Imagination and Andes Technology collaborate to validate GPUs using RISC-V CPU IP

Collaboration delivers a complete computing solution and demonstrates flexibility of combined IP

London, UK – January 20, 2022 – Imagination Technologies and Andes Technology have jointly announced that they have collaborated to successfully test and validate the IMG B-series GPU using the RISC-V-compatible Andes AX45 processor core. The Andes AX45 is a 64-bit high-performance and configurable superscalar central processing unit (CPU). This validation collaboration provides customers in the fields of AR/VR, In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI), Industrial and Internet of Things (IoT) products with a proven, complete solution and lays the foundation for subsequent ongoing testing.

The validation test integrated the IMG BXE-2-32 GPU and Andes AX45 CPU on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) platform, which includes networking, storage and peripherals. The FPGA platform rendered a large number of graphics workloads and benchmark projects using a Linux-based operating system. The FPGA platform demonstrated the flexibility of the IMG B-series GPU and the interoperability of the Andes AX45 RISC-V CPU.

Colin McKellar, VP Hardware Engineering, Imagination Technologies, says: “RISC-V is a CPU architecture that continues to grow from strength to strength. Our success in validating the IMG B-Series GPUs using the Andes AX45 RISC-V CPU highlights the flexibility of both platforms. The customisable nature of Imaginations ecosystem enabled us to rapidly develop a full working system prototype, from integration to implementation and verification, in less than a week.”

McKellar continued: “This collaboration between Imagination and Andes Technology showcases the strengths of both teams. The integration of this hardware and the ease of integration our teams have created paves the way for a very rewarding ongoing partnership and demonstrates that there are exciting new products on the market to replace existing CPUs.

Dr Charlie Su, President and CTO of Andes Technology, said: “The RISC-V ecosystem is growing rapidly. To continue its pace and demonstrate the many ways it can be deployed, we have partnered with Imagination to provide a fast and simple way to validate GPU IP units, reducing SoC design time, risk and cost for our customers. With the flexible GPU design and our highly configurable dual-unit AX45 RISC-V core, we were able to establish system requirements in a short period of time and generate the optimal configuration to provide a valid proof of concept.