Ambiq Adds Bluetooth Low Energy to the Apollo5, Launches the Edge AI-Focused Apollo510B
New entry in the low-power edge AI microcontroller family gains a Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy radio with dedicated network processor.
Ultra-low-power chip specialist Ambiq has announced its latest microcontroller for edge artificial intelligence (edge AI) and tiny machine learning (tinyML) projects: the Apollo510B wireless system-on-chip (SoC).
"We are excited to expand our latest generation microcontroller with the Apollo510B," says Ambiq's chief technology officer Scott Hanson of the launch. "The integration of a low-power Bluetooth radio further extends the possibilities we can provide manufacturers to create the most advanced connected devices powered by edge AI."
As the name implies the Apollo510B builds on the existing Apollo5 range — this time adding a Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy (BLE) radio, alongside a 48MHz dedicated network processor. The main processor, meanwhile, is a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M55 core running at up to 250MHz and featuring a Helium accelerator for on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML and AI) workloads, 64kB each of instruction and data cache, and a generous 3.75MB of system RAM plus 4MB of non-volatile memory.
Elsewhere in the chip is Ambiq's in-house graphiqSPOT graphics engine, delivering support for features including vector acceleration, anti-aliasing, alpha blending, and memory-in-pixel displays, Arm's TrustZone plus Ambiq's own secureSPOT 3.0 security blocks, and peripherals including an ultra-low-power analog to digital converter (ADC), SPI, I2C, and UART buses, and USB 2.0 High Speed connectivity — plus stereo digital microphone interfaces, which the company is positioning as ideal for "always-on, intelligent, and connected devices, particularly in body-worn and ambient AI applications."
More information on the new chip, which will be available in the Fall, is available on the Ambiq website.