computer science

Rockchip

Rockchip is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rockchip rather than just read about it. In short: Rockchip (Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company based in Fuzhou, Fujian province. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hong Kong.

Key takeaways

Rockchip belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rockchip to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rockchip from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rockchip (Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company based in Fuzhou, Fujian province. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hong Kong. It designs system on a chip (SoC) products, using the ARM architecture licensed from ARM Holdings for the majority of its projects. Rockchip was one of the top 50 fabless IC suppliers in 2018. The company established cooperation with Google, Microsoft and Intel. On 27 May 2014, Intel announced an agreement with Rockchip to adopt the Intel architecture for entry-level tablets. Rockchip is a supplier of SoCs to Chinese white-box tablet manufacturers as well as supplying OEMs such as Asus, HP, Samsung and Toshiba. Rockchip has been providing SoC products for tablets & PCs, streaming media TV boxes, AI audio & vision, IoT hardware since founded in 2001.

Products

Featured Products

The RK3588 is Rockchip's current flagship SoC. It has feature-reduced versions, including RK3582, RK3588S, and RK3588S2.

The RK3399 is Rockchip's previous flagship SoC, and predecessor of the RK3588. Dual Cortex-A72 and Quad Cortex-A53 and Mali-T860MP4 GPU, provide computing and multi-media performance, interfaces and peripherals. The GPU supports OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 1.1/1.2, and OpenVX 1.0, while the AI interfaces support TensorFlow Lite/AndroidNN. RK3399 Linux source code and hardware documents are on GitHub and Rockchip's open-source Wiki.

RK3566 is a successor to the RK3288 and outperforms it significantly, with a quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 CPU and an Arm Mali-G52 GPU. Boards based on it are expected to be on sale in early 2021 from manufacturers like Pine64 and Boardcon.

RK3288 is a high-performance IoT platform, Quad-core Cortex-A17 CPU and Mali-T760MP4 GPU, 4K video decoding and 4K display out. It is applied to products of various industries including Vending Machine, Commercial Display, Medical Equipment, Gaming, Intelligent POS, Interactive Printer, Robot and Industrial Computer. RK3288 Linux source code and hardware documents are on GitHub and Wiki opensource website.

RK3326 and PX30 were announced in 2018, marketed for AI. PX30 is a variant of RK3326 targeting the IoT market, supporting dual VOP. Both use Arm's Cortex-A35 CPU and Mali-G31 GPU.

RK3308 is an entry-level product line for mainstream devices. The chip has multiple audio input interfaces, and greater energy efficiency, featuring embedded voice activation detection).

The announcement of RV1108 indicated Rockchip's move to AI/computer vision territory. With CEVA DSP embedded, RV1108 powers smart cameras including 360° Video Camera, IPC, Drone, Car Camcoder, Sport DV, VR, etc. It also has been deployed for new retail and intelligent marketing applications with integrated algorithms.

Early Products RK26xx series - Released 2006. RK27xx series - Rockchip was first known for their RK27xx series that was very efficient at MP3/MP4 decoding and was integrated in many low-cost personal media player (PMP) products. RK28xx series The RK2806 was targeted at PMPs. The RK2808A is an ARM926EJ-S derivative. Along with the ARM core a DSP coprocessor is included. The native clock speed is 560 MHz. ARM rates the performance of the ARM926EJ-S at 1.1 DMIPS/MHz the performance of the Rockchip 2808 when executing ARM instructions is therefore 660 DMIPS roughly 26% the speed of Apple's A4 processor. The DSP coprocessor can support the real-time decoding of 720p video files at bitrates of up to 2.5 Mbit/s. This chip was the core of many Android and Windows Mobile-based mobile internet devices. The RK2816 was targeted at PMP devices, and MIDs. It has the same specifications as the RK2806 but also includes HDMI output, Android support, and up to 720p hardware video acceleration. RK29xx series The Rockchip RK291x is a family of SoCs based on the ARM Cortex-A8 CPU core. They were presented for the first time at CES 2011. The RK292x are single core SoCs based on ARM Cortex-A9 and were first introduced in 2012. The RK2918 was the first chip to decode Google WebM VP8 in hardware. It uses a dynamically configurable companion core to process various codecs. It encodes and decodes H.264 at 1080p, and can decode many standard video formats including Xvid, H.263, AVS, MPEG4, RV, and WMV. It includes a Vivante GC800 GPU that is compatible with OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG. The RK2918 is compatible with Android Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), HoneyComb (3.x) and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0). Unofficial support for Ubuntu and other Linux flavours exists. As of 2013, it was targeted at E-readers. The RK2906 is basically a cost-reduced version of the RK2918, also targeted at E-readers as of 2013. The Rockchip RK2926 and RK2928 feature a single core ARM Cortex A9 running at a speed up to 1.0 GHz. It replaces the Vivante GC800 GPU of the older RK291x series with an ARM Mali-400 GPU. As of 2013, the RK2926 was targeted at tablets, while the RK2928 was targeted at tablets and Android TV dongles and boxes. The RK3066 is a high-performance dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 mobile processor similar to the Samsung Exynos 4 Dual Core chip. In terms of performance, the RK3066 is between the Samsung Exynos 4210 and the Samsung Exynos 4212. As of 2013, it was targeted at tablets and Android TV dongles and boxes. It has been a popular choice for both tablets and other devices since 2012. The RK3068 is a version of the RK3066 specifically targeted at Android TV dongles and boxes. Its package is much smaller than the RK3066. The RK3028 is a low-cost dual-core ARM Cortex-A9-based processor clocked at 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU. It is pin-compatible with the RK2928. It is used in a few kids tablets and low-cost Android HDMI TV dongles. The RK3026 is an updated ultra-low-end dual-core ARM Cortex-A9-based tablet processor clocked at 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU. Manufactured at 40 nm, it is pin-compatible with the RK2926. It features 1080p H.264 video encoding and 1080p decoding in multiple formats. Supporting Android 4.4, it has been adopted for low-end tablets in 2014. The RK3036 is a low-cost dual-core ARM Cortex-A7-based processor released in Q4 2014 for smart set-top boxes with support for H.265 video decoding.

RK31xx series

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rockchip

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rockchip claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rockchip before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rockchip ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rockchip

In research: Rockchip appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rockchip in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rockchip is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2001 in Fuzhou, ARM architecture, Chinese brands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rockchip outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rockchip in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rockchip means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rockchip out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rockchip in simple terms?

Rockchip (Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company based in Fuzhou, Fujian province. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hong Kong.

Why does Rockchip matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rockchip?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rockchip.