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INTEL PATHFINDER FOR RISC-V: NEW CAPABILITIES AND A GROWING ECOSYSTEM | Intel Corporation

Intel® Pathfinder for RISC-V* is announcing an exciting array  of new features to be released on December 12, 2022, while continuing to grow a healthy ecosystem  around the initiative.  

Designed for SOC architects and system software developers, Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V is a pre-silicon  development environment that supports IP selection via testing for compatibility and performance, as  well as early-stage software development using Intel FPGA and simulator platforms. 

The new features include:  

  • Unification of the Starter & Professional Editions – to ease user transitions, we are merging the  Starter and Professional Editions into a single product that is simply called Intel Pathfinder for  RISC-V. Individual users will be able to download this new version with its enhanced features, and  commercial developers will be able to use this version and request Custom Extensions for  vendor-specific capabilities required for their projects. 
  • Static Kernel Debug for users wanting to debug the Linux kernel. 
  • Multi-core support via SMP Linux.  
  • A new FMC add-on board will be available in Q1’23, using Intel Stratix 10 GX FPGA development  board enabling new I/O interfaces and simplifying connectivity. 
  • A new Intel Cyclone 10 GX FPGA development board will be supported in Q1’23, enabling lower  cost and additional flexibility. 

“Maintaining a torrid pace of execution and fostering ecosystem collaboration are key imperatives for  Intel® Pathfinder for RISC-V*,” said Vijay Krishnan, General Manager, RISC-V Ventures from Intel. 

“The Incubation & Disruptive Innovation (IDI) Group at Intel has the charter to take new business  opportunities from concept to scale. We are excited to see Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V grow rapidly while  continuing to adapt to market needs,” said Sundari Mitra, Chief Incubation Officer, Corporate Vice  President, and General Manager, IDI. 

“Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V highlights Intel’s strategic investments in accelerating the adoption of open  architectures, with the ultimate goal of creating greater value and choice for end-users,” said Saf Yeboah,  Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice-President, Intel Corporation. 

Intel® Pathfinder for RISC-V* is made possible by contributions from Intel and key ecosystem partners:

Open-source Simulator Supporting a Breadth of RISC-V Models

“Renode is an open-source software development framework with commercial support from  Antmicro that lets you develop, debug and test multi-node device systems reliably, scalably and  effectively. We welcome Antmicro and Intel’s cooperation to enable easier architectural  exploration and pre-silicon development by providing vector instruction-capable RISC-V platform  simulation in Renode for Intel Pathfinder in early 2023 and look forward to a broader relationship  over time.”  

– Peter Gielda, CEO, Antmicro. 

“Renode gives you the ability to do a lot of work on real-world objects without ever having to  have any hardware. It allows you to have continuous integration systems which run very  comprehensive test suites without having to set up bespoke hardware CI systems. This makes it a  powerful framework for testing, and in fact it has enabled significantly more insight into product  development.”  

‒ Tim Ansell, Software Engineer at Google 

New Floating-point Unit for RISC-V Cores

CalligoTech has designed Posit Numeric Unit (PNU) IP, a Coprocessor for real-number  computations using POSITs – a new number system with higher accuracy and better dynamic  range, at reduced power. Within the Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V developer environment, we will  be enabling our PNU with CORE-V CVA6 cores and our enhanced RISC-V Compilers  (C/C++/gFortran), thus unlocking new capabilities and opportunities for us and our customers.”  

– Anantha Kinnal, Managing Director, Calligo Technologies 

Enhanced Audio Capabilities for Hearables, Wearables and Smart Home Devices

CEVA is pleased to announce that its CEVA-BX1 and CEVA-BX2 audio DSP IP will be available with  Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V in the Q1’23 timeframe, enabling customers to evaluate best-in-class  DSP and audio front-end software IPs from CEVA combined with RISC-V based host platforms. We  look forward to working with Intel to create the next generation of voice and audio enabled  devices based on open architectures.”  

– Chad Lucien, VP & GM Sensors and Audio BU, CEVA. 

Bringing RISC-V Cores and Tools to Education Institutes

Codasip is excited to collaborate with Intel to enable undergraduate and graduate level courses  that will benefit from Codasip RISC-V IP and Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V. Our goal is to be  integrated into courses at multiple universities in the fall of 2023.”  

– Keith Graham, Vice President of University and Customer Experience Program, Codasip  

Ultra-Low Power SOC for AIoT

Embedded A.I. Systems (EMASS) is announcing today the intent to deliver engineering samples  of the Edge AI SOC named ECS-DoT in Q1’23. We are very excited to work with Intel. Our board  support package (BSP) integrates Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V IDE and combined with the ultra-low  power consumption of our SOC, is poised to unlock new capabilities and use cases for customers  in the fast-growing AIoT segment.”  

– Mohamed M Sabry Aly, Founder EMASS & Assistant Professor Nanyang Technological  University 

Combining RISC-V with Neuromorphic Accelerators

General Vision is honored to join the Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V ecosystem. By combining our  NeuroMem technology with RISC-V host processors and Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V developer  tools, we are enabling the next generation of Real Time Learning Pattern Recognition featuring  low latency and ultra-low power.” 

– Guy Paillet, co-founder and CEO of General Vision, Inc. 

