Applications that demand high CPU potential and 2/3-D graphics functions must be complemented by a specific selection of peripherals. All semiconductor manufacturers want to see lower development costs. Products generously equipped with interfaces can reduce the system costs of the application and set themselves apart from conventional solutions. Highly-integrated components such as SoCs (System-on-Chip) combine a processor, memory controller and graphics unit with dedicated peripherals to form a compact solution.

The latest member of Fujitsu’s ‘Jade’ family is the MB86R03 ‘Jade-L’, which provides a complete development environment to speed-up the development of graphics and application systems. The ‘Jade-1’ and ‘Jade-D’ variants, which have already been introduced, are now being deployed in industrial and automotive applications. The CPU core, which is compatible with the existing members of the ‘Jade’ series, enables software to be re-used and supports scalability across various display applications.

An evaluation kit for the ‘Jade-L’ provides a simple introduction to the world of graphics through a development environment comprising Embedded Workbench, an authoring tool and sample programs. The out-of-the-box kit is based on the MB86R03 ‘Jade-L’ controller - see figure 1. As with the rest of the ‘Jade’ family, the CPU is a 32-bit ARM9 with 333 MHz. An integrated graphics processor that supports floating-point calculations for fluid graphics animation ensures that graphics are reproduced without distortion, even at times of high CPU utilization.