Processors support high-level operating systems

The devices support high-level operating systems (HLOS). Linux is available free of charge from TI. Other HLOSs are available from TI’s Design Network and ecosystem partners.

These devices offer an upgrade to systems based on lower performance ARM cores and provide updated peripherals, including memory options such as QSPI-NOR and LPDDR2.

The processor subsystem is based on the ARM Cortex-A9 core, and the PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator subsystem provides 3D graphics acceleration to support display and advanced user interfaces.

The programmable real-time unit subsystem and industrial communication subsystem (PRU-ICSS) is separate from the ARM core and allows independent operation and clocking for greater efficiency and flexibility. The PRU-ICSS enables additional peripheral interfaces and real-time protocols such as EtherCAT, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, PROFIBUS, Ethernet Powerlink, Sercos, EnDat, and others. 

The PRU-ICSS enables EnDat and another industrial communication protocol in parallel. Additionally, the programmable nature of the PRU-ICSS, along with their access to pins, events and all system-on-chip (SoC) resources, provides flexibility in implementing fast real-time responses, specialised data handling operations, custom peripheral interfaces, and in off-loading tasks from the other processor cores of the SoC.

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