Alif Semiconductor, supplier of secure, connected, AI-enabled and power efficient microcontrollers (MCUs) and fusion processors, announced the launch of its Ensemble and Crescendo product families.
According to the company, the Ensemble family is built on the latest generation embedded processing technology that scales from single Arm Cortex-M55 MCUs to a new class of multi-core devices — fusion processors — that blend up to two Cortex-M55 MCU cores, up to two Cortex-A32 microprocessors (MPU) cores capable of running high-level operating systems, and up to two Arm Ethos-U55 microNPUs for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) acceleration. Ensemble family devices contain an advanced secure enclave that provides multiple layers of security, such as device integrity protection, secure identity, strong root-of-trust, secure lifecycle management, and more.
The Crescendo family offers the same functionality as the Ensemble family, and in addition adds LTE Cat-M1 and NB-IoT Cellular connectivity, optional iSIM for simplified subscriber management, integrated RF, power amplifiers, and a concurrent GNSS receiver for positioning.
Many deployed IoT devices are battery powered, and battery life is critically challenged when there is a high requirement for local processing, AI/ML, and wireless communication. To address this, the company also introduced Autonomous Intelligent Power Management technology that allows fine-grained control of when resources in the chip are being powered.
