VIEWPOINT
Dear Reader,
The electronica 2008, 23rd world´s
leading trade fair for electronic components, systems, and applications is
just a few weeks ahead and will take
place from November 11th to 14th in
the New Munich Fair Centre. To inform you about this important event
we created an electronica preview
starting at page 12 where you will find
all the information you need to plan
your visit for example how to save
money with your online registration.
Please note that there are new opening
times due to suggestions of exhibitors
and visitors, too. Of special interest for you might be the Embedded
Forum at electronica, a theatre-style presentation area located in Hall
A6, the dedicated “Embedded Hall”. At the Embedded Forum ICC
Media will stage a 4-day forum programme with half-hour presentations about technical and market trends, products, solutions, and
applications. The attendance of the Embedded Forum is free for all
electronica visitors. You´ll find the programme starting at page 14 and
can select the most interesting presentations for you.
32-bit MCU Solutions with
integrated TFT / LCD Controller
Saving energy – what also implies protecting the environment – is a big
issue today. Especially the manufacturers of appliances are looking for
new ways saving as much energy as possible. In our cover story the Flexis
MCU are described. This is a family of compatible 8- and 32-bit
microcontrollers which allows the designers to evaluate both options
before deciding the best choice for a given application. The 8-bit parts
offer the best in cost and code efficiency, while the 32-bit devices delivers
higher performance and integration, plus a migration path to other
Freescale microcontrollers. The cover story highlights the benefits the
Flexis AC family brings to appliance designs.
from Atmel with ARM926EJ and AVR32 AP7 Core technology.
Whether you use Embedded Linux, Windows® Embedded or
a Realtime OS with GUI, we offer you the best fit 32-bit platform
for your next application.
DMA supported integrated display controller with resolution up
to 2048 x 2048 pixel and 24-bit colour depth, graphic accelerator
and virtual screen buffer helps you realise highly integrated
and inexpensive graphical solutions.
One of the main applications in appliances is motor control – a perfect
example is a washing machine. Our FPGA & ASIC section shows that
more and more low-cost FPGAs are used to control motors in industrial applications due to cost reduction and flexibility. To reduce costs
Industrial Ethernet becomes used in industrial equipment that is highly interoperable, allowing it to be easily modified for new applications
or systems. The problem is – there are many Industrial Ethernet standards. Boards that carry a low-cost FPGA device and Ethernet PHY
transceivers can support any IE standard with appropriate hardware and
software IP. As the FPGA is programmable, it can be easily re-configured
to support any new protocol, this can be done at any time, even if the
device is in a machine already on the factory floor. But as the second article in this section shows there is already more integration with mixedsignal FPGAs. With mixed-signal FPGAs you can create an alternative
solution for industrial motor control. In combination with an integrated
soft processor these devices offer the ability to easily implement motor
designs for a wide range of motor types, at a cost attractive for most
applications.
ARM926EJ solutions with display controller
MCU
DMIPS SRAM USB
Ether- Misc.
net
BusLinux WinCE RTOS
interface
AT91SAM9261
210
160K
2 Host,
1 Dev.
-
Low Power
32-bit
Q
Q
Q
AT91SAM9261S
210
16K
2 Host,
1 Dev.
-
Low Cost
32-bit
Q
Q
Q
AT91SAM9263
240
96K
2 Host,
1 Dev.
1
CAN, AC97, 2 x 32-bit
Camera
Q
Q
Q
AT91SAM9RL64 210
64K
1 High
Speed
Dev.
-
Touch ADC, 32-bit
AC97
Q
AVR32 solutions with display controller
MCU
DMIPS SRAM USB
Ether- Misc.
net
BusLinux RTOS
interface by Atmel
AT32AP7000 210
32K
1 High Speed
Dev.
2
AC97, Camera
32-bit
Q
Q
AT32AP7002 210
32K
1 High Speed
Dev.
-
AC97, Camera
32-bit
Q
Q
AT32AP7200 280
64K
2 High Speed
Host + OTG
1
Touch ADC,
AC97, Media
PostProcessor
32-bit
Q
Q
For every MCU, MSC offers a reference board with on-board TFT
module and JTAG debug interface, as well as powerful BSPs.
