MICROCONTROLLER SOLUTIONS

MCUs Bring Real-Time Control to Cost-Sensitive Applications for Greater Efficiency

A new series of microcontrollers just announced by Texas Instruments features architectural advances and enhanced peripherals in package sizes starting at 38 pins. The result is a range of products that will bring the benefits of 32-bit real-time control to applications that until now have been unable to justify the associated cost.



The new TMS320F280xx ‘Piccolo’ series will implement advanced algorithms, fast interrupt response times and minimal latency for greater system efficiency and precision in industrial, consumer and automotive applications. The MCUs will feature advances such as a programmable, floating-point Control Law Accelerator (CLA) designed to offload complex high speed control algorithms from the main C28x™ CPU. The CLA frees the CPU to handle I/O and feedback loop metrics – resulting in up to a 5x performance increase for common closed-loop applications.

In addition, TI’s patented, enhanced Pulse Width Modulators (ePWM) support the industry's highest resolution with frequency modulation down to 150ps to enable more control over harmonics and reduced sample-to-output delay – a critical factor to avoid missing the falling edges of signals. On-chip 12-bit ADCs operating at 4MSPS will also allow designers to reduce the complexity and cost of the design process, while achieving excellent accuracy and performance.

Each device will have two on-chip oscillators operating at 10MHz with ±1% accuracy, eliminating the need for and cost of external oscillators. Piccolo oscillators also offer triple redundancy with on-chip self-test features to help designers achieve system-level safety certifications such as the IEC 60730 safety standard required for white goods in Europe. The simple power architecture, which eliminates the need for external power ICs, uses a single 3.3V supply (rather than the dual rails required by many conventional devices) with internal regulator down to 1.9V while providing brown-out protection and power-on reset.

The first Piccolo microcontrollers, the F2802x series, scheduled to be available late Q4, will include 40MHz to 60MHz variations, up to 128KByte Flash memory, a 12-bit ADC and ePWM. Peripherals will include communications protocols, on-chip oscillators, analogue comparators and general purpose I/Os. Future device introductions in 2009 will offer higher performance and memory sizes. The new microcontrollers will be 100% code-compatible with earlier generation C2000 devices.

Features

• 40MHz – 60MHz C28x 32-bit CPU
• Control Law Accelerator (F2803x family)
• Single 3.3V supply
• High accuracy on-chip oscillators (10MHz)
• Best in class PWM and event capture capability
• 150ps resolution on PWM frequency
• Up to 12 channels of 4MSPS 12-Bit ADC’s
• 2 x analogue comparators with 10-bit reference
• Up to 44 GPIOs

Applications

• Fans, compressors and pumps
• Home appliances
• AC and DC drives
• Power line communications
• Power supplies
• LED systems for backlighting and outdoor lighting
• Automotive LED/HID lighting
• Hybrid and electric vehicles

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