ETRAX CRIS
Encyclopedia
The ETRAX CRIS is a series of CPUs designed and manufactured by Axis Communications
for use in embedded systems since 1993. The name is an acronym of the chip's features: Ethernet, Token Ring, AXis - Code Reduced Instruction Set. Token ring support has been taken out from the latest chips as it has become obsolete.
The CGA-1 was just a performance improvement over the TGA-1.
The ETRAX-4 had improved performance than previous models, along with a SCSI
controller.
The ETRAX 100 features a 10/100 MBit Ethernet Controller (hence the name), along with ATA
and Wide SCSI support.
, as well as USB, synchronous serial and SDRAM
support, and boosted the CPU performance up to 100 MIPS. Since it has a MMU, it can run the Linux
kernel without modifications.
Main characteristics:
The device comes in a 256-pin Plastic Ball Grid Array package and uses 350 mW power (typical).
is an ETRAX 100LX plus flash memory
, SDRAM
, and an Ethernet PHYceiver. There were two versions commercialized: the ETRAX 100LX MCM 2+8 (2 MB flash, 8 MB SDRAM), and the ETRAX MCM 4-16 (4 MB flash, 16 MB SDRAM).
The device comes in a 256-pin Plastic Ball Grid Array package and uses 465 mW power (typical).
Several hardware manufacturers offer 'developer boards': a circuit board featuring an ETRAX chip and all the necessary I/O ports to develop (or even deploy) applications. These include:
Axis Communications
Axis Communications AB is a Swedish manufacturer of network cameras for the physical security and video surveillance industries. It focuses on the vertical market segments transport, infrastructure, retail, banking, education, government and industrial....
for use in embedded systems since 1993. The name is an acronym of the chip's features: Ethernet, Token Ring, AXis - Code Reduced Instruction Set. Token ring support has been taken out from the latest chips as it has become obsolete.
Types of chips
The TGA-1, developed in 1986, was a communications transceiver for the AS400 architecture.The CGA-1 was just a performance improvement over the TGA-1.
ETRAX
In 1993, by introducing 10 MBit Ethernet and Token Ring controllers, the name ETRAX was born.The ETRAX-4 had improved performance than previous models, along with a SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
controller.
The ETRAX 100 features a 10/100 MBit Ethernet Controller (hence the name), along with ATA
AT Attachment
Parallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...
and Wide SCSI support.
ETRAX 100LX
In 2000, the ETRAX 100LX design added an MMUMemory management unit
A memory management unit , sometimes called paged memory management unit , is a computer hardware component responsible for handling accesses to memory requested by the CPU...
, as well as USB, synchronous serial and SDRAM
SDRAM
Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...
support, and boosted the CPU performance up to 100 MIPS. Since it has a MMU, it can run the Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
kernel without modifications.
Main characteristics:
- A 32-bit RISC CPU core
- 10/100 MBit Ethernet controller
- 4 asynchronous serial ports
- 2 synchronous serial ports
- 2 USB ports
- 2 Parallel ports
- 4 ATA (IDE) ports
- 2 Narrow SCSI ports (or 1 Wide)
- Support for SDRAM, Flash, EEPROM, SRAM
The device comes in a 256-pin Plastic Ball Grid Array package and uses 350 mW power (typical).
ETRAX 100LX MCM
This system-on-a-chipSystem-on-a-chip
A system on a chip or system on chip is an integrated circuit that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio-frequency functions—all on a single chip substrate...
is an ETRAX 100LX plus flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
, SDRAM
SDRAM
Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...
, and an Ethernet PHYceiver. There were two versions commercialized: the ETRAX 100LX MCM 2+8 (2 MB flash, 8 MB SDRAM), and the ETRAX MCM 4-16 (4 MB flash, 16 MB SDRAM).
ETRAX FS
Designed in 2005, and with full Linux 2.6 support, this chip features:- A 200 MIPSInstructions per secondInstructions per second is a measure of a computer's processor speed. Many reported IPS values have represented "peak" execution rates on artificial instruction sequences with few branches, whereas realistic workloads typically lead to significantly lower IPS values...
, 32-bit RISC with 5 stage pipeline CRIS CPU core with 16 kB data and 16 kB instruction cacheCPU cacheA CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the data from the most frequently used main memory locations...
and a MMUMemory management unitA memory management unit , sometimes called paged memory management unit , is a computer hardware component responsible for handling accesses to memory requested by the CPU...
. - Two 10/100 Ethernet controllers
- Crypto accelerator, supporting AESAdvanced Encryption StandardAdvanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES...
, DESData Encryption StandardThe Data Encryption Standard is a block cipher that uses shared secret encryption. It was selected by the National Bureau of Standards as an official Federal Information Processing Standard for the United States in 1976 and which has subsequently enjoyed widespread use internationally. It is...
, Triple DESTriple DESIn cryptography, Triple DES is the common name for the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm block cipher, which applies the Data Encryption Standard cipher algorithm three times to each data block....
, SHA-1 and MD5MD5The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm is a widely used cryptographic hash function that produces a 128-bit hash value. Specified in RFC 1321, MD5 has been employed in a wide variety of security applications, and is also commonly used to check data integrity...
. - 128 kB on-chip RAM
- A microprogrammable I/O processor, supporting PC-Card, CardBus, PCI, USB FS/HS host, USB FS device, SCSI and ATA.
The device comes in a 256-pin Plastic Ball Grid Array package and uses 465 mW power (typical).
Software
A SDK (along with a cross-compiler) is provided by Axis on the development site.Hardware
- Axis Communications AXIS 82 developer board
- Embedded Linux PC from ipcas
- ACME Systems' FOX board
- ElphelElphelElphel is an open hardware and open source camera designed by Elphel Inc. primarily for scientific applications, though due to its both open hardware and open source camera software, FLOSS it can easily be customised for many different applications. Elphel Inc...
Reconfigurable Network Camera based on Etrax FS and Xilinx Spartan 3e FPGA - Free2move's embedded Linux system
- Rcotel Corporation's single board Linux computer
- DSP&FPGA's industrial control unit
- BBDevice.com remote control systems