Date: 01/06/2011

Atmel's ARM9-based chips to support Android OS

Atmel Corporation has announced that its SAM9G45 and SAM9M10 ARM9-based products will support the Android operating system (OS) for applications in consumer, industrial and computing markets. Based on the 32-bit ARM926 processor, Atmel SAM9G45 and SAM9M10's ARM9-based microcontrollers are now compatible with Android, with full board support package (BSP) for the Android OS using SAM9M10-G45-EK boards.

Atmel is collaborating closely with companies such as Mentor Graphics to provide designers with the option to use a ready-to-use UI GUI (user interface graphical user interface) for their embedded applications in vertical markets.

Phil Burr, director of UI product marketing, Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division said, "We are excited that the Atmel SAM9 class of devices will fully support the Android OS for consumer, and industrial applications. We are working closely with Atmel to ensure embedded developers can quickly pull-up our Inflexion UI tool to create rich UIs and get the most out of their hardware design using the easy-to-use, drag-and-drop Inflexion UI tool." Customers can also get additional support and customization services from third parties and the Android community.

The Atmel Android port is based on version 2.1 and supports a camera interface, hardware video decoding (for the SAM9M10 only), software decoding, Web browsing via an Ethernet cable or a WiFi SDIO dongle from Atmel partner H&D Wireless.

"Atmel is committed to bringing easy-to-use solutions for its ARM-based embedded developers to design applications in consumer and vertical markets," said Jacko Wilbrink, product-marketing director, Atmel Corporation. "The support of Android OS on Atmel's ARM9-based products is proof of our commitment to listen to our customers and address their requirements. We will continue to provide our customers with tools and support that can help them save overall system costs and bring their products faster to market."