By Alex Voica
Earlier this year I reported about Ingenic Newton,
a new MIPS-based platform targeting a wide range of connected consumer
devices, including wearables, smart appliances and e-health sensors.
This board was powered by an Ingenic JZ4775 chip which included a
MIPS32-based XBurst single-core processor clocked at 1 GHz.
Today I am very excited to introduce Ingenic Newton2, the follow-up to the highly successful Netwon predecessor. Newton2 also features Ingenic M200,
a brand new chipset that implements an innovative architecture designed
from the ground-up for the low power and reduced area requirements of
wearables.
New Ingenic Newton2 platform halves area and standby power
Ingenic Newton2
provides a complete development platform for wearable and Internet of
Things (IoT) device manufactures; it enables OEMs to create
differentiated products and reduce time to market considerably.
Ingenic Newton2 features M200, a new MIPS-based dual-core processor
Newton2 is a small hardware module that measures 15 x 30 mm, achieving a 50% reduction in area.
It integrates the main application processor, eMCP memory, a smart
power management controller, on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity,
and a MEMS sensor, together with seven dedicated connectors for the
usual interfaces (display, audio, camera etc.)
Battery life has
also been improved significantly: standby power consumption for Newton2
is less than 3mW, allowing devices to work for twice as long.
Target applications include:
Infotainment: smartwatches, augmented reality headsets, smart glasses, smart cameras
Healthcare: wearable healthcare monitors
Fitness and wellness: fitness bands, activity trackers, smart clothing, sleep sensors
The new GEAK Watch 2 uses an Ingenic wearable chip and delivers over 15 days of battery life
Ingenic Newton2
incorporates proven components that accelerate product development while
reducing risk and controlling costs. Additionally, the board runs the
latest version of the Android and Linux operating systems, making it
easy for developers to build various device drivers and user
applications for it.
Ingenic M200: a new MIPS-based processor designed specifically for wearables
The Newton2 features several important updates to the underlying hardware architecture. Ticking inside the platform is Ingenic M200, a dual-core MIPS-based XBurst application processor built from the ground-up for wearable devices.
M200 implements a
power-saving hardware architecture where a high-performance MIPS CPU
clocked at 1.2 GHz tackles most of the heavy lifting, while less
demanding tasks are handled by a secondary low-power 300 MHz MIPS CPU.
When in full
operating mode, the M200 chip consumes only 150mW. Ingenic’s engineers
were able to achieve this ground-breaking performance by redesigning all
of the key modules inside the SoC to target ultra-low power operation.
Additionally, M200 includes special fabric that creates multiple low
power modes of operation and distinct power islands; these islands can
also be switched on by special programmable triggers (e.g. voice
activation).
Ingenic M200 is a new chip designed from the ground-up for wearables
The multimedia
department sees the addition of a 3D graphics engine that supports
OpenGL ES 2.0. M200 also integrates a dedicated, multi-standard video
engine for low power decoding and encoding of popular codecs like H.264
and VP8 (up to 720p at 30 fps).
Finally, the
chipset also includes an ISP for image pre-processing that supports a
range of vital features for camera vision applications:
Wide Dynamic Range (EDR), dual-stream processing
Video and still image stabilization
Image cropping and rescaling
Auto exposure and gain control
Auto focus control and advanced noise reduction
Color correction and management
Ingenic is one
of the partners that are working closely with Imagination to build
optimized solutions for wearables. You can read more about our vision
for this exciting category of products here; there will also be a white paper which you can download for free from our website.