Yours sincerely
Wolfgang Patelay
(Editor)
3
October 2008
V-9_2008-DJAN-4199
+49 4106 7764-15 . ATMEL@msc-ge.com
MSC Vertriebs GmbH
Industriestraße 16 · 76297 Stutensee
Tel.: +49 7249 910 - 0 · Fax +49 7249 7993
N www.msc-ge.com
CONTENTS
Viewpoint
Cover Story
3
8- and 32-bit compatible MCUs enable
energy-efficient appliances
Tools & Software
6
Exhibition Preview:
Embedded Systems at electronica 2008
FPGAs enable large power savings
for industrial motor control
28
42
44
Test & Measurement
Microcontrollers & DSPs
Low-cost direct display control with
embedded microcontrollers
Software bugs: prevention with CSE
tools is better than cure
Flexible system solutions for in-car
display instruments
FPGAs & ASICs
24
40
Automotive
12
Is motion control technology moving
from controllers to FPGAs?
Fine-grained memory protection
guarantees safe function integration
Automated station saves time in
DPI measurements on ICs
42
Product News
49
30
Motor Control
8-bit MCUs with PFC and FOC enable
efficient motor control
36
Are you ready for the low-power
market trend?
38
8- and 32-bit compatible MCUs enable
energy-efficient appliances
PAGE 6
Flexis MCUs enable the designer to evaluate both 8-bit and 32-bit
options before deciding on the best choice for a given application.
The 8-bit part offers the ultimate in cost and code efficiency, while
the 32-bit delivers higher performance and integration, plus a
migration path to other Freescale 32-bit microcontrollers.
Embedded validation using an
FPGA-based emulation board
PAGE 12
Worldwide trends and innovations in the electronics industry will
be presented during electronica 2008 at the New Munich Trade
Fair Center from November 11 to 14, 2008. Around 3,000
exhibitors and 78,000 visitors are expected to attend.
Is motion control technology moving
from controllers to FPGAs?
PAGE 24
Low-cost FPGAs offer not just better performance but also reduction in system costs and implementation times for motion control
applications.
Are you ready for the low-power
market trend?
Cover Photo
Freescale
October 2008
PAGE 38
New MCU families from NEC Electronics offer better power performance with 8-, 16- and 32-bit cores. These families are specifically designed for battery-operated devices, and cater for the
majority of industrial applications requiring low-power capabilities.
4
If it’s not INTEGRITY,
it’s not secure
®
INTEGRITY®
The Only Secure Operating System
Visit us
at Stan
d A6.4
07
www.ghs.com
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Copyright © 2008 Green Hills Software, Inc. Green Hills, the Green Hills logo and INTEGRITY are trademarks of Green Hills Software, Inc. in the U.S.and/or
internationally. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
COVER STORY
8- and 32-bit compatible MCUs enable
energy-efficient appliances
By Fraser McHenry, Freescale
Flexis MCUs enable
the designer to evaluate both
8-bit and 32-bit options
before deciding on the best
choice for a given application.
The 8-bit part offers
the ultimate in cost and
code efficiency, while
the 32-bit delivers higher
performance and integration,
plus a migration path to
other Freescale 32-bit
microcontrollers.
I The Flexis AC family features a range of
communications interfaces, on-chip analog
circuitry and a wide range of timers and gives
designers the freedom to migrate easily between
8-bit and 32-bit solutions through software and
hardware compatibility. The family is suitable
for a wide range of applications across the
industrial space, and this article highlights the
exceptional benefits the Flexis AC family brings
to appliance designs.
With the current global emphasis on environmental protection, energy efficiency and
sustainable resource management, the designers of embedded systems are being influenced
by a classic push-pull combination of market
forces. Consumers are becoming much more
environmentally aware and thereby creating a
market pull for more energy-efficient products.
In addition, governments are creating a market
push by introducing new legislation aimed at
conserving resources and reducing energy consumption. An example of such a market is appliances, where for more than 10 years Freescale
has been working with the world leaders in the
appliance market to develop more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products.
Today, microcontrollers provide the intelligence to every electronic solution. Across the
industrial market, improved energy efficiency is
driving increased demand for performance
and functionality, pushing designs up the miOctober 2008
crocontroller food chain. For experienced 8-bit
users, suppliers are expanding at the high-end
of the 8-bit portfolio with more powerful peripherals, faster CPUs, and extended memory
options. Some of what would traditionally be
considered as 8-bit MCU applications are migrating up the performance path, and combined with reduced costs are fueling the growth
in 32-bit microcontrollers.
