VEGA Microprocessors

VEGA Microprocessors (also referred to as VEGA Processors) is an initiative to develop a portfolio of microprocessors, and their hardware ecosystem, by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in India. The portfolio includes several indigenously-developed processors based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA).

The 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 microcontroller development boards

VEGA
The initiative has developed 5 RISC-V microprocessors that run on FPGAs boards. The ET1031 is a 32-bit processor, with all other processors being 64-bit. Only the 32-bit variant has been physically manufactured within a THEJAS SOC.

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.

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.