The flexibility to scale across MCUs and applications processors is now possible with the i.MX RT Series, a class of crossover embedded processors that break down the technological chasm between high-end MCUs and low-end applications processors. Most of the building blocks in the RT1050 are the same as an application processor, having a rich set of capabilities starting with graphics, display and camera interfaces, and a whole suite of wired connectivity options, like UART, USB, and SPI, and it has support for external memories, like NAND and NOR. The biggest change is replacing the processor from a usual Cortex®-A7 with the Cortex®-M7 core. That is where it gets its real-time capability. Then there are some more changes to provide MCU-like functionality. For example, the support for LPDDR was removed, because it is not needed for the applications and the ‘on-the-fly’ decryption capability was added to enable fast decryption for data coming in from the external memory. The power management was kept nearly the same, but because it has to function like an MCU, a DC/DC converter was integrated. This is the reason an external PMIC is not needed. All power management is done internally and because of the integrated DC/DC, the active power can be reduced dramatically. There is one big difference compared to traditional MCUs, there is not embedded flash, instead a large on-chip SRAM was added that can be configured as TCM. For most of the applications, the core does not even have to get the application from external memory; it can load the application code into the SRAM and execute in-place. In the rare situations it needs to fetch the application code or for getting data, fast quad and octal SPI connections to external memory are available. By eliminating embedded flash memory, the price point is pushed very low compared to traditional MCUs or application processors for that matter. That is why the RT series is called a Crossover Processor, by having the best of both worlds.