December 2019

Press Release PicoCORE™MX7ULP

NXP i.MX 7ULP ARM® Cortex®-A7 Ultra-Low-Power CPU (10mW), optimized for long battery lifetime

F&S Elektronik Systeme GmbH offers this interesting CPU on a COM (35 x 40mm only), especially for portable devices.

Based on the i.MX 7ULP application processor from NXP, F&S Elektronik Systeme developed the low power CPU module PicoCore™MX7ULP. Compared to other low power CPUs, NXP provides many power down modes for the i.MX 7ULP (up to the mW range); and also the chip technology (28nm FD SOI) has been specially selected for low power. Each of the power down modes can be exited in the shortest possible time and the full computing power is available again.
Run (Display on, Idle): typ. 68,9mA (289mW), Deep Suspend: typ. 3,3mA (13mW)

Although this CPU is designed to be very energy efficient, it has a powerful graphics unit consisting of an OpenGL ES 2.0 unit, an OpenVG 1.1 3D unit and a 2D Graphics Accelerator. This makes the i.MX 7ULP capable of displaying even demanding user interfaces quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, this CPU has a heterogeneous processor architecture, consisting of an ARM® Cortex®-A7 core and an ARM® Cortex®-M4 core. Unlike other NXP CPUs, the ARM® Cortex-M4 core can be booted first. Optionally, the ARM® Cortex®-A7 or the ARM® Cortex®-M4 can be switched on first. For the latter, an adapted FreeRTOS with many examples is provided. To prevent leakage between power domains, the ARM® Cortex®-M4 has its own peripheral devices (such as UART). These are useful when the power domain of the ARM® Cortex®-A7 is switched off. When the ARM® Cortex®-M4 is running, the internal bus can still be accessed. The advantages of the ARM® Cortex®-M4 are therefore very special low power functions, real-time processing independent from the Linux operating system, and the availability of interfaces immediately after switching on.

Up to 1GB LPDDR3 RAM and up to 64MB QSPI / 32GB eMMC, as well as USB OTG, 2x I2C, SPI, 2x UART and SDIO are available on the PicoCore™MX7ULP. A MIPI-DSI interface is available as a display interface. The connection of an LVDS display is also possible with the aid of the F&S reference circuit diagram. Also important for portable devices is networking. For this purpose, an OnBoard WLAN / BT5.0 LE module (pre-certified) with antenna sockets is provided.
The Hirose board-to-board connectors used in the PicoCore ™ standard allow a very compact design. So the board-to-board distance is only 1.5mm.

The PicoCore ™ is powered via 5V or 4.2V with battery operation.
The charging circuit as well as a lithium-ion battery is available on the baseboard of the starter kit and can be easily adopted in your own development.

The operating system is Linux (Buildroot / Yocto) and was ported by the experienced software team from F&S Elektronik Systeme. There are bootloaders, device tree, customized interface drivers and all the tools required for development available for download.
Various security functions such as Secure Boot are in preparation.

With the F&S project guarantee, F&S Elektronik Systeme accompanies its customers from the start of the project to the successful completion of the project. Starter kit and workshop, documents for hardware and software development and free support from the experienced engineers of F&S Elektronik Systeme GmbH are available.

The PicoCore™MX7ULP will remain available at least until 2028.

Since 2018, this PicoCore™ COM product family has been offered by F & S Elektronik Systeme and is being continuously expanded by further modules with NXP CPUs (also with i.MX 8 - 64Bit).

The PicoCore™MX7ULP can be obtained directly from F & S Elektronik Systeme or via one of our worldwide distribution partners.

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August 2019

Press Release PicoCORE™MX7ULP

NXP i.MX 7ULP ARM® Cortex®-A7 Ultra-Low-Power CPU, optimized for long battery lifetime

F&S Elektronik Systeme GmbH offers this interesting CPU on a COM (35 x 40mm only), especially for portable devices.

F&S Elektronik Systeme GmbH has developed the low power CPU module PicoCore™MX7ULP based on the NXP i.MX7ULP applications processor. The module was developed especially for the requirements of portable devices. The i.MX7ULP CPU comes with a heterogeneous processor architecture consisting of an ARM® Cortex-A7 core and an ARM® Cortex®-M4 core. In contrast to other NXP CPUs, the ARM® Cortex-M4 core can be booted first. You can choose between switching on ARM® Cortex-A7 or ARM® Cortex-M4 first. A customized FreeRTOS with many examples is available for ARM® Cortex-M4. To avoid leakage current between power domains, the ARM® Cortex-M4 has its own periphery units (e.g. UART). This comes handy if the power domain of ARM® Cortex-A7 is switched off. If the ARM® Cortex-M4 runs, one can access the internal bus, like you’re used to from NXP. The advantages of the ARM® Cortex-M4 are therefore special low power functions, real-time processing independently from the Linux operating system and the immediate availability of interfaces after switch-on.

