TI Piccolo 32-bit MCUs bring real-time control

BANGALORE, INDIA: Helping bring processor intensive, real-time control to cost-sensitive applications and broadening its overall MCU portfolio, Texas Instruments (TI) has announced a new series of 32-bit TMS320F2802x/F2803x microcontrollers (MCUs).

The Piccolo F2802x/F2803x microcontrollers feature architectural advancements and enhanced peripherals in package sizes starting at 38-pins to bring the benefits of 32-bit real-time control to applications typically unable to justify the associated cost. Real-time control offers greater system efficiency and precision through the implementation of advanced algorithms for industrial, consumer and automotive applications such as solar power micro-inverters, LED lighting, white goods appliances and hybrid automotive batteries.

Shailesh Thakurdesai, Business Development Manager, Texas Instruments, said: “Piccolo controllers can replace multiple electronic components to lower overall systems cost while enabling advanced power electronics management.

"The market opportunities, which we see in India for this series include White goods: Refrigeration (fridge compressor), Washing Machines and Air conditioners; High Frequency Sine wave inverters (Home Back-Ups) and Solar Inverters; E-Bikes/ Electric Vehicle Applications (Battery charger, DC/DC and BLDC Motor control); Commercial/Street LED Lighting and Power Line Communication Modules."

 “The combination of 32-bit performance, enhanced peripherals and small package sizes allows designers to add real-time control and system management using just one microcontroller to applications that could not afford it previously,” added Thakurdesai. “We named these devices Piccolo because of the small size and price that they offer our customers. They also double the number of C2000™ options and build on TI’s growing MCU portfolio.”

Real-time control drives energy efficiency across many applications

Piccolo F2802x/F2803x controllers can replace multiple electronic components to lower overall system cost while enabling advanced power electronics management. For example, in a variable frequency air conditioning unit, a single F2802x/F2803x controller can precisely control two electric three-phase motors as well as perform power factor correction (PFC) calculations. Currently required in approximately 30 percent of the world's markets, including Europe, China, Japan and India, PFC improves the efficiency of the load to make best use of the power from the utility.

For commercial and industrial lighting applications, LED technology can bring up to 50 percent higher energy efficiency when compared to traditional high pressure sodium lamps. F2802x/F2803x-based LED control systems offer intelligent current control and easy system networking to bring down system complexity as well as the cost of managing color mixing and temperature control required for white LED systems.

Piccolo microcontrollers also offer the performance and integration to implement power line communications (PLC) for street light networks that allow cities to pinpoint power outages and centrally manage and adjust lighting based on time of day, traffic or weather conditions.

Piccolo microcontrollers also enable higher operating efficiency and control for solar panels. Typical solar systems use one inverter across multiple panels, but initial investigations have shown that individual micro-inverters connected to each solar panel within a system can drive higher power conversion efficiencies. Micro-inverters maximize the output of each individual panel compared to system wide inverters that maximize the average output of the panels as a complete system.

New CLA and leading peripherals drive performance increase and system integration

The Piccolo series of MCUs will feature advancements such as a programmable, floating-point control law accelerator (CLA) designed to offload complex high speed control algorithms from the main TMS320C28x CPU. The CLA, which will be available starting with the F2803x series, frees the CPU to handle I/O and feedback loop metrics, resulting in up to a 5x performance increase for common closed-loop applications.

TI’s patented, enhanced pulse width modulators (ePWM) support the industry's highest resolution with frequency modulation down to 150 pico-seconds to enable more control over harmonics and reduce sample-to-output delay, a critical factor to avoid missing the falling edges of signals. At 4.6 MSPS, Piccolo devices’ on-chip, 12-bit ADC is up to four times faster than the closest competitor, allowing designers to reduce the complexity and cost of the design process, while achieving excellent accuracy and performance.

Two on-chip oscillators operating at 10 MHz each with +/- 1 percent accuracy eliminate the need for external oscillators and their associated cost. Many microcontrollers, in comparison, integrate ring oscillators, which have drift as high as 50 percent, rendering them unsuitable for reliable communication interface clocking.

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 eliminates the need for external power ICs and uses a single 3.3V supply with internal regulator down to 1.9V while providing brown-out protection and power-on reset.

Broad 'Piccolo' portfolio offers a complete development ecosystem

The first Piccolo microcontrollers, the F2802x series, will be available for sampling in December and will include 40 to 60 MHz variations, up to 128 KB Flash memory, 12-bit ADC, ePWM and peripherals such as: communications protocols, on-chip oscillators, analog comparators and general purpose I/Os. Future device introductions in 2009 will offer higher performance and memory sizes. Piccolo microcontrollers are 100 percent code-compatible with earlier-generation C2000 devices, allowing choices from the entire portfolio.

Building on the controlCARD concept of removable target boards with general and application specific target boards, TI will introduce an F2802x/F2803x-based controlCARD in December 2008. The new controlCARD will be compatible with all C2000 experimenter's and application-specific developer’s kits. Each kit includes a 32 K code-limited version of TI’s Code Composer Studio IDE, Gerber and hardware files and free application software. Hands-on training workshops are also available worldwide.

TI enables innovation with broad range of microcontrollers

From general purpose, ultra-low-power 16-bit MSP430 microcontrollers, industry standard ARM 32-bit devices and the high performance TMS320C2000 microcontrollers, TI offers the broadest range of embedded control solutions. Designers can accelerate designs to market by tapping into TI's complete free software and low cost hardware tools, extensive third-party offerings and technical support.