The choice for the embedded system designer
in this instance is not an easy one. Do you look
to gain additional performance and functionality from your existing 8-bit architecture, a
product that the designer is familiar with and
has developed with in the past, but may not
fully meet the needs of the application? Or do
you move to a 32-bit architecture, which is just
as cost-effective and can guarantee the performance and functionality required in the application but is a completely new, more complicated, architecture that pushes up the program memory requirements and code size?
The choice is not as easy as some 32-bit microcontroller suppliers would have you believe,
especially when moving to a completely new
32-bit architecture. Designers that make the
leap are typically faced with a completely new
instruction set, different design methodology,
new peripherals with no backwards compatibility, new tools licenses or a completely new
6
tool chain. On the other hand, while remaining
in the 8-bit world is altogether more comfortable, some doubts may remain about the ability of 8-bit architecture to meet the application’s
demands. In the modern home, large appliances, such as the washing machine, dishwasher and refrigerator can all benefit from the
energy-saving characteristics of advanced
motor control technology. Consumers are not
only interested in saving energy costs but also in
reducing the environmental impact of electricity generating facilities.
Since the refrigerator is always on, it can consume up to 50 percent of the home energy
budget, with virtually all of that used to run the
compressor motor. Most refrigerators still use
a constant-speed on/off compressor. However,
variable speed compressors are gaining traction
in the market. They enable more efficient
cooling with precise temperature control, thus
reducing overall energy use. In addition, manufacturers are increasingly employing more
efficient brushless motors, which again reduce
the amount of energy consumed.
In washing machines, replacing low-end solutions, such as universal triac-driven motors
with newer 3-phase AC or permanent magnet
motors, greatly increases performance and
drive efficiency. The advanced control techniques enable shorter washing cycles, not only
MSP430
MSP430F5xx
Ultra-Low-Power MCUs
MSP430F5xx
Ultra-Low-Power MCUs
Highest performance and lowest active
power in one speedy very little package
Another MSP430 breakthrough in ultra-low-power MCU performance
Introducing the new MSP430F5xx generation of MCUs
The first devices in the new 5xx generation of ultralow-power MCUs extend the MSP430 benefits of
high-performance analog integration and ease of
design to a new level. The MSP430F54xx devices
offer industry-leading active power (as low as
160 µA/MHz) and 1.5-µA standby current (with full
RAM and status retention and a 32-bit RTC), all with
25 MHz of peak performance. Intelligent peripherals
like the 12-bit ADC draw power only when in
operation and an advance power-management
module and unified clock system allow the standby
and active currents to be dynamically adjusted.
Key benefits
s ,EADING PERFORMANCE
s Increased design options
s Complete ecosystem
Key applications
s -ETERING
s Security
s Portable Medical
s Industrial
s General Purpose
Part Number
Memory
(Flash/RAM)
Package
MSP430F5438IPZ
MSP430F5438IZQW
256/16KB
100-pin QFP
113 ball BGA
MSP430F5437IPN
256/16KB
80-pin QFP
MSP430F5436IPZ
MSP430F5436IZQW
192/16KB
100-pin QFP
113 ball BGA
MSP430F5435IPN
192/16KB
80-pin QFP
MSP430F5419IPZ
MSP430F5419ZQW
128/16KB
100-pin QFP
113 ball BGA
MSP430F5418IPN
128/16KB
80-pin QFP
Get more information and order samples today at
www.ti.com/5xx-e
The platform bar is a trademark of Texas Instruments. ©2008 TI.
2233A1
COVER STORY
32-bit option before deciding on the best part
for the application. The 8-bit part offers the ultimate in cost and code efficiency, whereby the
32-bit solution delivers higher performance and
integration, as well as a continued migration
path in the other 32-bit microcontrollers from
Freescale. In addition, the scalability and ease of
migration that the Flexis series delivers means it
is the perfect choice when designers are tasked to
develop a series of end applications with differing cost, functionality and performance levels.
The 8-bit Flexis family is based on the S08 core
from Freescale that runs up to 50 MHz core/25
MHz bus. The 32-bit Flexis family is based on
the ColdFire Version 1 (V1) core that runs up
to 50 MHz core/25 MHz bus, although the 32bit V1ColdFire core is designed to achieve 10
times the throughput of the S08 core. On top of
the devices’ pin and peripheral compatibility,
developers also do not need to worry about
changing tools suites. CodeWarrior IDE provides a single easy-to-use IDE for both the 8-bit
part and the 32-bit part. It provides a single integrated tool suite designed to get you on the
design fast track with RS08, HC(S)08 and V1
ColdFire members of the Freescale Controller
Continuum. The CodeWarrior IDE goes well
beyond basic code generation and debugging it provides built-in features and utilities so you
can deliver better quality products to market
faster.
