Today Intel announced the PXA270, PXA271, PXA272, and PXA273—the latest members of its PXA2xx family of application processors. These new PXA27x family members are the first processors to include the “Wireless MMX” extensions to Intel’s ARM-compatible XScale architecture. The Wireless MMX extensions enable the PXA27x to perform 64-bit-wide single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) operations. For example, the PXA27x can perform four 16-bit multiply-accumulate operations per cycle. In comparison, older PXA2xx family members can complete a maximum of two 16-bit multiply-accumulate operations per cycle. (For details of the Wireless MMX extensions, see the October 2002 of BDTI's DSP Insider.)
The PXA27x also operates at a higher clock rate than its predecessors. While older PXA2xx family members operated at a maximum clock rate of 400 MHz, the PXA27x operates at up to 624 MHz. The combination of higher parallelism and higher clock rate makes the PXA27x significantly faster than its predecessors: based on an analysis of BDTImark2000™ scores, the 624 MHz PXA270 is over two times faster than the 400 MHz PXA255 on signal processing tasks. (See http://www.BDTI.com/Services/Benchmarks/DKB for these and other benchmark scores.)
The PXA27x also offers expanded memory integration. First, the PXA27x adds 256 Kbytes of level-two SRAM to the 66 Kbytes of cache memory found on earlier PXA2xx family members. The PXA27x also expands the amount of “stacked” memory. Earlier PXA2xx family members contained up to 32 Mbytes of flash memory stacked with the processor in a multi-chip package. In comparison, the PXA271 contains both 32 Mbytes of stacked flash and 32 Mbytes of stacked SDRAM, and the PXA272 contains 64 Mbytes of stacked flash. The PXA27x also provides a richer set of on-chip peripheral interfaces than its predecessors. For example, the PXA27x adds a camera interface that can connect to a variety of CMOS and CCD cameras.
According to Intel, the PXA270 will operate at up to 624 MHz, while other PXA27x family members will operate at up to 520 MHz. The 312 MHz PXA270 costs $32.00 in 10,000-unit quantities. As of this writing, pricing for the other family members was not available. All versions of the PXA27x are available in sample quantities now. According to Intel, the PXA27x will enter full production this quarter.
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