ETRAX CRIS

The ETRAX CRIS is a RISC ISA and series of CPUs designed and manufactured by Axis Communications for use in embedded systems since 1993. ^[1] 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 CGA-1 (Coax Gate Array) was the first microprocessor developed by Axis Communications. It contains IBM 3270 (coax) and IBM 5250 (Twinax) communications. The chip has a microcontroller and various I/O's such as serial and parallel. The CGA-1 chip was designed by Martin Gren and Staffan Göransson. ^[2]

An Elphel Reconfigurable Network Camera based on ETRAX FS CPU and Xilinx Spartan 3e FPGA.

A FOX board LX 4+16 (4 MB flash and 16 MB SDRAM).

ETRAX

• In 1993, Axis developed the ETRAX-1 Ethernet Controller, which has 10 Mbit/s Ethernet and Token Ring controllers.

• In 1995, Axis introduced the ETRAX-4 SoC which contains a Ethernet Controller, CPU, Memory Interface, SCSI controller, and parallel and serial I/O. ^[3]

• In 1997, Axis introduced the ETRAX 100 SoC which features a 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet Controller, ATA controller, and Wide SCSI controller. The chip introduced on-chip unified instruction and data cache along with direct memory access. ^[4]

ETRAX 100LX

In 2000, Axis Introduced the ETRAX 100LX SoC which features a MMU, USB controller, and SDRAM interface. The CPU is capable of 100 MIPS. The chip is able to run the Linux kernel without modifications except for low-level support. ^[5] The chip's maximum TDP is 0.35 Watts. As of Linux kernel 4.17, the architecture has been dropped due to being obsolete. ^[6]

Specifications:

• 32-bit RISC CPU core
• 10/100 Mbit/s 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

ETRAX 100LX MCM

The ETRAX 100LX MCM is based on the ETRAX 100 LX. The chip has internal flash memory, SDRAM, and an Ethernet PHYceiver. The Chip can come with 2 MB flash and 8 MB SDRAM or 4 MB flash and 16 MB SDRAM.

ETRAX FS

Introduced in 2005 with full Linux 2.6 support, the chip features:

• A 200 MIPS 32-bit RISC CRIS CPU core with 16 kB instruction and data cache
• 128 kB on-chip RAM
• Two 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet controllers
• Crypto accelerator supporting AES, DES, Triple DES, SHA-1, and MD5
• I/O processor supporting PC-Card, PCI, USB, SCSI and ATA

ARTPEC

This section is an excerpt from Axis Communications § Microprocessors.[ edit ]

The Axis Real-Time Picture Encoder Chip (ARTPEC) is a system on a chip (SoC) developed by Axis Communications. ^[7] There are currently nine generations of the chip, all of which run AXIS OS, a modified version of Linux designed for embedded devices. Not all products developed by Axis Communications use its custom chip. The chip is typically found in high-performance devices such as higher-end cameras, while lower-cost devices use SoCs from Ambarella. ^[8]

List of SoCs Developed

Release Year	Name	CPU	Features
1999	ARTPEC-1	ETRAX CRIS	Runs μClinux, an embedded operating system which became known as Embedded Linux
2003	ARTPEC-2	ETRAX CRIS	Combined digital signal processor and CPU into one package Hardware accelerated MPEG-4 video encoding
2007	ARTPEC-3	ETRAX CRIS	Hardware accelerated H.264 video encoding Capable of capturing 1080P video at 30 frames per second
2011	ARTPEC-4	Multi-threaded MIPS CPU (34Kc) [9]	Implements Lightfinder, a technology that allows a camera to see color in low light or challenging light conditions
2013	ARTPEC-5	Dual-core MIPS CPU (1004Kf)	Implements Forensic Capture, a High Dynamic Range technology that increases forensic details in a scene Implements Video encoders that utilize a technology called Zipstream to reduce bandwidth while maintaining video quality and detail
2017	ARTPEC-6	ARM Cortex-A9	Can run video analytics capable of identifying objects such as humans and cars Capable of capturing 4K video at 30 frames per second
2019	ARTPEC-7	ARM Cortex-A9	Implements a machine learning processor [10] Hardware accelerated H.265 video encoding Implements secure boot, which prevents booting of unauthorized firmware Improves low-light imaging via a technology called Lightfinder 2.0
2021	ARTPEC-8	ARM Cortex-A53	Implements a deep learning processor [11] Can run video analytics that recognize various object characteristics such as clothing
2024	ARTPEC-9	ARM Cortex-A53	Hardware accelerated AV1 video encoding Faster deep learning processor capable of identifying more object characteristics

References

1. axis.com - Axis Chip Development History Archived May 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
2. "30 years of milestones" (PDF). Axis Communications.
3. Zander, Per. "Axis Communications - A World Of Intelligent Networks" (PDF).
4. "ETRAX 100: technical specifications". 1999-01-01. Archived from the original on 2000-10-17.
5. The linux kernel source-code under /arch/cris contained the low-level CPU-specific additions required to make the Linux kernel able to run on the ETRAX/Cris CPUs. (See for example https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/cris?h=v4.13-rc4)
6. "Linux-Kernel Archive: [PATCH 00/16] remove eight obsolete architectures".
7. Viklund, Lars. "Introduction to Hardware Verification" (PDF).
8. ipvideomarket (2019-08-30). "How To See If Your Camera Uses Huawei Hisilicon Chips". IPVM. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
9. "Axis uses MIPS32 34Kc processor in video cameras". automation.com. Retrieved 2023-09-22.
10. Jakobsson, Anton. "Distributing a Neural Network on Axis Cameras".
11. "StackPath". www.securityinfowatch.com. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-08.

External links

• Home page
• Developers wiki ^{[ permanent dead link ]}