Called Sitara AM6x, the industrial-grade family has quad and dual Arm Cortex-A53 core variants aimed at industry 4.0 factory automation, motor drives and grid infrastructure. Gbit TSN, EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP and PROFINET are supported by a specific subsystem called PRU-ICSS-Gb. Different capability types are pin-compatible.

“AM6x processors are built for the convergence of both Ethernet and real-time data traffic on a single network,” said TI. “This capability is critical for real-time communication in Industry 4.0 applications and enables software-reconfigurable cyber physical systems in factories.”

For functional safety, dual isolated on-chip Arm Cortex-R5F processors can operate in an optional lock-step mode, and there is support for error-correcting-code (ECC) protection for both on-chip memory and external DDR memory, and 100,000 power-on hours (PoH) at a 105˚C junction temperature.

For security, there is secure boot, secure storage and crypto engines.

Integrated 3D graphics are included for human-machine interfaces and use in industrial PCs.

Low-dropout regulators are integrated.

A processor SDK allows the reuse and migration of Android, Linux and TI-RTOS software across TI processor families, and there is the AM65x industrial development kit (TMDX654IDKEVM) and the AM65x evaluation module (TMDX654GPEVM).

Pre-production samples of the AM6548 can be ordered now. Production samples of AM65x are scheduled or 2H19.