Floating-point MCUs suit energy-efficient applications

Jan. 12, 2011
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.

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.

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