OpenHW Group Announces Tape Out of RISC-V-based CORE-V MCU Development Kit for IoT Built with Open-Source Hardware & Software

Pre-order shipments of board and devkit under way to drive robust open-source ecosystem innovation in IoT, AI

OpenHW Group announced that the industry’s most comprehensive Development Kit for an open-source RISC-V MCU is now available to be ordered. The OpenHW CORE-V MCU DevKit includes an open-source printed circuit board (PCB) which integrates OpenHW’s CORE-V MCU and various peripherals, a software development kit (SDK) with a full-featured Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE), as well as connectivity to Amazon Web Services (AWS) via AWS IoT ExpressLink for secure and reliable connectivity between IoT devices and AWS cloud services.

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“The collaborative efforts of the open-source community have once again proven their ability to drive innovation and deliver essential building blocks for next-generation MCU designs.”

The comprehensive open-source CORE-V MCU DevKit enables software development for embedded, internet-of-things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven applications. The CORE-V MCU is based on the open-source CV32E40P embedded-class processor, a small, efficient, 32-bit, in-order open-source RISC-V core with a four-stage pipeline that implements the RV32IM[F]C RISC-V instruction extensions.

“We’re thrilled to announce the highly anticipated CORE-V MCU based on the revolutionary RISC-V architecture, has successfully taped-out and the DevKit is now available for ordering,” said Rick O’Connor, President and CEO, OpenHW Group. “The collaborative efforts of the open-source community have once again proven their ability to drive innovation and deliver essential building blocks for next-generation MCU designs.”

The DevKit’s SDK, developed by an OpenHW team led by Ashling, contains an IDE, Debugger, GCC compiler (supplied by Embecosm), FreeRTOS real-time OS, and demo software. This project highlights the open-source collaborative development of industry-grade CORE-V processor IP with supporting hardware and software by a wide spectrum of members within the OpenHW community. Orders for the CORE-V MCU DevKit can be placed here from GroupGets.

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The rapidly expanding OpenHW ecosystem rallied together to deliver the innovative CORE-V DevKit for IoT developers:

• The CORE-V MCU is manufactured by GlobalFoundries’ proprietary 22FDX^® process technology platform that is well-suited for efficient single-chip integration of digital and analog signals, delivering cost-effective performance for connected and low-power embedded applications.
• Design and verification of the CV32E40P processor, the heart of the CORE-V MCU, involved key contributions from Imperas, Siemens EDA, SiLabs and many others, building on the original design from ETH Zurich. The CV32E40P core is based on the PULP (Parallel Ultra Low Power) Platform RI5CY core, originally developed at ETH Zurich’s Integrated Systems Laboratory (IIS) and the Energy-efficient Embedded Systems (EEES) group of the University of Bologna. Digital integration and back-end design of the CORE-V MCU was handled by QuickLogic and CMC Microsystems, respectively.
• The CORE-V MCU includes QuickLogic’s eFPGA, designed to accelerate AI/ machine learning (ML) and other computationally intensive workloads from the CV32E40P processor.
• Embecosm is leading OpenHW SW Task Group projects including GCC compiler tools for the CORE-V cores and MCU, while Ashling has led the development of the CORE-V SDK based on the Eclipse IDE, OpenOCD for debug and example programs.
• The CORE-V MCU DevKit PCB board design integrating the CORE-V MCU and expansion board for the demo were handled by AWS, using an AWS IoT ExpressLink powered for secure cloud connectivity.
• Espressif Systems – a leading IoT connectivity solution provider, supplied AWS IoT ExpressLink modules for the CORE-V DevKit PCB to provide AWS IoT connectivity.

The charter of the OpenHW Group is to develop, verify and provide open-source processor cores, along with hardware and software needed for use in high volume SoC production. OpenHW provides an infrastructure for hosting high quality open-source HW developments in line with industry best practices. The OpenHW Cores Task Group within the organization has the mandate to develop the open-source IP for the CORE-V family of open-source RISC-V processors. The OpenHW Group is a global, non-profit, member-driven organization based in Canada, and partnered with the Eclipse Foundation.

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