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Freescale has added four members to its ARM Cortex-A8 based i.MX51 family of system-on-chips (SoCs), along with and evaluation kit. The SoCs, which range in speed from 600MHz to 800MHz, include the automotive-focused i.MX514 and i.MX516, as well as the i.MX512 and i.MX513, which target various industrial and consumer devices, says Freescale.
i.MX51 family is a broad replacement for the popular ARM11-based i.MX31 line of applications processors, .

The i.MX51 is based on the ARM Cortex-A8 superscalar core, which enables instruction-level parallelism within a single processor. The i.MX51 family was initially launched in the form of an i.MX515 version of the SoC that targeted netbooks, or as Freescale later called them, echoing rival Qualcomm, smartbooks.
The i.MX51 SoCs integrate a multi-level cache system, OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1 accelerators, power management features, and an autonomous Image Processing Unit (IPU) that offers image signal processing, image manipulation, and enhancement. Other touted features include CMOS camera sensor support, a variety of hardware video and audio codecs, and an LCD controller that supports both 24-bit primary (WXGA) and 18-bit secondary display ports.

Peripheral support, meanwhile, includes USB, Ethernet, and various serial interfaces. There are also MMC/SDIO expansion card interfaces, as well as ATA storage interfaces. In addition, the i.MX51 provides a variety of security features, including ARM TrustZone.

Four new family members

Freescale says the new members of its i.MX51 family are pin-compatible with the i.MX515 and one another, delivering a variety of video, graphics, and multimedia feature combinations. The SoCs support multiple memory types, including DDR2, the company adds.
The new i.MX512 and i.MX513 SoCs deliver 600MHz performance at industrial temperature ranges. The i.MX513 additionally incorporates hardware video encode/decode functionality, says Freescale.

Industrial applications for the i.MX512 and i.MX513 include printers, factory automation equipment, medical devices, digital signage, home appliances, and human-machine interface devices. Consumer-oriented versions of both SoCs are clocked at 800MHz, and target devices including e-readers, IP cameras, and VoIP media phones, says the company.