aicas and SiFive Bridge Flexibility and Performance with RISC-V, JamaicaVM Integration

KARLSRUHE, GERMANY – February 18, 2021 -- aicas GmbH and SiFive, Inc are enabling embedded systems developers to close the gaps between the freedom of open architecture hardware designs and the assurance of critical application performance. A collaborative integration of the RISC-V CPU architecture and JamaicaVM Java-based software management will give developers a platform to deploy programmable RISC-V-based SoCs and evaluate, manage, and update systems without interruptions.

The RISC-V ecosystem is rapidly expanding as developers embrace extensible software and hardware freedom for CPU architectures. As more custom Internet of Things and embedded systems applications are created using chips that are developed, designed, built, and optimized for specific tasks, the need for integrating them in the wider ecosystem grows. The collaborative integration of RISC-V and the JamaicaVM Product Family enhances full lifecycle management and reduces the hurdle of interoperability with existing systems.

“The need for extensibility in custom embedded system applications is closely tied to the need for verification, simulators, debuggers, compilers libraries, monitors, kernels, and more,” said Chris Jones, VP of Product Management, SiFive. “By integrating aicas’ JamaicaVM Product Family, developers now have the flexibility to build custom cores and the tools assuring devices and systems not only perform, but can evolve as well.”

JamaicaVM is a managed runtime environment for running Realtime Java and conventional Java application in an embedded environment. It provides deterministic, automatic memory management and object-oriented programming supported by a Realtime Virtual Machine, providing a full hardware abstraction to reduce the likelihood of errors. As performance demands continue to grow and RISC-V developers add extensions to the basic instruction sets on microprocessors, JamaicaVM adds stability, scalability, and security with tools for testing, managing, and updating systems to assure critical and third-party applications will operate uninterrupted. The JamaicaVM Product Family builds on the JamaicaVM to provide full software lifecycle management and update for various markets segments.

“The inherent modularity of RISC-V and JamaicaVM provides more latitude for building and managing smarter, more efficient systems, enabling developers to accomplish things that would not be possible with proprietary solutions,” said James Hunt, CTO of aicas. “JamaicaVM perfectly supports the flexibility, portability, and reliability of RISC-V development by enabling development to start on the desktop for assuring full lifecycle system and device compatibility.”

SiFive was founded by the inventors of RISC-V to create scalable processor and SoC architectures for solving modern computing challenges without the burden and cost of legacy instruction set architectures. As more developers move beyond the limits of proprietary architectures, JamaicaVM support for RISC-V will continue to accelerate the expansion of heterogeneous designs and reliability, scalability, and performance of workload-focused SoCs using instruction sets featuring well-defined extensions or custom instructions.

“The adoption of the RISC-V ecosystem is driven by the need to reduce time to market and development cost,” said Hunt. “Pre-integrating JamaicaVM provides added layers that help developers reduce the interoperability and performance risks that come with rapidly developing and deploying custom embedded systems.”

Together with Amazon Web Services (AWS), SiFive and aicas will deliver a virtual demonstration of the solution during embedded world 2021 DIGITAL, March 1-5, 2021. See aicas events online for details about the demo of AWS IoT Greengrass 2.0 running on a SiFive RISC-V unmatched board and go to aicas’ virtual exhibition stand and claim a voucher for a free ticket to attrend the virtual event

About aicas

Major automotive and industrial companies rely on aicas embedded software platforms to securely connect millions of intelligent devices and vehicles. Bridging from embedded to cloud is at the core of aicas’ modular and portable products. Founded by technology leaders from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), aicas serves customers from offices in Europe and North America with representatives world-wide. For more information visit www.aicas.com

About SiFive

SiFive is the leading provider of processor cores, accelerators, and SoC IP to create domain-specific architecture based on the free and open RISC-V instruction set architecture. SiFive offers scalable, configurable processor cores pre-integrated with security, trace, and debug features for workload-specific accelerator designs. Founded by the inventors of RISC-V, SiFive has 15 design centers worldwide and backing from Sutter Hill Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Spark Capital, Osage University Partners, Chengwei, Huami, SK hynix, Intel Capital, and Western Digital. For more information, please visit www.sifive.com.