Microchip unveils new 32-bit MCU family

BANGALORE, INDIA: Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, unveiled two of its latest innovations.

The new 24-member PIC32MZ EC family of 32-bit MCUs provides class-leading performance of 330 DMIPS and 3.28 CoreMarks/MHz, along with dual-panel, live-update Flash (up to 2 MB), large RAM (512 KB) and the connectivity peripherals needed to support today's demanding applications.

At the same time, Microchip has also launched the industry's most comprehensive 32-bit MCU firmware development framework, MPLAB Harmony.

This framework is the first to integrate the licensing, resale and support of both Microchip and third-party middleware, drivers, libraries and real time operating systems, simplifying the development process for all 32-bit MCUs including the new PIC32MZ family, and reducing the time needed for integration and time-to-market.

Embedded designers are faced with ever-increasing demands for additional features that require more MCU performance and memory. At the same time, they are looking to reduce cost and complexity by utilising fewer MCUs, creating increasing demand for integration.

The PIC32MZ family meets this demand by incorporating a full-featured hardware crypto engine with a random number generator for high throughput data encryption/decryption and authentication, as well as the first SQI interface on a Microchip MCU and the PIC32's highest number of serial channels.

In addition, the PIC32MZ is Microchip's first MCU to employ Imagination's MIPS microAptiv core, which adds 159 new DSP instructions that enable the execution of DSP algorithms at up to 75 per cent fewer cycles than the PIC32MX families.

This core also provides the microMIPS instruction-set architecture, which improves code density while operating at near full rate, instruction and data cache, and its 200 MHz/330 DMIPS offers 3 times the performance of the PIC32MX.

As a result, the PIC32MZ family provides three times the performance and four times the memory over the previous generation PIC32MX families, along with a high level of advanced peripheral integration. For applications requiring embedded connectivity, the family includes Hi-Speed USB, Ethernet and CAN, along with a broad set of wired and wireless protocol stacks.

Many embedded applications are adding better graphics displays, and the PIC32MZ can support up to a WQVGA display without any external graphics chips. Streaming/digital audio applications can take advantage of this family's 159 DSP instructions, large memory, peripherals such as I2S, and available software.

Microchip's new MPLAB Harmony framework helps to reduce development time and costs even further by providing a single integrated, abstracted and flexible source for Microchip-tested, debugged and interoperable code. Additionally, Harmony provides a modular architecture that enables the efficient integration of multiple drivers, middleware and libraries, while offering an RTOS-independent environment.

Not only does this pre-verification and integration accelerate development, it also increases reuse. Currently, Harmony includes third-party offerings from Express Logic, FreeRTOS, InterNiche, WITTENSTEIN High Integrity Systems and wolfSSL, with many more on the way.

On the hardware side, the Harmony framework makes it even easier to port code and migrate among all of Microchip's 32-bit PIC32 MCUs. And, by utilising this single source for in-house and supported third-party code, designers can greatly increase their reaction times to their ever-changing end market requirements.

"Our new PIC32MZ family was designed for high-end and next-generation embedded applications that require high levels of performance, memory and advanced-peripheral integration," said Rod Drake, director of Microchip's MCU32 Division."The PIC32MZ enables designers to add features such as improved graphics displays, faster real-time performance and increased security with a single MCU, lowering both cost and complexity. Alongside this sophisticated addition to our PIC32 portfolio, the MPLAB Harmony development framework also represents a powerful new tool for engineers grappling with the latest design challenges. Its software development approach is unmatched in the embedded industry. Quite simply, nobody else provides a single, comprehensive firmware development framework that enables designers to download and find support for such a broad range of pre-tested, interoperable software."