Figure 1. Block diagram of the Flexis AC128 and AC256 MCUs
Figure 2. The DEMOACKIT simplifies MCU development.
saving electric energy but also reducing water
consumption as well. The Freescale Controller
Continuum provides stepwise compatibility up
and down the performance spectrum. Designers can choose to enter the Controller Continuum at the ultra-low-end RS08 family of
MCUs, the more sophisticated 8-bit S08 devices
or the top-of-the-line 32-bit Coldfire embedded
controllers - each step has family members that
share packaging, peripherals or pin-outs with
the Controller Continuum. Add common software and hardware tools, and you have true
stepwise compatibility, even across the 8- to 32bit boundary. When optimizing for performance, if price and functionality change your requirements from 8-bit to 32-bit, or vice-versa,
October 2008
it is as easy as swapping controllers on the same
board and recompiling code. This connection
point between 8- and 32-bit at the center of the
Controller Continuum is our Flexis series of
MCUs. This series of MCUs is where the S08
and Coldfire V1 microcontroller duos share a
common set of peripherals and development
tools to deliver the ultimate in migration flexibility. You can quickly move from an 8-bit design to a 32-bit design in just a handful of clicks,
perfect for developing a portfolio of products
that span the performance spectrum.
A key benefit is that with Flexis MCUs, the designer has the ability to fully evaluate both the
typical 8-bit option and the higher performance
8
The Flexis AC family boasts an intelligent
combination of on-chip peripherals suited to
designing energy efficient appliances. The
product family is also scalable and flexible
enough to meet the needs of the different application areas within an appliance such as
motor control and human-machine interface
(HMI). The 8-bit MC9S08AC family ranges
from 8 Kbytes through 128 Kbytes of flash
memory, with up to 8 Kbytes of RAM. It is supported in 32LQFP, 44LQFP, 48QFN, 64 QFP,
64LQFP, and 80LQFP package options. The 32bit ColdFire MCF51AC family starts at 128
Kbytes and goes up to 256 Kbytes of flash memory, with up to 32 Kbytes of RAM and is supported in 64QFP, 64LQFP, and 80LQFP package
options. The integrated flash memory is programmable across the whole operating range of
the device, allowing the user to take full advantage of the in-application, reprogrammability benefits in virtually any environment, and
can be used for EEPROM emulation.
The flash memory is specified to 10,000
write/erase cycles over temperatures from -40 to
+125°C, and 100,000 write/erase cycles typical
at 25°C. It is also guaranteed for 15 years data
retention at 125°C, and 100 years typical at
25°C. The MCU family supports a broad range
of communication protocols typically used in
large appliance system designs, offering on-chip
COVER STORY
SPI, IIC and two SCI modules. The SCI modules are designed to simplify development of
LIN systems by enabling LIN break detection
and synchronization without the use of an
external timer channel. In addition the ColdFire
MCUs also feature a controller area network
(CAN) bus for network connectivity. To enhance system integrity, security and reliability,
the Flexis AC MCUs integrate a wide range of
hardware and software system protection features. A watchdog timer (COP module) with an
independent clock provides a safety mechanism
to monitor the flow of software, interrupt
handling and execution, and the CPU clock.
The CRC engine is designed to provide a fast
mechanism for testing flash memory and
checking serial communication protocols, such
as serial communications interface (SCI), interintegrated circuit (I2C) and serial peripheral
interface (SPI).
The devices can be enabled with system integrity software which includes periodic test
routines for CPU register, program counter,
hardware and software cyclic redundancy check
(CRC) engines, RAM March X and C, and independent watchdog timeout. These software
routines have been certified by the VDE Institute and are designed to enable manufacturers
to accelerate their development time by achieving compliance the with Class B IEC 60730 regulation for safe, reliable operation of electronic controls in household appliances. Additional features, such as active power-on reset, low
voltage detection and low voltage warning, help
protect against system failure caused by
brownouts. These on-chip features make the
MCU family one of the most robust MCU offerings in its class. The Flexis AC devices have
key peripherals such as analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and advanced timer modules that
span the performance requirements needed in
appliances from basic through to advanced
motor control. The 10-bit ADC used on both
the 8-bit and 32-bit Flexis AC devices has up to
16 channels available and has a 10-bit single
conversion time of 2.5µs.
