Last week, Texas Instruments released two new models for the Sitara processor family. The Sitara AM623 and the AM625 can have up to four Cortex-A53 processors and one Arm Cortex M4F. For quick product development, TI is integrating them on the SK-AM62 starter kit which starts at $149.

The AM623 and the AM625 come in a System on Chip (SoC) form factor and can have one, two or up to four Cortex-A53 processors (up to 1,400 MHz) and a single Arm Cortex M4F (up to 400 MHz) for real-time applications. The main difference between these two SoCs is that the AM625 features a 3D GPU and it seems to support Android OS. 

AM62x block diagram(click image to enlarge)

According to Texas Instruments, the AM623 and the AM625 were designed to target industrial networks, programmable logic controllers and other IoT applications. The company already has datasheets and other documentation available on their website. In addition, they have a demo of their face recognition capability based on their AM62x processor.

As previously mentioned, TI is offering a SK-AM62 starter kit that is compatible with both SoCs variants. The evaluation module features ports for HDMI, dual GbE Rj45 ports, Wi-Fi/BLE 5.1 and many other features. Refer to the specs section for more info. As other TI products, the SK-AM62 is compatible with the Code Composer Studio IDE. For more info related to the MulticoreWare software for face recognition refer to the following link.

 

Specifications listed for the Sitara SK-AM62 evaluation module include:

• Processor System:
  • TI Sitara AM6254 with 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores (up to 1400MHz)
  • 1x Cortex-M4F real-time core (up to 400MHz)
  • 3D GPU (unspecified, AM625 only)
  • 2x PRU-SS
• Memory/Storage:
  • 2G DDR4
  • QSPI NAND
  • microSD card socket
• Display/Audio:
  • 1x LVDS (dual-channel)
  • 1x HDMI connector over DPI/RGB444 with audio codec TLV320AIC3106
• Networking:
  • 2x GbE LAN ports, supports time-sensitive networking (TSN)
  • Dual-band Wi-Fi, BLE 5.1 via WiLink 8 WL1837MOD
• USB:
  • 1x Type-A USB 2.0
  • 1x USB 2.0 Type-C
• I/O Interfaces:
  • 4x UARTs
• Other Features:
  • Onboard XSD110 JTAG
• OS:
  • Linux, Android (AM625 only)

 Further information

The AM625 and the AM623 seem to share a similar price (1-99 for $29, 1K+ $19.5). Meanwhile, the evaluation board costs around ~$149 and it doesn’t include any additional accessory.