ASIC platform promises cost-optimized chips for the IoT Edge

ASICs based on the SmartEdge Platform aim to provide a competitive advantage over multi electronic component solutions by delivering higher performance and reduced system power through increased integration, while also lowering the total BoM cost.

Data processing at the edge typically require sensitive sensor AFEs (Analog Front Ends) coupled to data converters, microcontrollers running complex embedded software, with security and some form of wired or wireless communications interface. Bringing all of these functions together, often with the need for local calibration and low-latency real-time control, represents a significant design and integration challenge.

The SmartEdge Platform provides a unique cost-effective way to integrate sensing, calibrating, controlling and communication functions into a single ASIC. This level of integration delivers higher overall performance, particularly when moving between the analog and digital domains, while also bringing down the system power budget. For autonomous edge devices expected to operate for many years from a single battery, a SmartEdge solution will provide significant benefits, claims S3 Semiconductors.