Cortus S.A. announces the release of the latest member of their processor family: the energy efficient APS3R. The APS3R builds on experience with the earlier APS3 core but delivers improved computational performance. For more demanding embedded applications a dual core configuration is possible.
The Cortus APS3R is a 32-bit processor designed specifically for low power embedded systems featuring a 32-bit modern RISC architecture with sixteen 32-bit registers and a 5-7 stage pipeline. It is the second member of the Cortus microcontroller IP core family to be released in 2012 complementing the single precision floating point FPS6 core.
The CPU's dynamic power is 11.6 µW/MHz with a standard 90 nm process and 16.8 µW/MHz for 130 nm (both UMC). The APS3R delivers 1.21 CoreMarks/MHz* and 2.29 DMIPS/MHz computational performance.
The APS3R CPU core can be as small as 8,700 gates which is a size comparable to most 8-bit cores. APS3R is a native 32-bit core, optimized for use with C or C++, resulting in a software development process that is far more straightforward than that for 8- or 16-bit cores. With considerably more computation per clock cycle than with an 8-bit core, far fewer cycles are needed and therefore considerably less power is required. With superior code density, code memory is also smaller than with 8- or 16-bit cores thus reducing the silicon footprint of a subsystem.
The APS3R has been developed for applications requiring good computational performance but very low power. It is well suited to applications such as wireless communication, sensing, smart cards, SIM cards, touchscreen controllers and systems using energy harvesting.
For more computationally demanding applications an optional parallel hardware multiplier can improve the core performance to 1.92 CoreMarks/MHz. Further improvements are possible with a dual core APS3R configuration.
Cortus S.A.
Part Number: APS3R
