SHAKTI (microprocessor)
[1][2] The aims of the Shakti initiative include building an open source production-grade processor, complete systems on a chip, microprocessor development boards, and a Shakti-based software platform.
The main focus of the team is computer architecture research to develop SoCs, which are competitive with commercial offerings in the market in area, power, and performance.
[3][2] V. Kamakoti carried out the SHAKTI Microprocessor Project, at Prathap Subrahmanyam Centre for Digital Intelligence and Secure Hardware Architecture (Department of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Madras).
Market segments of E-class processor support smart cards, IoT devices, motor controls, and robotic platforms.
It has 32 general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins (out of which upper 16 GPIO pins are dedicated to onboard LEDs and switches), a platform level interrupt controller (PLIC), a Counter, 2 Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), 2 universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART), 1 Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C), 6 pulse-width modulator (PWM) and an inbuilt Xilinx analog-to-digital converter (X-ADC).
The core is highly optimized, 6-stage in-order design with MMU support and the capability to run operating systems like Linux and Sel4.
The C-arty100T SoC is a single-chip 64-bit C-class microcontroller with 128MB DDR3 RAM, 16 General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins, a Platform Level Interrupt Controller (PLIC), a Counter, 1 Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) and 1 Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C).
Its features include out-of-order execution, multithreading, aggressive branch prediction, non-blocking caches and deep instruction pipelining stages.
RIMO is the code name of the Shakti C-class based SoC that has been taped-out at Semi-Conductor Laboratory at Mohali using 180 nm process technology.
[6] CREEK is the code name of the Shakti C-class based SoC that has been taped-out at Intel's Oregon fab using a 22nm FinFET process.
[6] Moushik is the code name of the Shakti E-class based SoC that has been taped-out at SCL using 180 nm process technology.
[14] IIT Madras and ISRO Inertial Systems Unit successfully designed and booted a 64-bit IRIS (Indigenous RISC-V Controller for Space Applications) chip based on the SHAKTI baseline processor in February 2025.
The chip configuration takes into account the processing power and functional needs of the devices and sensors utilized in ISRO missions.
Altair Engineering from July 2021, included E-Class processor in its embedded system firmware support portfolio for its global customers.
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.
[19][20] 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.
