Extracted from the publication on Electronic Design website 5 December 2012
New Q7-IMX6 embedded Qseven module uses the ARM processor Freescale i.MX6 which contains a Cortex-A9 RISC CPU with one, two or even four cores. Consuming low power, the processor provides clock rates up to 1.2 GHz, accompanied by powerful graphics capabilities. All models except the single-core version provide the Freescale Triple Play graphics architecture. Up to four shaders with a combined power of up to 200 MT/s achieve 3D graphics, a separate 2D BLT engine accelerates interface speeds and a 2D OpenVG engine drives vector-based graphics. The module provides two banks of DDR3 DRAMs supporting between 512 MB and 4 GB of memory, and is accompanied by driver and BSP support for Linux and Windows Embedded Compact 7. Well suited for HMI applications where it is responsible for the graphical representation of the human user interface, the module also qualifies for use in medical systems, control stations in home automation, display systems in POS, as well as portable, battery-powered applications. First samples will be available in January, with the quad-core version priced around $180 in medium volumes.