Houston, Tex. — Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) has released a family of low-cost TMS320F2806x Piccolo floating-point microcontrollers (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, said TI.
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, said TI. The F2806x MCUs also deliver a broader range of connectivity and memory options that are supported by TI’s tools and free controlSUITE software.
Key features include:
— 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 eases programming, improves compatibility with meta-language tools, and improves performance by up to 40 percent 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 52-100KB RAM, 128-256 KB flash as well as options for 80 and 100 pin packages
— Control-oriented peripherals, including industry’s highest resolution PWMs (150 ps), 3 MSPS 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and 3 analog comparators with 10-bit reference
— Low-cost F2806x controlSTICK and modular controlCARD enable easy evaluation with TI’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
— IQmath Library for code compatibility and scaling throughout the C2000 platform, including the low-cost Piccolo series and high-performance Delfino floating-point series
Availability: Samples are available now.
Pricing: The Piccolo F2806x floating-point MCUs start at $4.95 in quantities of 1,000. An $11 promotional price will be available to the first 1,000 customers who order the F2806x controlSTICK through TI’s eStore before February 14, 2011. Typical pricing for the F2806x controlSTICK is $39.00. The F2806x Experimenter’s Kit is priced at $99.00.
Both the F2806x Experimenter’s Kit and controlSTICK include Code Composer Studio integrated development environment with no compiler or memory limitations. The F2806x controlCARD is priced at $59.00.
Resources: Piccolo F2806x floating-point MCUs video overview, white paper (What does it take to do real-time control?), VCU whitepaper, controlSUITE software, and TI MCU portfolio.