Cambridge Consultants has launched its next generation XAP processor core - XAP5 - offering wireless and sensor chip designers an advanced level of 16-bit processing performance combined with low energy consumption and efficient use of low cost memory, making it ideally suited for cost-sensitive high-volume products. XAP5 combines the economy of a 16-bit data word with a 24-bit address space for large programs up to 16 Mbytes, which suits devices designed for data-centric communications applications in markets such as consumer, industrial and retail.

Typical applications for a XAP5 processor core include ZigBee and Bluetooth wireless networks, energy metering, sensor networks, tagging and transactions using RFID or NFC, location systems such as GPS and any other embedded ASIC application that requires a robust and capable software environment. XAP5's design is suited to applications such as those with programs stored in non-volatile memory like, for example, Flash memory that is either embedded in the chip or in a SiP.

One company that already pre-selected XAP5 is Greenpeak Technologies, a wireless chip company headquartered in the Netherlands, where it will be integrated into its sensor network communication ASIC.

The XAP5 processor core is delivered as a soft IP core in Verilog RTL.  Technical features of the processor include very high code density that minimises the size and cost of program memory, high performance (68 Dhrystone MIPS when clocking at 100 MHz on a 0.13 micron CMOS process) and a small footprint of 18k gates, or around one-tenth of a square millimetre of 0.13 micron silicon. The processor also features protected software operating modes that partition user and privileged code for secure, high-availability applications. The processor hardware is supplemented by software and development tools architecture, including a GNU C compiler and assembler, which support a sophisticated programming environment.

Established 50 years ago, Cambridge Consultants develops products, creates and licenses intellectual property, and provides business consultancy in technology critical issues for clients worldwide.  With a team of over 270 engineers, designers, scientists and consultants, in offices in Cambridge (UK) and Boston (USA), Cambridge Consultants offers solutions across a diverse range of industries including medical technology, industrial and consumer products, automotive, transport, energy and wireless communications. Cambridge Consultants is part of the Altran group of companies. Altran Technologie, which is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

Contact:
Alistair Morfey, technology director and chief architect of the XAP family at Cambridge Consultants, www.cambridgeconsultants.com