The AM335x microprocessors, based on the ARM Cortex-A8 processor, are enhanced with image, graphics processing, peripherals and industrial interface options such as EtherCAT and PROFIBUS. The devices support high-level operating systems (HLOS). Linux^® and Android™ are available free of charge from TI.

The AM335x microprocessor contain the subsystems shown in and a brief description of each follows:

The microprocessor unit (MPU) subsystem is based on the ARM Cortex-A8 processor and the PowerVR SGX Graphics Accelerator subsystem provides 3D graphics acceleration to support display and gaming effects.

The Programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSS) is separate from the ARM core, allowing independent operation and clocking for greater efficiency and flexibility. The PRU-ICSS enables additional peripheral interfaces and real-time protocols such as EtherCAT, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, PROFIBUS, Ethernet Powerlink, Sercos, and others. Additionally, the programmable nature of the PRU-ICSS, along with its access to pins, events and all system-on-chip (SoC) resources, provides flexibility in implementing fast, real-time responses, specialized data handling operations, custom peripheral interfaces, and in offloading tasks from the other processor cores of SoC.

• Up to 1-GHz Sitara ARM Cortex-A8 32‑Bit RISC Processor
  • NEON SIMD Coprocessor
  • 32KB of L1 Instruction and 32KB of Data Cache with Single-Error Detection (Parity)
  • 256KB of L2 Cache with Error Correcting Code (ECC)
  • 176KB of On-Chip Boot ROM
  • 64KB of Dedicated RAM
  • Emulation and Debug - JTAG
  • Interrupt Controller (up to 128 Interrupt Requests)
• On-Chip Memory (Shared L3 RAM)
  • 64KB of General-Purpose On-Chip Memory Controller (OCMC) RAM
  • Accessible to all Masters
  • Supports Retention for Fast Wakeup
• External Memory Interfaces (EMIF)
  • mDDR(LPDDR), DDR2, DDR3, DDR3L Controller:
    • mDDR: 200-MHz Clock (400-MHz Data Rate)
    • DDR2: 266-MHz Clock (532-MHz Data Rate)
    • DDR3: 400-MHz Clock (800-MHz Data Rate)
    • DDR3L: 400-MHz Clock (800-MHz Data Rate)
    • 16-Bit Data Bus
    • 1GB of Total Addressable Space
    • Supports One x16 or Two x8 Memory Device Configurations
  • General-Purpose Memory Controller (GPMC)
    • Flexible 8-Bit and 16-Bit Asynchronous Memory Interface with up to Seven Chip Selects (NAND, NOR, Muxed-NOR, SRAM)
    • Uses BCH Code to Support 4-, 8-, or 16-Bit ECC
    • Uses Hamming Code to Support 1-Bit ECC
  • Error Locator Module (ELM)
    • Used in Conjunction with the GPMC to Locate Addresses of Data Errors from Syndrome Polynomials Generated Using a BCH Algorithm
    • Supports 4-, 8-, and 16-Bit per 512-Byte Block Error Location Based on BCH Algorithms
• Programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSS)
  • Supports Protocols such as EtherCAT, PROFIBUS, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP™, and More
  • Two Programmable Real-Time Units (PRUs)
    • 32-Bit Load/Store RISC Processor Capable of Running at 200 MHz
    • 8KB of Instruction RAM with Single-Error Detection (Parity)
    • 8KB of Data RAM with Single-Error Detection (Parity)
    • Single-Cycle 32-Bit Multiplier with 64-Bit Accumulator
    • Enhanced GPIO Module Provides Shift-In/Out Support and Parallel Latch on External Signal
  • 12KB of Shared RAM with Single-Error Detection (Parity)
  • Three 120-Byte Register Banks Accessible by Each PRU
  • Interrupt Controller Module (INTC) for Handling System Input Events
  • Local Interconnect Bus for Connecting Internal and External Masters to the Resources Inside the PRU-ICSS
  • Peripherals Inside the PRU-ICSS:
    • One UART Port with Flow Control Pins, Supports up to 12 Mbps
    • One Enhanced Capture (eCAP) Module
    • Two MII Ethernet Ports that Support Industrial Ethernet, such as EtherCAT
    • One MDIO Port
• Power, Reset, and Clock Management (PRCM) Module
  • Controls the Entry and Exit of Stand-By and Deep-Sleep Modes
  • Responsible for Sleep Sequencing, Power Domain Switch-Off Sequencing, Wake-Up Sequencing, and Power Domain Switch-On Sequencing
  • Clocks
    • Integrated 15- to 35-MHz High-Frequency Oscillator Used to Generate a Reference Clock for Various System and Peripheral Clocks
    • Supports Individual Clock Enable and Disable Control for Subsystems and Peripherals to Facilitate Reduced Power Consumption
