Toshiba intros 32bit RISC MCU for smart meters

Bangalore, India: Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. (TAEC) has launched the TMPM061, a new 32bit RISC microcontroller with an ARM Cortex-M0 processor core that is specifically designed for smart metering applications.

The microcontroller allows designers to replace the conventional two-chip analogue front end (AFE) and processor approach to smart meter design with a single IC. This helps designers to save in design footprint, component count and system cost.

As per Toshiba, ARM's smallest processor, the ARM Cortex-M0 delivers small silicon area, low power and minimal code footprint, which is ideal for smart meter designs. Toshiba has used this core for its microcontroller's main CPU, while deploying an on-board power calculation engine to simplify smart meter power measurement. Active energy, reactive energy and power factor can be calculated with the power calculation engine. Volatage and frequency fluctuation can also be monitored.

The basic energy use calculation function can be updated and modified bythe developer as necessary, enhancing design flexibility.

In addition to the power calculation engine, the TMPM061 offers a variety of on-board functions that minimise the component count of smart meter designs. These include a three-channel, high-precision 24 bit Delta-Sigma, analogue-to-digital converter (ADC), a 10bit ADC and a temperature-compensatedreal-time clock (RTC). The Delta-Sigma ADC supports simultaneous sampling at upto 6kHz and has a SINAD (signal-to-noise and distortion ratio) that is suitable for a residential meter.

Toshiba is providing the TMPM061 with up to 128KB of on-chip Flash ROM and 8KB of available on-chip RAM. Additional on-board peripherals include a 9-channel, 16bit timer, a controller for directly driving an LCD display, a temperature sensor, a voltage detection circuit and a watchdog timer. Integrated connectivity comprises a 5-channel general-purpose serial interface (selectable between UART mode and synchronous mode) and a serial bus interface.The latter offers a choice of I2C bus mode or synchronous mode operation.

The TMPM061FWFG comes in a 14mm x 14mm 100-pin LQFP package and will operate with input voltages from 1.8V to 3.6V. Maximum operating frequency is 16MHz. Four standby modes (IDLE, SLOW, SLEEP, STOP) ensure minimum power consumption for a range of conditions.

The new range of microcontroller series will be available from August 2012, with mass production scheduled for December 2012. Sample quantity pricing is Rs.183.25 each.