Arteris FlexNoC Helps Enable Texas Instruments Wireless Connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT)

Network-on-chip interconnect enables complete family of industry?s lowest power RF devices for Zigbee® RF4CE™, Bluetooth® low energy and other IoT standards

CAMPBELL, California, Feb. 25, 2015 – 

Arteris Inc., the inventor and only supplier of silicon-proven commercial network-on-chip (NoC) interconnect IP solutions, today announced that Texas Instruments (TI) has implemented Arteris® FlexNoC® fabric IP in its SimpleLink™ ultra-low power wireless MCU portfolio. The TI SimpleLink family is part of the industry's broadest wireless connectivity portfolio of cost-effective, low-power solutions for communications in the Internet of Things (IoT).

The Arteris FlexNoC interconnect fabric IP is the system-on-chip communications backbone for TI products that implement IoT wireless communications standards such as ZigBee®/IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee RF4CE™, Bluetooth® low energy, 6LoWPAN, and the proprietary SimpliciTI wireless protocol.

TI chose Arteris FlexNoC in order to achieve ultra-low power consumption for devices that spend much of their time in idle modes. To reach this, TI implemented many power management features available within FlexNoC, including the ability to safely disconnect power not only to individual IP blocks, but also to parts of the on-chip fabric and clock tree. In addition, the power consumption was reduced by the inherent low latency performance of zero-latency cycle paths, which are enabled by fully combinatorial logic in FlexNoC. Finally, the unique FlexNoC power disconnect and firewall features allowed TI to create a highly configurable digital SoC with derivations that target many products based on one and the same platform architecture.

"FlexNoC's power management features and low latency helped us create the lowest-power IoT communication devices in the world," said Oyvind Birkenes, General Manager, Wireless Connectivity Solutions, TI. "Just as important were the business benefits: Using FlexNoC allowed us to create a small set of digital logic SoC dies that serve as the brains of more than one hundred different products, each customized for its particular market. FlexNoC's flexibility and automation, combined with our implementation of software-programmable on-chip firewalls and power disconnect features, enabled us to produce an entire product line with a minimal number of digital logic components."

"TI's use of FlexNoC is an excellent example of how Arteris technology not only helps meet the most stringent power and timing requirements, but also enables creative business options that decrease product costs through the use of platform and SoC derivative strategies," said K. Charles Janac, President and CEO of Arteris. "We are honored that TI has trusted Arteris to be a key component in their premier product line implementing wireless communications for the Internet of Things."

About Arteris Inc

Arteris provides Network on Chip (NoC) interconnect IP to improve performance, power consumption and die size of system on chip (SoC) devices for consumer electronics, mobile, automotive and other applications.

Using Arteris solves pain for our customers. Traditional bus and crossbar interconnect approaches create serious problems for architects, digital and physical designers, and integrators: Massive numbers of wires, increased heat and power consumption, failed timing closure, spaghetti-like routing congestion leading to increased die area, and difficulty making changes for derivatives.

Whether you are using AXI, OCP, AHB or a proprietary protocol, Arteris Network on Chip (NoC) IP reduces the number of wires by nearly one half, resulting in fewer gates and a more compact chip floor plan. Having the option to configure each connection s width, and each transaction s dynamic priority, assures meeting latency and bandwidth requirements. And with the Arteris IP configuration tool suite, design and verification can be done easily, in a matter of days or even hours.

Arteris invented Network on Chip technology, offering the world s first commercial solution in 2006. Arteris connects the IP blocks in semiconductors from Qualcomm, Samsung, TI, and others, representing over 50 System on Chip devices. Find out more about Arteris products.

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