Processor Enables Multimedia And Web In Mobile Designs

Bringing multimedia capability and Internet connectivity to automotive, industrial and portable products, the VR4181A microprocessor integrates more than 18 peripherals and interfaces with a 131 MHz, VR4120A-based core. Considered a system-on-chip (SoC), the device is manufactured using the companyÕs 0.25 µm technology and includes a six-stage pipeline. Features include an 8-KB instruction cache, 8-KB data cache, support for MIPS I, II, III and MIPS 16 instruction sets, and a power consumption of 500 mW at full clock speed. Peripherals and interfaces include multimode LCD/LED controllers, USB host and client, three UARTs and a clocked serial interface, I2C interface, Audio Codec Ô97, and two CompactFlash connections. Operating-system support includes Windows CE.NET, Linux, QNX, and VxWorks. With volume production scheduled for April, price is $20 each/10,000. NEC ELECTRONICS INC., Santa Clara, CA. (408) 588-6620.