Cluster graphics MCU family delivers MPU-like performance at MCU cost

Infineon Technologies AG has released its new TRAVEO T2G Cluster family of automotive MCU with a new graphic engine. The engine provides a new smart rendering technology and outstanding performance for automotive graphics applications. With a small footprint, the new MCUs simplify OEM integration and lower BOM costs, making them an excellent solution for advanced smart mobility instrument clusters and heads-up display systems for automobiles, motorcycles, and off-highway mobility, and for industrial and medical applications where quality and safety are important.

"The TRAVEO T2G cluster microcontroller family with its dedicated graphics accelerator enables cluster, infotainment and cockpit systems with microprocessor performance at MCU cost", said Ralf Koedel, vice president Microcontroller Smart Mobility at Infineon. "The MCU family uses innovative line-based processing based on an Infineon patent, which enables significant line buffer savings by a factor of ten compared to competitive devices, resulting in lower power consumption, less memory needs and lower BOM cost."

The devices can be combined with processors in intelligent cockpits to deliver a very fast startup time. The graphics engine within the MCUs minimises the memory needed for graphics processing by a factor of three to five, resulting in lower power consumption and costs. With the optimised 2.5 D graphics engine, the MCUs support full virtual instrument clusters with a high resolution of up to 1920 x 1080. Also, engineering samples are already available of a new series MCU. It provides an LPDDR4 interface and can display complex 3D scenes, giving designers even more freedom in designing modern HMIs.

Based on up to two Arm Cortex-M7 cores with up to 320MHz, the family facilitates best-in-class ASIL-B/SIL-2 safety performance. The MCU family comes with up to 6MB of Flash and 4MB of internal VRAM or 1GB LPPDR4 VRAM. The MCUs have an EVITA high-level HSM, providing advanced security with hardware encryption accelerators and enhanced hardware protection with a dedicated ARM Cortex-M0+. As such, the cost-effective microprocessor takes into account the latest safety and security necessities. The wide range of packages spans from 500-pin BGA (via 216-pin TEQFP) to 144-pin LQFP. CAN-FD, LIN, Gigabit Ethernet and CXPI are available as embedded peripherals. A JPEG decoder, video input and output and two serial memory interfaces (SPI or xSPI) round off the portfolio.

The company provides customers with a reliable network of partners whose HMI tools support the key hardware features of microcontrollers. The device's graphics controllers, combined with the certified HMI tools, allow developers to attain the best possible application performance.