Arm Cortex-A SoCs Bring the Power of AI to More IoT Devices

Synaptics is bringing the power of AI to virtually any IoT device with its Astra AI platform, which includes scalable hardware, unified software, open-source AI development tools, a broad partner-based ecosystem, and robust wireless connectivity.

At the heart of the Astra AI-Native Edge IoT Platform is the SL-Series of embedded processors. These multi-core systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) come equipped with Arm’s Cortex A-series CPU cores and feature hardware accelerators for AI inferencing in IoT devices and real-time processing for audio, video, vision, image, voice, and speech. They can run the Linux or Android operating systems. While the SL series is targeted at the high end of the IoT market, Synaptics plans to complement it with its power-conscious SR series of MCUs in the future.

Synaptics said the SL series of processors smooths out the challenges of running AI workloads directly on IoT devices. More broadly, the Astra platform allows its customers to run AI on devices independently of the cloud, solving for privacy and latency. Noted Vikram Gupta, SVP and GM of IoT processors at Synaptics: “Combined with our easy-to-use AI frameworks, customers will be able to bring intelligent IoT products to the market quickly.”

Each of the three processors in the SL series brings unique features to the table. Synaptics said the SL1680 is based on a quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A73 CPU paired with a neural processing unit (NPU) clocked at up to 7.9 TOPS and a high-efficiency, feature-rich GPU. Ideal for everything from smart home and industrial control to smart appliances and displays, the other building block under the hood is its multimedia accelerator pipeline.

The other product in the family, the SL1640, is not as focused on high performance as it is on cost and power efficiency. The processor is based on a quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 CPU, a more compact NPU topping out at around 1.6 TOPS, and a power-saving PowerVR GPU from Imagination Technologies. The SL1620 also uses a quad-core Cortex-A55 CPU, a feature-rich GPU for advanced graphics and AI acceleration, superior audio algorithms, and dual display interfaces that fit inside smart speakers, industrial control panels, and audio and video conferencing.

Synaptics has also rolled out its Astra Machina Foundation Series development kit to help its customers bring the best out of the CPU, NPU, GPU, and other hardware building blocks in the SL series of SoCs. The platform also enables you to evaluate wireless connectivity in a modular way, including Synaptics’ SYN43711 and SYN43752 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth SoCs. The unit also includes Synaptics’ SyNAP toolkit and runtime for AI.