    • Five ADPLLs to Generate System Clocks (MPU Subsystem, DDR Interface, USB and Peripherals [MMC and SD, UART, SPI, I²C], L3, L4, Ethernet, GFX [SGX530], LCD Pixel Clock)
  • Power
    • Two Nonswitchable Power Domains (Real-Time Clock [RTC], Wake-Up Logic [WAKEUP])
    • Three Switchable Power Domains (MPU Subsystem [MPU], SGX530 [GFX], Peripherals and Infrastructure [PER])
    • Implements SmartReflex Class 2B for Core Voltage Scaling Based On Die Temperature, Process Variation, and Performance (Adaptive Voltage Scaling [AVS])
    • Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS)
• Real-Time Clock (RTC)
  • Real-Time Date (Day-Month-Year-Day of Week) and Time (Hours-Minutes-Seconds) Information
  • Internal 32.768-kHz Oscillator, RTC Logic and 1.1-V Internal LDO
  • Independent Power-on-Reset (RTC_PWRONRSTn) Input
  • Dedicated Input Pin (EXT_WAKEUP) for External Wake Events
  • Programmable Alarm Can be Used to Generate Internal Interrupts to the PRCM (for Wakeup) or Cortex-A8 (for Event Notification)
  • Programmable Alarm Can be Used with External Output (PMIC_POWER_EN) to Enable the Power Management IC to Restore Non-RTC Power Domains
• Peripherals
  • Up to Two USB 2.0 High-Speed OTG Ports with Integrated PHY
  • Up to Two Industrial Gigabit Ethernet MACs (10, 100, 1000 Mbps)
    • Integrated Switch
    • Each MAC Supports MII, RMII, RGMII, and MDIO Interfaces
    • Ethernet MACs and Switch Can Operate Independent of Other Functions
    • IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
  • Up to Two Controller-Area Network (CAN) Ports
    • Supports CAN Version 2 Parts A and B
  • Up to Two Multichannel Audio Serial Ports (McASPs)
    • Transmit and Receive Clocks up to 50 MHz
    • Up to Four Serial Data Pins per McASP Port with Independent TX and RX Clocks
    • Supports Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Inter-IC Sound (I2S), and Similar Formats
    • Supports Digital Audio Interface Transmission (SPDIF, IEC60958-1, and AES-3 Formats)
    • FIFO Buffers for Transmit and Receive (256 Bytes)
  • Up to Six UARTs
    • All UARTs Support IrDA and CIR Modes
    • All UARTs Support RTS and CTS Flow Control
    • UART1 Supports Full Modem Control
  • Up to Two Master and Slave McSPI Serial Interfaces
    • Up to Two Chip Selects
    • Up to 48 MHz
  • Up to Three MMC, SD, SDIO Ports
    • 1-, 4- and 8-Bit MMC, SD, SDIO Modes
    • MMCSD0 has Dedicated Power Rail for 1.8‑V or 3.3-V Operation
    • Up to 48-MHz Data Transfer Rate
    • Supports Card Detect and Write Protect
    • Complies with MMC4.3, SD, SDIO 2.0 Specifications
  • Up to Three I²C Master and Slave Interfaces
    • Standard Mode (up to 100 kHz)
    • Fast Mode (up to 400 kHz)
  • Up to Four Banks of General-Purpose I/O (GPIO) Pins
    • 32 GPIO Pins per Bank (Multiplexed with Other Functional Pins)
    • GPIO Pins Can be Used as Interrupt Inputs (up to Two Interrupt Inputs per Bank)
  • Up to Three External DMA Event Inputs That Can Also be Used as Interrupt Inputs
  • Eight 32-Bit General-Purpose Timers
    • DMTIMER1 is a 1-ms Timer Used for Operating System (OS) Ticks
    • DMTIMER4–DMTIMER7 are Pinned Out
  • One Watchdog Timer
  • SGX530 3D Graphics Engine
    • Tile-Based Architecture Delivering up to 20 Million Polygons per second
    • Universal Scalable Shader Engine (USSE) is a Multithreaded Engine Incorporating Pixel and Vertex Shader Functionality
    • Advanced Shader Feature Set in Excess of Microsoft VS3.0, PS3.0, and OGL2.0
    • Industry Standard API Support of Direct3D Mobile, OGL-ES 1.1 and 2.0, OpenVG 1.0, and OpenMax
    • Fine-Grained Task Switching, Load Balancing, and Power Management
    • Advanced Geometry DMA-Driven Operation for Minimum CPU Interaction
    • Programmable High-Quality Image Anti-Aliasing
    • Fully Virtualized Memory Addressing for OS Operation in a Unified Memory Architecture
  • LCD Controller
    • Up to 24-Bit Data Output; 8 Bits per Pixel (RGB)
    • Resolution up to 2048 x 2048 (with Maximum 126-MHz Pixel Clock)
    • Integrated LCD Interface Display Driver (LIDD) Controller
    • Integrated Raster Controller
    • Integrated DMA Engine to Pull Data from the External Frame Buffer without Burdening the Processor via Interrupts or a Firmware Timer
    • 512-Word Deep Internal FIFO