AMD Embedded Solutions With the introduction of the G-Series SOC, AMD has completed the process of evolution from CPU, chipset and dedicated graphics via APU and controller hub to a single fully-integrated x86 building block. What benefits can developers expect from the new G-Series SOC platform? With the introduction of the AMD Embed- when running multiple industry-standard com- CPU/GPU parallel processing can be especially ded G-Series in 2011, a low-power CPU and a pute-intensive benchmarks. New features include beneficial to high-precision applications such discrete-class GPU was combined into a single enhanced Universal Video Decode (UVD) hard- as industrial control and automation, security Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The AMD ware acceleration (H.264, VC-1, MPEG 2 and and surveillance, and communications infra- Embedded G-Series APU resulted in a space- more) and new video encode capabilities with structure, allowing OpenCL APIs to access the efficient two-chip solution – comprising the enhanced clock gating and C6 deep power- integrated GPU with 256 GFLOPs per clock APU and a companion I/O controller hub – down capabilities that lower overall power con- compute power. Meanwhile, seamless DirectX that offered high multimedia and parallel pro- sumption. G-Series SOCs also support remote 11 and OpenGL support complements the cessing performance on a low-power platform. wireless display capabilities with minimal latency. AMD G-Series SOC DisplayPort 1.2-enabled With the introduction of the new AMD Em- Another new feature is the ECC support, which, dual independent display capability, providing bedded G-Series SOC platform, AMD has up until now, has been limited to power-hungry high-resolution multi-display support for graph- built on the strength of the G-Series processor processor platforms. However, the evolution of ics-driven applications spanning digital signage, architecture and is completing the evolution a new class of ultra energy-efficient, compute- digital gaming, thin client and human machine by reducing the two-chip architecture of the intensive x86 IT infrastructure and precision interface (HMI). On the mechanical side, the G-Series APU to a single chip. At the same control systems makes ECC an increasingly im- time it delivers multimedia and heterogeneous portant requirement. The ability of the G-Series processing capabilities that promise superior SOC platform to support enterprise-class ECC performance-per-watt in the low-power x86- memory distinguishes it as an excellent fit for capable microprocessor class of products when applications requiring high levels of data in- running multiple industry standard bench- tegrity without compromising energy efficiency. marks. Additionally, it supports enterprise- class error-correction code (ECC) memory. The integrated GPU supports DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL 1.2, enabling high- The new AMD G-Series SOCs are available in speed parallel processing and high-performance dual- and quad-core variants. Featuring the graphics processing that provides up to 20% next-generation Jaguar-CPU core with 28 nm improvement over G-Series APUs and 5x im- technology and an enhanced integrated Radeon provement versus Intel Atom. Support for these GPU core with frequency increase and instruc- computing frameworks affords a host of software tions per cycle (IPC) improvement, G-Series development options with advanced graphics Figure 1. A complete system on a single chip: SOCs deliver up to a 113% CPU performance APIs, while extending application lifetime there- the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform improvement compared to G-Series APUs, and by helping to minimize software development integrates CPU, GPU and I/O controller on a 125% CPU improvement versus Intel Atom costs and maximize ROI. OpenCL-enabled a single die. May 2013 6 COVER STORY highly integrated AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform with 28 nm technology offers a 33% footprint reduction versus G-Series APUs. The AMD G-Series SOC BGA package requires only 600.25mm² (24.5mm x 24.5mm) on the Figure 2. With uni- PCB, which is 290 mm² less than the AMD G- form pin compatibil- Series APU FT1, and the controller hub two- ity across the product chip platform requires (361 mm² for the APU family, the AMD G- Series SOC platform and 529 mm² for the controller hub). The re- allows OEMs to uti- duction of the two-chip APU platform archi- lize a single board tecture to a single chip streamlines design cycles design to enable and can help lower BOM costs with a potential solution scalability to reduce board layers and simplify power from entry level to supply design. The low power attributes of the high end product AMD G-Series SOC can also enable fanless de- offerings. signs, further driving down system costs, helping to reduce system noise, and boosting system re- liability by eliminating the failure points inherent to moving parts.