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SoC Sports Dual AI-Accelerated Processors

May 19, 2025

The Astra SR100 Series system-on-chip from Synaptics features a pair of AI-accelerated processor subsystems.

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Synaptics recently unveiled an embedded artificial-intelligence (AI) system-on-chip (SoC), the Astra SR100 Series (see figure). It's based on two neural-processing-unit (NPU)-enhanced systems. The application subsystem centers around a 400-MHz Arm Cortex-M55 plus an Arm Ethos U55 NPU. Real-time chores are handled by a 100-MHz Arm Cortex-M4 with a Synaptics NPU engine.

The SR100 series targets AI-enhanced applications from battery-operated cameras and wearables to industrial edge systems. The single-chip system supports Arm's RTOS model with LiteRT; Synaptics provides pre-integrated AI models. Of course, you can build your own as well, taking advantage of the programmable vision and audio pipelines designed to handle multiple MIPI-CSI cameras and digital microphones.

The family supports 3 MB of memory, 630 kB of ultra-low-power (ULP) memory, 1,448 kB of low-power memory, and 16 kB of always-on (AON) memory. Secure one-time-programmable (OTP) memory for the security subsystem supports AES-256, RSA-4096, and SHA-512 along with a true random number generator (TRNG).

There is a USB 2.0 HS (high-speed, 480 Mb/s) port. The chips can run on 1.8 or 3.3 V as well as a 3.0- to 3.6-V battery supply. They come in WLCSP and BGA packages.

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