The BLDC motor is very popular in appliance
because it is very reliable and achieves a high
level of efficiency by generating the rotor magnetic flux with rotor magnets. The 8-bit S08AC
devices feature three independent 16-bit
timer/pulse-width modulator modules (TPM),
one of which has up to 6 channels. This makes
it suited to controlling a 3-phase brushless DC
(BLDC) motor as the 6-channel TPM module
allows the generation of any pulse width modulation (PWM) pattern for any 3-phase motor
control. The ADC evaluates back-EMF, zerocrossing detection without any external comparators and senses other analog quantities
necessary for BLDC motor control. The ColdFire V1 AC devices offer enhanced performance
and peripherals to handle more sophisticated
motor control algorithms, while simultaneously
driving touch-screen user interfaces based on
proximity sensing software. As a result developers need only one 32-bit Flexis MCU to drive
the entire appliance application, which helps reduce component count, system cost and time to
market.
The 32-bit MCF51AC devices have introduced
a new timer module into the portfolio. The
FlexTimer module (FTM) is an evolution of the
existing TPM module and is designed to simplify the control of advanced motors. From a
motor control perspective it brings new features
such as complementary signal generation, dead
time generation, mask, polarity and fault
control, which are features usually found on
dedicated PWM modules for motor control.
The FlexTimer simplifies calculation of PWM
signals (automatic complementary signal generation and dead time insertion) and significantly enhances safety of PWM generation and
of the whole application (automatic complementary signal generation, dead time insertion
and fault control). The devices provide the capability to synchronize the analog-to-digital
controller (ADC) and the FlexTimer module
for best-in-class motor control enabling shorter washing cycle times, not only improving
Low on Power High on Features
Controller Solutions for today's low power demands
In response to today's relentless demands for reduced power consumption products,
Holtek has released its all new TinyPower A/D with LCD series of 8-bit microcontrollers.
In the application of its TinyPower technology, Holtek offers a range of devices with
extremely low power requirements to meet the demands for more environmentally
friendly products. This combination of low power characteristics and versatile range
of internal functions give these devices a broad application area some of which could
include utility metering, electrical appliances and instrumentation, to name but a few.
10 - pin MCU
USB MCU
Dual Slope MCU
Power
Management
EEPROM
TinyPowerTM MCU
Operating Voltage Range: 2.2V ~ 5.5V
Ultra Low Power Consumption
Industrial Specifications:- 40℃ ~ + 85℃
Fast Wake-up Time
Part No.
Program
Data
I/O
LCD
HT56R62
2K x14
128x8
20
19x4/20x3
Segment shared
Output
16
Flash MCU
UART MCU
Audio MCU
Phone MCU
Multiple Power Down Modes and Clock Sources
High Speed A/D converter
Timer
RTC
ADC
PWM
SPI/I2C
Package
8-bitx2
V
12-bitx6
12-bitx3
V
52QFP/64LQFP
52QFP/64LQFP
100QFP
HT56R64
4K x15
192x8
24
32x4/33x3
24
8-bitx1,16-bitx1
V
12-bitx8
12-bitx4
V
HT56R65
8K x16
576x8
24
40x4/41x3
24
8-bitx2,16-bitx1
V
12-bitx8
12-bitx4
V
HT56R66
16K x16
1152x8
32
48x4/49x3
24
8-bitx3,16-bitx1
V
12-bitx8
12-bitx4
V
HT56R67
32K x16
2304x8
32
48x4/49x3
24
8-bitx3,16-bitx1
V
12-bitx8
12-bitx4
V
HT56R642
HT56R644
HT56R654
HT56R656
HT56R666
HT56R668
HT56R678
4K x15
4K x15
8K x16
8K x16
16K x16
16K x16
32K x16
384x8
576x8
1152x8
1152x8
1152x8
2304x8
2304x8
24
24
24
24
24
24
24
16x16/24x8
32x16/40x8
32x16/40x8
48x16/56x8
48x16/56x8
64x16/72x8
64x16/72x8
16
24
24
24
24
24
24
8-bitx1,16-bitx1
8-bitx1,16-bitx1
8-bitx2,16-bitx1
8-bitx2,16-bitx1
8-bitx3,16-bitx1
8-bitx3,16-bitx1
8-bitx3,16-bitx1
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
12-bitx8
12-bitx8
12-bitx8
12-bitx8
12-bitx8
12-bitx8
12-bitx8
12-bitx4
12-bitx4
12-bitx4
12-bitx4
12-bitx4
12-bitx4
12-bitx4
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
52QFP/64LQFP
100QFP
52QFP/64LQFP
100QFP
52QFP/64LQFP
100QFP
64LQFP
100QFP
100QFP
100QFP
100QFP
100QFP/128QFP
100QFP/128QFP
Holtek Semiconductor Inc.