RISC-V Cores and SOC Reference Designs for Efficient Scaling

“As we roll-out a comprehensive range of RISC-V commercial we see a synergistic opportunity to  use Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V as the IDE that will enable our customers and SOC design partners  to scale efficiently. InCore is keen to grow this collaboration with Intel to take full advantage of  the massive customer interest in RISC-V based SOCs by providing a comprehensive, class leading  development environment.”  

– G S Madhusudan, CEO & Co-Founder, InCore Semiconductors  

Solution for Regenerative Agriculture

LATERAL is delighted to apply innovative edge solutions utilizing AI-driven predictive analytics in  supporting Regenerative Agriculture to provide farmers rich data insights that enable food safety,  optimal crop quality and higher yields. Combining LATERAL’s Edge platform application-level  capabilities with IOTech middleware, RISC-V silicon and Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V, we plan to  field test our solution targeting the indoor farming community in 2023.”  

– Ed Lisle, President and CTO, LATERAL.systems 

IOTech has been working with Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V since its launch last quarter, and we  are pleased to see the development of real-life applications that take advantage of IOTech’s edge  software in combination with advanced analytics for Regenerative Agriculture and the latest  RISC-V hardware.”  

– Jim White, CTO, IOTech Systems  

Renesas is pleased to provide our customers a new option of RISC-V based MPU with RZ/Five,  which is ideal for use cases such as industrial gateways and controllers.”  

– Sailesh Chittipeddi, PhD, Executive Vice-President and General Manager, IoT and Infrastructure  Business Unit, Renesas Electronics 

“As a leading supplier of RISC-V processor IPs with design wins ranging from ASSP  microcontrollers to datacenter AI accelerators in major semiconductor and system companies  worldwide, Andes is pleased to be part of the Intel® Pathfinder for RISC-V* rollout. Intel  Pathfinder for RISC-V enables our customers software development using Open-Source tools,  FPGA platforms for early SoC development and verification, and easy migration path from FPGA  to ASIC via Intel Foundry Services.” 

– Charlie Su, President and CTO, Andes Technology Corp 

RISC-V within the Engineering Curriculum

PES University, one of India’s leading teaching and research institutes, has already revamped  the computer architecture course within the undergraduate program to be entirely on RISC-V.  PES is also partnering with Intel to enable its students to use Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V as a  development tool. We look forward to growing our RISC-V collaboration with Intel to enable the  next generation of IT professionals who are adequately prepared to tackle tomorrow’s  challenges”  

– Prof. Madhura Purnaprajna, PES University  

RISC-V Design Services

Prodapt is pleased to join Intel’s ecosystem by actively promoting Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V as  a developer tool for its design services customers. We believe our SOC design services combined  with Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V will be of great value to our mutual customers” 

– Dinesh Tyagi, head of ASIC Business, Prodapt ASIC Services 

USB Controller for Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V

SLS is announcing today support for Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V via its USB Host and Device  Controller IP for the Intel Cyclone 10 GX development board, which is a recent addition to the  family of Intel FPGA boards supported by Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V. SLS hopes to expand this  relationship over time by providing peripheral IP that will accelerate the adoption of RISC-V  across FPGA and ASIC designs.” 

– Paresh Patel, CEO, System Level Solutions, Inc. 

RISC-V Reference Designs

Tessolve is working to enable its first RISC-V based SOC reference design in early 2023, using  Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V as the preferred development environment. Tessolve and Intel will  implement these reference designs to drive cost-effective and rapid scaling of RISC-V based  designs.”  

– KiranKumar Nagendra, AVP of Embedded Systems, Tessolve. 

Exploring CORE-V CVA6 Open-source Manycore RISC-V Architectures

“The University of California Santa Barbara is pleased to collaborate with Intel within the  OpenHW ecosystem on research that will enable octa-core and higher configurations of the  open-source CORE-V CVA6 RISC-V cores with Intel Pathfinder for RISC-V. Over time, we expect  this work will benefit RISC-V developers across academia, research, and commercial  organisations.”  

– Jonathan Balkind, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of California Santa Barbara. 

“We are excited to see leading OpenHW ecosystem members such as academic & research  institutes like UCSB and technology leaders like Intel come together to accelerate the adoption of  CORE-V CVA6 open-source RISC-V cores. The OpenHW Group is committed to fostering global  collaboration that fuels the development of open-source cores, related IP, tools and software.”  

– Rick O’Connor, President & CEO, OpenHW Group 

Register and download to start your journey with Intel® Pathfinder for RISC-V 

About IDI – Incubation and Disruptive Innovation:

With a vision for engineering the extraordinary, the courage to take risks, and a passion for solving the  world’s hardest challenges, the Incubation and Disruptive Innovation group is dedicated to accelerating  Go-Big and Disruptive Strategies across Intel. In a fast-paced environment built on agile collaboration, IDI  brings bold ideas to life by aggressively testing and developing concepts and technologies that will enrich  the lives of every person on earth. 

About Intel

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global  progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore’s Law, we continuously work to advance the design and  manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers’ greatest challenges. By embedding  intelligence in the cloud, network, edge, and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of  data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intel’s innovations, go to  newsroom.intel.com and intel.com. 

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