VEGA Microprocessors
VEGA Microprocessors is an initiative to develop a portfolio of microprocessors, and their hardware ecosystem, by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in India. The portfolio includes several indigenously-developed processors based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture.
The India Microprocessor Development Programme was started by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with the objective of designing a set of microprocessors, and developing a product line for commercial purposes, to be used as part of a "Make in India" strategy.
Products
The initiative has developed the following product lines:- VEGA microprocessors
- ASTRA interface controllers
- THEJAS system on a chip - integrating VEGA and ASTRA devices
- ARIES microprocessor development boards
- DHRUV microprocessor
VEGA
Together with affiliated institutions, C-DAC seeks to acquire 10% of the microprocessor market in critical industries like space exploration and defense, where data security is crucial. C-DAC is developing a dual-core chip for high-end applications under the India Microprocessor Development Programme, and the chip is expected to be released in the second half of 2023. From 2024 forward, Dhanush64, Dhruv64, and Dhanush64+ will be released, followed by Octa-core in 2026. Beyond Octa-core, C-DAC chips will feature 48 or 64 cores once the microprocessor and high-performance computing processor programs have converged.
THEJAS
From the VEGA processor cores, 2 SOCs have been created running on the Digilent ARTY A7 FPGA. Only the THEJAS32 has been taped-out for manufacturing for the ARIES microcontroller boards. Silterra Malaysia is where THEJAS32 is manufactured. THEJAS64 is produced domestically at Semi-Conductor Laboratory.Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge
On December 7, 2021, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology honored the Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge winners. At different phases of the challenge, participants get up to ₹4.40 crore in funding for the development of a hardware prototype and the incubation of a start-up by participating teams. C-DAC and IIT Madras made accessible for the challenge their SoCs, THEJAS32 and THEJAS64 , based on VEGA 32-bit and 64-bit processors and Shakti. The participating teams successfully implemented the SoCs in a variety of designs. Ten teams became victorious from the 30 finalist teams. Team VEGA FCS FT, received a ₹35 lakh cheque for their drone application; second-place winners, Team HWDL, received ₹30 lakh for FM Radio Data System Utilities; and third-place winners, Cytox, received ₹25 lakh for their "cell count" project. Each of the other teams received a check for ₹20 lakh for sharing fourth place. The teams are Astrek Innovations, Team 6E Resources, Team Anshashodhak, Team Quicproc, Team Avrio Energy, and Team JayHawks.Thirty finalist teams of the Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge have been awarded incubation support by Maker Village, the largest electronic system design and production center in India.
ARIES
The ARIES microcontroller boards have been described by researchers as alternatives to Arduino Uno boards.As of May 2023, the ARIES v3.0 board can be purchased for "around 1,000 Rs each, or about $12". It can be programmed with the Arduino IDE.