Imagination Technologies delivers new AI, graphics and connectivity technology for 2019

Las Vegas, USA – 8^th January 2019 – Imagination Technologies announces its 2019 consumer and automotive technology product range at CES Las Vegas, January 8-11^th. The company, which creates and licenses technologies used in many leading consumer electronics products, will highlight at CES three new IP families which target key consumer technology product categories: automotive, drones, DTV, mobile devices, and other IoT edge devices.

Imagination’s new technologies include:

PowerVR Series9XEP/XMP/XTP: This next wave of GPUs brings high-performance gaming, applications and sophisticated user interfaces to mainstream phones and tablets. Current generation PowerVR GPU cores recently debuted in mobile products via MediaTek’s P90 SoC.

PowerVR Automotive: A complete product offering that combines PowerVR Series8XT-A GPU cores with software, tools, documentation and long-term support enabling next-generation cluster, HUD, infotainment and the digital cockpit, as well as ADAS applications.

PowerVR Series3NX Neural Network Accelerator (NNA): The next generation of Imagination’s four-time award-winning (in 2018) AI/NNA technology family which combines fast fixed-function processors for automotive, mobile, smart surveillance and consumer ‘edge’ devices with an optional programmable core which enables new features, network extensions and advanced compute functionality.

Ensigma GNSS: The industry’s most comprehensive Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) IP, Ensigma GNSS is designed for connecting satellite communication networks to battery-powered remote IoT sensors, edge devices and consumer products.

Dr. Ron Black, CEO, Imagination Technologies, says: “Imagination’s graphics and AI IP is renowned within the industry and since joining the company in December 2018, I’ve realised just how special it is. The technology already launched for 2019, and the products we have planned for later in the year, go to show why Imagination is regarded as an iconic and innovative company. These technologies will enable CES to thrive for years to come.”

Imagination’s consumer-enabling technologies in detail

PowerVR Series9XEP/XMP/XTP

PowerVR Series9XEP, Series9XMP, and Series9XTP represent PowerVR’s best-ever GPU line-up. These three new second-generation Series9 GPU families range from entry-level to high-end and incorporate efficiency improvements and new features to deliver outstanding performance.

PowerVR Series9x-P GPUs will ensure class-leading graphics and smooth GUIs on products such as smartphones, automotive infotainment products, set-top boxes and TVs.

• PowerVR Series9XEP: these cores continue PowerVR’s fillrate/mm² leadership of this class of GPUs. They feature PVRIC4 visually lossless compression to ensure reduced bandwidth and memory footprint, enabling the lowest system cost with the best user experience for GUI, HMI (human machine interface) and casual gaming.
• PowerVR Series9XMP: with significantly increased compute density (GFLOPS/mm²), these GPUs offer the industry’s best compute and gaming experience on mid-range mobile devices, set-top boxes and DTVs, and enable AI and neural network processing on the GPU.
• PowerVR Series9XTP: these new GPUs have dramatically increased gaming/compute density and extensive power/performance/area (PPA) optimisations throughout the design, making them ideal for premium mobile devices and high-end IVI, as well as applications across compute/server segments.

PowerVR Automotive

PowerVR Automotive is a complete product package to enable growth and acceleration of the automotive semiconductor industry. Combining five essential elements – hardware IP, software, tools, documentation and long-term support – it enables existing customers and new entrants in the market to meet the safety standards, such as ASIL-levels of functional safety to meet industry standards such as ISO 26262 and IEC 61508, and performance requirements of the industry as it moves towards fully autonomous driving. The PowerVR Series8XT-A GPU core has enhanced recovery and reliability features to make it easier for System-on-Chip (SoC) designers to obtain automotive safety certification for their SoCs aimed at digital human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs).

PowerVR Series3NX

PowerVR Series3NX provides an unrivalled level of scalability, enabling SoC manufacturers to optimise compute power and performance across a range of embedded markets such as automotive, mobile, smart surveillance and IoT edge devices.

A single Series3NX core scales from 0.6 to 10 tera operations per second (TOPS), while multicore implementations can scale beyond 160 TOPS. The Series3NX architecture benefits from a 40% boost in performance in the same silicon area over the previous generation, giving nearly 60% improvement in performance efficiency and a 35% reduction in bandwidth. The PowerVR Series3NX-F (Flexible) IP configuration provides an unprecedented balance of functionality and flexibility; using Series3NX-F customers can differentiate and add value to their offerings through the OpenCL framework.

PVRIC4

PowerVR PVRIC4, included in the new GPUs or available separately, is the new generation of PowerVR’s powerful image compression technology which enables SoC customers targeting devices such as DTVs, smartphones and tablets to reduce costs without a discernible loss of image quality. PVRIC4 enables random-access visually lossless image compression, ensuring bandwidth and memory footprint savings of at least 50%, and enabling systems to overcome performance bandwidth constraints.

Ensigma GNSS

Ensigma GNSS IP is the industry’s most comprehensive GNSS IP offering. The IP supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou as well as several Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) including WAAS and EGNOS. Designed for ultra-low power consumption, the IP is optimised for battery powered remote IoT sensors and edge devices, wearables, health monitors, consumer mobile products, automotive after-sales products such as insurance boxes and road tolling equipment, and asset tracking devices.