Analog Devices is targeting low-power, high-performance applications with the BF51x low-end additions to the Blackfin family. Targeted at signal-processing chores for multimedia products, the 400-MHz BF51x devices have a standby power requirement under 1 mW and use 1.8-V I/O. They can deliver 8.5 MMACs/mW. Two SPI, two UARTs, two audio serial ports, and an Ethernet MAC with IEEE-1588 time synchronization support provide connectivity. The Ethernet MAC is particularly handy for networked control applications. The BF51x family also offers a 16-bit SDRAM interface, 8 kbytes of OTP Lockbox memory, 512 kbytes of flash, and 4 kbytes of RAM plus 48 kbytes of instruction and 64 kbytes of data cache/ memory (see the figure). A 4-Mbit SPI boot flash device can be integrated with the chip. The chips can handle SDIO, CE-ATA, and eMMC storage interfaces. Pricing starts at $4.95. A uClinux Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) reference platform is also available.
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