On Thursday, Imagination Technologies announced a new low-power radio processing unit (RPU) architecture called the Ensigma Whisper. The company believes this architecture will help pave the way for a new generation of connected devices that are cost effective and low on power consumption.
"Tomorrow's IoT, wearables and other connected embedded devices demand more than the evolution of existing connectivity chipsets; they require solutions designed specifically for these emerging product categories, with an eye on power consumption, cost and flexibility," the press release stated.
The Ensigma Whisper RPUs provide multi-standard support in a single architecture, allowing customers to bring Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Smart, NFC and other connectivity standards onto their SoCs. Thanks to this support, power consumption, the overall silicon footprint and system cost are minimized.
The Whisper architecture supports a range of lower bitrate connectivity standards. This solution is also power efficient. For example, PowerGearing for Ensigma optimizes both static and dynamic power consumption in the cores. Whisper RPUs also feature a tightly coupled modem/processor that can alleviate the host processor's load.
The Whisper RPU addresses applications from ultra-low power to maximum performance. Ensigma RPUs in general are provided as end-to-end offerings, and are already shipping in a number of low-power audio and connectivity devices.
"For IoT and other next-generation connected applications, customers can benefit from the combination of Ensigma RPUs and MIPS CPUs – the industry's smallest and highest performance embedded 32-bit CPUs," the press release stated. "Together, these flexible, scalable cores are designed to revolutionize IoT applications by delivering the only truly embedded Connected Processor IP Platform."
The Ensigma "Whisper" cores will be made available Q4 2014.
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