October 31, 2011 -- The new Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI) ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessors, starting at $5 and consuming as little as 7mW of power, provide low power consumption, prolonging battery life and reducing heat emissions to enable portable, pocket-sized, fan-less applications.

Offering developers high performance with advanced 3D graphics capabilities, touchscreen controller and sophisticated peripherals all on a single chip reduces printed circuit board (PCB) space, complexity and bill-of-materials (BoM) costs by as much as $40 for smaller-sized applications such as portable navigation, handheld gaming and educational devices, home and building automation and mor

"The new Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessors let designers explore infinite possibilities for upgrading their systems without increasing cost or power consumption," said Dipti Vachani, General Manager, Sitara ARM microprocessors, TI. "Moreover, you can begin development with an $89 open-source development board or complete evaluation module."

Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessors features

The AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessors offer multiple development tools. Designers can quickly and easily begin development with the $89 BeagleBone, the newest, best-value open source hardware platform from the BeagleBoard.org community. Designers can also use the full-featured AM335x evaluation module (EVM) with a 7-inch LCD touch screen and access to all peripherals for $995. The EVM includes TI's WL1271 single-chip 802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth technology in a broadly available module and is the first widely available platform to enable Wi-Fi Direct. The combination of the AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessors and proven WL1271 solution provides a very low-cost, high-performance wireless connectivity platform.

Software supports popular OSes and enables microcontroller-like programming

Accompanying both the BeagleBone and full-featured EVM are a host of software solutions:

TI EZ software development kit, allowing demo in minutes and development in less than an hour. Support for Linux, Android and Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating systems. Compatible security solutions and real-time operating systems (RTOSes) available from third parties, enabling further product customization and simplifying development. StarterWare software stack allowing developers to program these microprocessors like a microcontroller, without requiring an operating system.

Together, these software offerings permit developers to scale the ARM platform, from MCUs to ARM9 devices, ARM Cortex-A8 devices, ARM + DSP devices, as well as video processors and DSPs, saving time and cost.

Pricing and Availability