At Embedded World 2025, Vikram Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Synaptics, introduced the company’s latest innovation: the Astra SR100 Series of AI-native microcontrollers (MCUs). This new line is designed to enhance edge computing capabilities across consumer, enterprise, and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The SR100 Series represents a significant advancement in MCU technology, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) functionalities to support a new class of context-aware IoT devices.
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Synaptics is my Embedded World 2025 video coverage sponsor, check out my Synaptics videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7xXqJFxvYvhAbQoe9YN4c84SqXxIY3fQ
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The SR100 Series is built upon Arm’s Cortex-M55 cores, enhanced with Helium technology, and incorporates the Arm Ethos-U55 neural processing unit (NPU). This combination enables high-performance, AI-native, multimodal compute capabilities tailored for diverse IoT workloads. The architecture supports multiple operational tiers—performance, efficiency, and ultra-low-power always-on modes—allowing devices to intelligently manage power consumption while maintaining robust AI functionalities.
A standout feature of the SR100 Series is its multimodal sensing capabilities, enabling devices to process both visual and auditory data. This integration allows IoT devices to achieve contextual awareness, understanding and responding to their operating environments more effectively. Such capabilities are particularly beneficial for applications like battery-operated security cameras, industrial control systems, and AI-enhanced smart home appliances, where real-time processing and responsiveness are critical.
In terms of power efficiency, the SR100 Series is engineered to deliver high AI performance while minimizing energy consumption. In its highest performance state, the MCU consumes approximately 100 milliwatts, with lower power states consuming 20 milliwatts and 5 milliwatts, respectively. This tiered approach ensures that devices can scale their intelligence and power usage according to the demands of specific tasks, optimizing both performance and battery life.
The SR100 Series also boasts a comprehensive set of peripherals and accelerators, including dual MIPI camera interfaces, image processing capabilities with encoding and pre-roll, motion and voice activity detection engines, and industry-standard security features. These integrated components make the SR100 Series well-suited for streaming vision and audio processing applications at the IoT device edge, reducing the need for additional external components and simplifying system design.
Synaptics has also introduced the Astra Machina Micro development kit to support rapid prototyping and development with the SR100 Series. This kit provides developers with the tools necessary to leverage the full capabilities of the SR100 Series, facilitating the creation of innovative, AI-enabled IoT solutions. The open-source software development kit (SDK) accompanying the hardware further streamlines development processes, promoting a more efficient path from concept to product deployment.
This launch builds upon Synaptics’ previous introduction of the Astra platform and SL-Series processors, which focused on high-performance AI applications. The SR100 Series extends this platform by offering power-optimized, AI-enabled MCUs, thereby broadening the range of potential IoT applications. This strategic expansion underscores Synaptics’ commitment to advancing edge AI technologies and supporting the development of intelligent, context-aware devices.
Overall, the Astra SR100 Series represents a significant step forward in the evolution of MCUs, integrating advanced AI capabilities with efficient power management to meet the growing demands of the IoT landscape. By enabling devices to process complex data locally and respond intelligently to their environments, Synaptics is paving the way for more responsive, efficient, and capable IoT solutions.
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