Programmable power manager handles lower voltages

Lattice Semiconductor has extended its revolutionary ispPAC Power Manager programmable mixed-signal product family with the production release of the Precision Power Manager - Power1208P1 device.

Lattice Semiconductor has extended its revolutionary ispPAC Power Manager programmable mixed-signal product family with the production release of the Precision Power Manager - Power1208P1 device.

The Power1208P1 device, like its predecessor the Power1208, provides a complete solution for printed circuit board (PCB) power sequencing and management through an optimised set of programmable digital and analogue functions.

The Power1208P1 also extends the power and versatility of the Lattice Power Manager products: the analogue inputs are capable of monitoring power supplies with voltages down to 0.67V, and are able to detect faults with greater than 0.5% precision.

In addition, the Precision Power Manager can detect a power-off condition (ie power supply voltage less than 80mV).

The Power1208P1 is pin compatible with the existing Power1208, and is available in a compact 44-pin thin quad flatpack (TQFP) package.

The complexity of power supply management has increased dramatically in recent years as the number of voltages found on the typical PCB has risen sharply.

The use of core power supply voltages less than the standard 1.2V is becoming more common.

Further, advanced integrated circuit tolerance of power supply voltage variation is also tightening.

The ability of the Power1208P1 to simultaneously monitor all 12 power supply inputs provides rapid, accurate power supply fault detection, reducing fault propagation and consequently improving overall system reliability.

"Managing today's power supply voltages with greater precision can only be achieved by using mixed-signal devices with higher accuracy", said Stan Kopec, Lattice Vice President of Corporate Marketing.

"With the addition of the Power1208P1 device, designers can now employ our standardised power management approach that includes PCBs that use power supplies of 1.2V or less".

The Power1208P1 features 12 high precision analogue power monitor inputs.

Each analogue input has programmable threshold (384 steps plus power supply discharge detection) synchronous comparators with a fault detection precision of 0.5%.

In addition, the 1208P1 device is equipped with on-chip programmable voltage references for supply monitoring, four noise-immune digital inputs and four open-drain digital outputs for system control interfacing, four programmable timers with an on-chip 1MHz oscillator for delay control and a 16 macrocell complex PLD (CPLD) to implement sequencing and control functions.

The Power1208P1 is ruggedised to operate reliably in noisy power supply environments from 2.7 to 5.5V.

Lattice Power Manager devices provide a standard, off-the-shelf programmable mixed-signal solution for power management that enhances reliability and speeds time to market.

analogue features such as input comparator thresholds and digital functions such as supply control sequences are programmed into non-volatile E2CMOS elements on the devices using an IEEE1149.1 boundary scan protocol.

Applications for power manager devices include telecomms and networking systems, storage systems, servers, test equipment and automotive electronics.

Programmable features make power manager devices ideal for controlling multiple power supplies in conjunction with a wide range of regulator and switching technologies.

Together with N-channel switching FETs, LDO regulators, and/or DC/DC convertors (power bricks), the Power1208P1, Power1208 and Power604 devices provide compact, flexible power supply control solutions.

The Precision Power Manager device is supported by the latest version PAC-Designer software, an intuitive schematic design entry and simulation tool.

Complex sequencing and monitoring functionality can be efficiently designed through easy-to-use pull-down menus in PAC-Designer's LogiBuilder module.

The latest version of the tool features a new and improved instruction set that enables the user to implement complex functionality more efficiently.

Designs can be completely verified using the tool's built-in waveform simulator.

The PAC-Designer software is available for download from the Lattice website.

The PACsysPOWR1208P1 evaluation kit enables designers to quickly build prototypes of their circuit implementations using the Power1208P1 in order to verify functionality.

Designs implemented using the PAC-Designer software are downloaded into the device through a serial ispDownload cable that connects to a PC's parallel port.

The kit contains an evaluation board for an ispPAC Power Manager device, an ispDownload cable, and the PAC-Designer version 3.3 software.

Prices for the Power1208P1 device begin at $9.95 in 10,000 piece quantities.

The device in a 44-pin TQFP package (industrial temperature grade, -40 to +85C) is available now.

PACsysPOWR1208P1 evaluation kits are also available through authorised Lattice distributors or on the Lattice website at a price of $149.

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