Industry Expert Blogs
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Collaboration leading the way for broad RISC-V adoptionMike Eftimakis - Codasip GmbHSep 12, 2022 |
We recently announced a partnership with Intel as part of the launch of the Intel® Pathfinder for RISC-V, making leading RISC-V technology more accessible for prototyping, production design or research purposes using Intel FPGAs.
Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V allows for a variety of RISC-V cores and other IP to be instantiated on FPGA platforms, with the ability to run industry-leading operating systems and toolchains within a unified IDE. By providing a common environment for accessing RISC-V and peripheral IP, Intel is enabling SoC architects and system designers to assemble and test different IP combinations in a single environment.
The launch of the Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V program is an attestation of the commitment to RISC-V from the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer, and it serves as tangible evidence of what has been expected to happen: the RISC-V ecosystem is maturing rapidly, and Codasip is recognized a key player of that ecosystem.
LEAPING FORWARD TOGETHER
The ecosystem around RISC-V is still young and have in some ways been considered too scattered, too immature. But so far in 2022, the ecosystem has taken a number of huge leaps forward. For example, Intel made a series of announcements at the beginning of the year and additional semiconductor companies have joined as members of RISC-V International. At Embedded World 2022, Max Maxfield of EE Journal was impressed by the amount of activity generated by the RISC-V ecosystem, he explains why in the article "RISC-V Takes Embedded World 2022 by Storm".
Even with all the interest around RISC-V, there have not been that many straightforward solutions available for evaluating and getting hands-on experience from complete systems including cores and peripherals from different vendors in the rich RISC-V ecosystem. Through the collaboration between vendors in the Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V program, SoC designers and system developers can now easily explore different configurations and combinations of IP, including Codasip's L31 core, in a single environment.
ENABLING A BRAVE NEW WORLD
The award-winning L31 core is a small, efficient 32-bit embedded RISC-V processor core aimed at low-power AI/ML applications such as IoT edge devices. With a 3-stage pipeline, 32 general-purpose registers, and support for Google's TensorFlowLite for Microcontrollers, the core is designed to support challenging tasks such as neural networks even in the smallest, power-constrained applications.
Our L31 core along with the Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V program lets you kickstart your next RISC-V project and start exploring options. Once you have found a good setup for your design, you can move into production by licensing from Codasip the same off-the-shelf L31 core that you evaluated through the program. This best-in-class quality standard core can perfectly match your needs, but you could also customize it to fit your unique, specific application. IoT edge devices are typically resource-constrained and there is much to gain from customizing the core for the specific application requirements. The customization can be managed in a very straightforward way using Codasip Studio, a unique collection of tools for automated design or modification of processors.
The openness of RISC-V offers unique potential for innovation and customization. Intel's evaluation platform, co-developed with leading RISC-V vendors like Codasip, will certainly increase the rate of RISC-V adoption. As a founding member of RISC-V International, Codasip can only applaud the initiative. A brave new world of heterogenous computing and domain-specific accelerators is open for exploration. Try it and see for yourself! Go to pathfinder.intel.com to start exploring.