Module takes control with IEEE1588

Microcontroller module outperforms competing solutions based on the ARM, XScale and PowerPC architectures, claiming new standards for performance, cost and energy efficiency

IEEE1588 is a clock synchronisation standard for communication devices, which has seen a dramatic increase in interest over the past year. It is today seen as a fundamental cornerstone for future communication systems- wired and wireless, professional and consumer. IEEE1588 enables these to be synchronised to GPS accuracy and enable the quality of service required for future communication systems.
Imsys addresses these new, demanding applications with the introduction of the IM3220-BA10 MCU and the single board reference module that have been shown to deliver telecomms, ITU G.8261, compliance.

With a size only one-quarter that of a business card, 24 x 45mm, the IM3220 module delivers best-in-class sync quality at less than 1/10th the power of the competitors and only 20-25% of their memory needs.

Smaller footprint on the motherboard, as well as fewer connections and glue components result in the lowest-cost bill of materials.

Industry expert Dr Nick Tredennick says: 'Unlike microprocessors, such as ARM and PowerPC that were designed for workstation and desktop computing, the IM3220 MCU has been designed and optimised for embedded applications'.

'Imsys microcontrollers are faster, cheaper, and more power-efficient than complex, high-power, compute-oriented microprocessors that have been adapted to the embedded market'.
'User programmable on-chip microcode enables Imsys MCUs to adapt efficiently to a broad range of embedded applications'.

The IM3220 represents a new type of platform components from Imsys.

It combines the best features of traditional CISC architectures and efficient use of resources with FPGA flexibility for a predefined application - time synchronisation.

It dramatically reduces the cost of the external (local) oscillator when high precision time is communicated by the IEEE1588 protocol.

The outstanding accuracy of the IM3220 comes from the ability to analyse and act on gate level in real-time.

The IM3220 MCU supports two 10/100 Ethernet ports, three UARTs with 920Kbit/s, I2C or SPI port, and eight DMA channels with a sustained 83Mbyte/s throughput.

Imsys' complete offering includes RTOS, TCP/IP-stack, fail-safe flash file system, and an IEEE1588 protocol stack.

With Imsys' full-fledged development system, the customer can concentrate on the application without worrying about software integration problems.

The drop-in module offers the customer low risk development and short time to market.

The IM3220-BA10 MCU is available now with a price of US $16.58 in quantities of 10,000.

The IM3220-M210 module comes with 32Mbyte of DRAM, 8Mbyte of Flash and clock circuitry and is available now at a price of US $98.00 in 1000-unit quantities.

The IM3220 is supported by Imsys development kit DK3-3220.