Introduced in 2001 the BF535 processor was the first one in Blackfin family which had USB device interface, PCI interface and was clocked up to 350MHz
Next generation of Blackfin processors was announced by Analog Devices in 2002. These processors were featured by increased operating frequency and support of popular peripheral interfaces like CAN, Ethernet, PPI.

MHz

SRAM

UART

SPI

PPI

SPORT

Ethernet

CAN

BF531

400

52K

1

1

1

2

BF532

400

84K

1

1

1

2

BF533

400-750

148K

1

1

1

2

BF534

400,500

132K

2

1

1

2

BF536

300,400

100K

2

1

1

2

+

+

BF537

500,600

132K

2

1

1

2

+

+

BF538

400,533

148K

3

3

1

4

+

BF539

533

148K

3

3

1

4

+

Along with BF53x processor family one should notice a powerful dual-core BF561 processor with core frequency of 500MHz or 600MHz. Distinctive features of BF561 are 32bit external bus interface and two independent PPI controllers.

New generation BF54x and BF52x processor families were announced in the end of 2007 by Analog Devices. These processors extend a list of supported peripheral interfaces to High-speed USB OTG controller, SDIO interface and ATAPI controller. All BF54x and BF52x Blackfin processors support booting from NAND flash memory and implement advanced security technology called Lockbox to prevent unauthorized access and allow only trusted code to execute on the processor. BF54x family is targeted to higher performance and feature rich applications while BF52x family is oriented to embedded systems with strict requirements to power consumption.

MHz

UART

SPI

PPI

SPORT

Ethernet

CAN

USB OTG

ATAPI

SDIO

BF522

300,400

2

1

1

2

BF523

533,600

2

1

1

2

BF524

300,400

2

1

1

2

+

BF525

533,600

2

1

1

2

+

BF526

300,400

2

1

1

2

+

+

BF527

533,600

2

1

1

2

+

+

BF542

400-600

3

2

1

3

1

+

+

+

BF544

400,533

3

2

2

3

2

BF547

533,600

4

3

2

4

+

+

+

BF548

533

4

3

2

4

2

+

+

+

BF549

533

4

3

2

4

2

+

+

+

BF52xC processors with on-chip audio codec are proposed for embedded audio applications. Top-end BF549 processor has on-chip MOST (Media Oriented System Transport) interface controller and recommended for use in automotive multimedia systems.

Latest BF51x processors were introduced in 2008. These processors have:

low power consumption at high operating frequency
oriented to low-end segment with low price
convergent architecture with reduced pin count and die size taking less place on PCB

RSI

Ethernet

IEEE-1588

BF512

BF514

+

BF516

+

+

BF518

+

+

+

There are mature development tools for Blackfin processors: integrated development environment (IDE) VisualDSP from Analog Devices. Also Linux operating system has been ported to Blackfin thus providing an access to a large number of open source projects and libraries.

Linux for Blackfin is called uCLinux by the name of embedded linux variant for embedded processors without MMU (Memory Management Unit). Full source of uCLinux distribution for Blackfin is hosted at blackfin.uclinux.org and consists of the following parts:

GNU toolchain - a set of gcc compiler, gdb debugger and other utilities
U-boot - initial bootloader
Linux Kernel
uCLinux distribution - build system for firmware images, source code for utilities and libraries often used in embedded Linux systems

Lockbox Technology for Blackfin Processors

Lockbox technology for Blackfin processors is based on the principle of digital signature authentication by using standard encoding algorithms and represents a secure environment for code execution. Lockbox technology is a combination of software and hardware that allow creating a wide range of security tools:

intellectual property protection;
device and user authentication;
DRM-content protection.

Lockbox also includes the following elements:

one-time programmable (OTP) memory;
Blackfin Secure Mode.

OTP memory consists of two spaces:

public area is used for storing public keys not used for authentication;
private area, protected memory space, is accessible only in Secure Mode and designed for storing confidential information.

Secure mode on Blackfin processors allows implementing a system, in which only trusted code can be executed in secure environment.

At Promwad, we use a wide range of available Blackfin development kits for fast prototyping, risks minimization and shortening time-to-market. The following development boards from Analog Devices are in strong demand in embedded systems development for our customers.

Analog Devices BF533-EZKit

The development kit based on Analog Devices BF533 processor:

600 MHz CPU
110 MHz System clock
64MB SDRAM
2MB NOR Flash
AD1836 96KHz Audio Codec
4 RCA audio input (2 stereo)
3 RCA audio output (3 stereo)
ADV7183 video decoder
3 RCA video inputs
ADV7171 encoder
3 RCA video outputs
UART, LEDs, Push buttons

Analog Devices BF561-EZKit

The development based on dual-core BF561 processor:

600MHz CPU
120MHz System clock
32-bit External Bus Interface
64MB SDRAM
8MB NOR Flash
AD1836A 96KHz Audio codec
4 RCA audio input (2 stereo)
6 RCA audio output (3 stereo)
ADV7183 video decoder
3 RCA video inputs
ADV7171 encoder
3 RCA video outputs
UART, LEDs, Push buttons

Analog Devices BF537-EZKit

The development kit based on BF537 processor:

600MHz CPU
100MHz System clock
64MB SDRAM
4MB NOR Flash
Ethernet 10/100
CAN
UART, LEDs, Push buttons

Analog Devices BF548-EZKit

The development kit based on Analog Devices BF548 processor:

600MHz CPU
133MHz System clock
64MB DDR SDRAM
32MB NOR Flash
256MB NAND Flash
2MB SPI Flash
40GB Toshiba ATAPI HDD
AD9180 Audio codec
6 audio outputs (5.1 surround)
TFT LCD 480x272
Ethernet 10/100
Keypad, Thumbwheel, UART, LEDs

Also for fast embedded system prototyping we have used extender boards from AD, 3rd party and in-house development: USB-LAN-EZExtender, WiFi-ZigBee-USB, ADV212 Blackfin Module.