Floating-point MCUs suit energy-efficient applications

Jan. 12, 2011

2 min read

Bridging the gap between low-cost Piccolo and high-performance Delfino floating-point microcontrollers (MCUs), Texas Instruments Inc. announces its new low-cost TMS320F2806x Piccolo floating-point MCUs. The new Piccolo MCUs offer an enhanced math engine specifically designed to simplify programming and optimize performance in real-time control applications that may require integrated communications.

Developers of energy-efficient motor control and renewable energy applications can now use a single F2806x MCU to cost-effectively execute control loops as well as power line communications (PLC) protocols and modulation schemes. Balancing performance with the integration and ease-of-use inherent to MCUs, the new F2806x MCUs also deliver a broader range of connectivity and memory options and are backed by the company's robust tools and free controlSUITE software.

Key features and benefits:

Cutting-edge math engine comprised of 80 MHz floating-point C28x core, new Viterbi Complex Math Unit (VCU), and Control Law Accelerator (CLA) options
Floating-point core greatly eases programming, improves compatibility with meta-language tools, and improves performance by up to 40% over fixed point
New VCU complex math unit provides 75 tailored math instructions to accelerate processing of communications algorithms, such as those for PLC, by a factor of up to 7X
Increased communications and throughput via USB 2.0 full-speed (host and device), CAN, and direct memory access (DMA)
15+ MCUs provide an increased memory range of 52 to 100 KB RAM, 128 to 256 KB flash, as well as options for 80 and 100 pin packages
Control-oriented peripherals, including high resolution PWMs (150 ps), 3 MSPS 12-bit analog-to-digital converter, and three analog comparators with 10-bit reference
Low-cost F2806x controlSTICK and modular controlCARD enable easy evaluation with company's compatible experimenter and real-world hardware application development tools
Free controlSUITE software includes application and math libraries with source code as well as detailed documentation so developers can fully harness F2806x features
IQmath Library for code compatibility and scaling throughout the C2000 platform, including the low-cost Piccolo series and high-performance Delfino floating-point series

For more information, contact Texas Instruments Inc., 12500 TI Blvd., Dallas, TX 75243. Phone: (972) 644-5580.