MCUs cut control system complexity and power

Low-power 16bit general purpose microcontrollers feature a high level of analogue integration to address the demands of control system design.

Texas Instruments has released five new families of MSP430F2xx high-performance microcontrollers, claimed to be the industry's lowest-power 16bit general purpose microcontrollers (MCUs).

The new microcontrollers provide a direct upgrade path for corresponding devices in TI's popular MSP430F1xx generation of ultra-low-power MCUs, easing development and offering complete software and pin compatibility while delivering twice the performance, twice the battery life and increased memory.

MSP430F2xx MCUs enable developers of meters, sensors, industrial control systems, handheld instruments and a host of other embedded systems to extend the performance and lifetime of their products with minimal redesign.

With a high level of analogue integration, TI's MSP430F2xx MCU architecture is designed for the requirements of a new generation of control systems.

The devices integrate on-chip memories of up to 120Kbyte, and a 20bit address word increases total addressable memory to 1Mbyte without paging, supporting the development of more complex programs.

A wide range of analogue and digital peripheral options enable enhanced features in end products while reducing system costs and power consumption.

For example, almost no battery drain occurs with standby power consumption as low as 0.5uA, and fast wake up from standby mode further reduces battery load.

The MCUs have a wide operating voltage range of 1.8 to 3.6V and a flexible clocking architecture that allows the designer to implement their select processing speed versus operating voltage.

Battery life and system cost are further optimised by achieving the full processor speed of 16MHz, at 3.3V, giving margin for the power supply design requirements.

The five new MCU families fulfill TI's commitment to providing a complete line of F2xx upgrades to its MSP430 customers.

On-chip options available among the devices include program memories up to 120Kbyte, three-channel direct memory access (DMA), eight-channel 12bit analogue-to-digital convertors (ADCs), and two-channel 12bit digital-to-analogue convertors (DACs).

A universal serial communications interface (UCSI) saves development time with a flexible implementation of standards that include I2C, SPI, IrDA and UART.

With up to 120Kbyte of Flash and 8Kbyte of RAM, the MSP430F241x and MSP430F261x are targeted for systems needing extensive processing capability, while the MSP430F24x and MSP430F23x are more general purpose devices.

Among the devices, the MSP430F2418 and MSP430F2618 are optimised for operation in low-power ZigBee networks, while the MSP430F2410 targets applications such as IEEE802.15.4 wireless networks and automatic meter reading.

"The release of the new MSP430F2xx MCU products offers more than upgrades to higher performance, lower power and more design flexibility to our MSP430 customers", says Kevin Belnap, MSP430 Product Marketing Manager.

"It also opens a new range of application possibilities for portable embedded control systems that require more memory as well as other systems that can benefit from the high level of analogue integration".

All five families are available now in volume quantities.

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