Fujitsu launches Calypso single chip solution for automotive hybrid instrument clusters

Calypso MB9EF126 is the first member of Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe's FCR4 family of devices to be based on the ARM Cortex-R4 core, operating at up to 160MHz and offering more than 200 DMips processing power. Calypso is designed as a cost-efficient single-chip solution for hybrid automotive instrument clusters. It contains intelligent support for up to 6 traditional gauges as well as the 2D graphics engine IRIS to drive a color display in the same cluster. With its 2MB of Flash, 64KB of EEFlash and 208KB of RAM – all three protected by ECC – and the 2MB of embedded graphics RAM, it fulfills next-generation cluster requirements.

Like the other devices of the FCR4 family, Calypso contains safety, security and power-saving features. It is equipped with communication interfaces supporting LIN, CAN, HS-SPI, I2S and Ethernet protocols, and with a rich set of timers, including an RTC, a sound generator, PWM and ADC channels. Autosar is supported via the MPU, a timing protection unit (TPU) and the peripheral protection unit (PPU).

On Calypso, Fujitsu’s 2D graphics engine IRIS consists of a display output with TCON, supporting 4 display layers and allowing pixel clocks up to 40MHz; a command sequencer to allow parallel running of the CPU and IRIS; a signature unit to support safety aspects; and the 2D graphics core itself. Calypso is optimized for low memory usage. A typical sequence of operations would be the parallel scaling, rotation and decompression of different biaps as the first step and then the blending of these biaps into one result as the second step – without the need to store the intermediate results.

In addition to the devices Fujitsu will provide, dedicated boards, software examples as well as the Autosar MCAL. For the IRIS, an API is available, which also supports functions such as line drawing and filling of rectangles. As with all the other devices of the cluster line-up, Calypso will be supported by Fujitsu’s CGI Studio, a software development platform for 2D and 3D graphical interfaces.

First samples of the Calypso MB9EF126 will be available in Q3/2011.

For more information visit Fujitsu’s FCR4 page. 

Toni McConnel can be reached at Toni@TechRite-Associates.com.