News and New Products

Dual-core infotainment processor gets upgrade to 1920 MIPS

Renesas moves SH7786 to 65-nm process, delivers 1920 MIPS at 533 MHz, fast data transfers for multimedia-intensive apps such as next-generation vehicle navigation.

By Matthew Miller, Editor in Chief, EDN.com -- EDN, 8/25/2008

Renesas Technology today announced a new spin of its SH7786, a dual-core, 32-bit processor that targets high-performance multimedia applications such as automotive navigation, game consoles, digital-home electronics, and industrial systems.

The new device, fabricated on a 65-nm process (prior versions were 90-nm parts) churns out 960 MIPS from each of its two SH-4A 32-bit RISC cores at 533 MHz. The device also features a DDR3-SDRAM interface, which operates at 1.5V and enables data transfers at up to 4.27-Gbytes/sec. The earlier 90-nm devices had a DDR2-SDRAM interface operating at 1.8V.

The processor also sports multiple PCI Express interfaces that the designer can configure to operate as one to four lanes for data transfers up to 800 Mbytes/sec with external memory or other devices. The chip also features a USB 2.0 host and function peripheral, an 802.3 MAC (media access controller), and three low-power modes that can be invoked on the two cores independently.

QNX Software Systems has announced support for the processor in its Neutrino RTOS and its Momentics development suite. Both products support symmetric, bound, and asymmetric multiprocessing modes.

The SH7786, in a 593-pin BGA package, is slated for sample availability in Q4 starting at $75.