In contrast to the i.MX6ULL, the i.MX7ULP comes with a GPU, including an OpenGL ES 2.0 unit, an OpenVG 1.1 3D unit and a 2D Graphics Accelerator. This makes the i.MX 7ULP capable of displaying demanding control interfaces fastly and power efficiently.
Up to 1GB LPDDR3 RAM and up to 64MB QSPI/ 32GB eMMC, as well as USB OTG, 2x I²C, SPI, 2x UART and SDIO are available.

MIPI-DSI is available for display interface. F&S Elektronik Systeme also offers fitting displays. It is also possible to connect a LVDS display with the help of a reference circuit diagram. Networking is essential for portable devices. The module offers OnBoard WLAN/BT5.0 LE (pre-certified) with antenna socket.

The PicoCore™ standard defines Hirose board-to-board plug connectors, which allows a very compact design. The board-to-board distance is 1.5mm only.
The power supply of PicoCore™ is 5V, or 4.2V when run with battery.

The power consumption can be reduced in many steps and can be reduced down to 1 Watt (typ.) or even down to the mW range.

The operating system is Linux (Buildroot/ Yocto) and was ported by the experienced software team of F&S Elektronik Systeme. Bootloader, device tree, customized interface drivers, and all tools necessary for development, are available in our download section.

Diverse security functions like secure boot are in preparation.

The F&S project guarantee accompanies the customer from the start of the project to its successful finish. Starterkits, workshop, documents for hard- and software development and free support by our experienced engineers are available.

PicoCore™MX7ULP will be available until minimum 2028.

The PicoCore™ COM product family was introduced in 2018 by F&S Elektronik Systeme.
In the meantime there are four available COM modules with NXP CPU, also with i.MX 8 (64Bit CPU).

Die PicoCore™MX7ULP can be purchased directly via F&S Elektronik Systeme or via one of their worldwide distribution partners.

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January 2018

Press Release PicoCORE™MX7ULP

NXP i.MX 7ULP ARM® Cortex®-A7 Applications Processor (Low Power & Low Cost) powers the PicoCORE™MX7ULP COM by F&S Elektronik Systeme GmbH

WLAN/ BT and MIPI-DSI on 35 x 40mm only

The first member of the new and compact PicoCORE™ COM product family by F&S Elektronik Systeme is offered with the NXP i.MX 7ULP ARM® based Applications Processor (AP).
Further pin compatible PicoCORE™ COMs will follow.

The module is based on an i.MX 7ULP Applications Processor implementing the Heterogeneous Multi-core Processing architecture with ARM® Cortex®-A7 core and ARM® Cortex®-M4 core.
NXP enables its heterogeneous concept with Linux running on the ARM® Cortex®-A7 core and FreeRTOS running on the ARM® Cortex®-M4 core. The AP offers OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenVG 1.1 3D and 2D Graphics Accelerator for media applications.

“For the i.MX 7 series, NXP is looking for partners who can offer solutions for secure and portable applications. PicoCORE™MX7ULP by F&S Elektronik Systeme is a perfect solution where extreme low power consumption and long battery life comes together in extra small size of 35x40mm. The inclusion of the on-board WLAN/BT allows a wide range of applications. It is great to see F&S put special focus on its customized Linux, enabling a fast and easy development.” said Nik Jedrzejewski, product line manager for the Low Power i.MX 7 family, NXP Semiconductors.

There are up to 1GB LPDDR3 RAM and up to 32GB eMMC, as well as USB OTG, 2x I2C, SPI, 2x UART and SDIO available.
The board comes with a MIPI-DSI interface for easy connection to displays.
A resistive/ PCAP touch panel can be connected via I2C. Another option is an onboard WLAN/BT4.1 module (pre-certified).

The PicoCORE™ standard uses two plug connectors (Hirose DF40C) with 80 pins each. This enables a compact shape and short board-to-board distance. The power supply of PicoCORE™ is 5V, the power consumption is about 1W.

The available operating system is Linux (kernel 4.1.15, Yocto); it has already been ported by the experienced software team of F&S Elektronik Systeme. Bootloader, customized interface drivers and all tools needed for development are ready to download.
Several security functions were made available by F&S‘s customized Linux OS.

The F&S project guarantee accompanies the customer from the start until the successful finish of the project. Starter kits, workshops, hardware and software documentations, as well as free support by the experienced engineers pave the way to customers’ success.

PicoCORE™MX7ULP will be available until minimum 2028.

PicoCORE™MX7ULP will be introduced at Embedded World 2018. Visit F&S Elektronik Systeme in hall 3A, booth 338 and in hall 1, booth 662.

PicoCORE™MX7ULP can be purchased directly at F&S Elektronik Systeme or via one of their worldwide distribution partners.

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