4F-2, No.3-2 BLD H, St.Yuan-Qu, NanKang Software Park,
Taipei, 115, Taiwan R.O.C.
Tel:+886-2-26557070 Fax:+886-2-26557383
www.holtek.com.tw/english/contact/contact.htm
9
October 2008
COVER STORY
feature is critical for debugging MCU-based
systems without interfering with software
execution. To help developers get their boards
up and running quickly and easily, the DEMOACKIT is offered, a flexible and cost-effective evaluation system for the Flexis AC family.
It contains the 8- and 32-bit Flexis AC daughter cards and includes a built-in USB BDM,
LEDs, a serial port, an acceleration sensor and
an I/O header.
Interchangable Daughter Cards for the 8-bit and 32-bit solutions allow designers to easily
evaluate both devices.
energy efficiency but also reducing water consumption. It is therefore well suited to controlling advanced motors such as ACIM/PMSM
which are gaining in popularity within the
appliance segment. Freescale offers a comprehensive support and training ecosystem of development tools, reference designs, application
notes, software examples and webcasts. The
Flexis AC devices offer an on-chip background
debug mode (BDM) system and in-circuit
emulation (ICE) with real-time bus capture capability providing a single wire debugging and
emulation interface that eliminates the need for
expensive emulation tools. This capability enables developers to perform non-intrusive debugging and emulation on the fly. The BDM
The DEMOACEX expansion board is also offered, which plugs into the DEMOACKIT and
allows developers to take advantage of the additional performance and integration features,
such as CAN, offered by the 32-bit solution.
The Flexis AC MCUs are supported by a complimentary version of CodeWarrior Development Studio for Microcontrollers v6.1, an
integrated tool suite that supports software development for Freescale 8-bit or 32-bit MCUs.
Designers can further accelerate applications
development with the help of the Processor
Expert tool, a rapid application development
tool in the CodeWarrior tool suite. I
Product News
I AMCC: 10Gb physical layer device
selected by comms companies
AMCC announces that several communications companies, including MergeOptics, MitelTeleoptix, and NetXen, have selected its QT2025
10-Gigabit per second physical layer device to
enable higher-speed communications systems.
These applications are being showcased at
AMCC’s booth at ECOC 2008. MergeOptics
has chosen the company’s 10-Gigabit Ethernet
Physical Layer integrated circuit technology for
use in high-speed optical X2 module connectivity solutions for data transfer applications.
News ID 474
I Holtek: 8-bit RISC architecture MCU
for high speed applications
Holtek announces a new R-F type 8-bit microcontroller, the HT47C06L. The device has a
working voltage of 1.2V~2.2V, a Program
Memory capacity of 1K*16, Data Memory capacity of 32 Bytes, up to 8 I/O lines, a 39-pixel
LCD driver, a 16-bit timer and a single channel
R-F converter function. The R-F function within the HT47C06L converts a resistance value to
a frequency, a function which can be used to
measure resistance values and then in turn used
to control motion or to display information
making it especially suitable for use in applications which require measurement and display
functions such as scales, temperature and huOctober 2008
midity meters, temperature and humidity controllers as well as other small scale household
electrical appliances.
News ID 1663
I Gleichmann: low power 16-bit
all flash MCUs
The 22 16-bit all flash microcontrollers of the
78K0R/Kx3-L series from NEC Electronics
distributed by Gleichmann Electronics feature
low power and high performance. Recent
measurements resulted in a current consumption of just 0.52 mA/MIPS at 20 MHz clock frequency. The dedicated real-time clock function
requires only 1.0 µA in standby operation
with a performance of 0.65 DMIPS/MHz.
News ID 463
I Toshiba: ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller
for digital AV applications
Toshiba has announced a general-purpose
ARM Cortex-M3 core-based microcontroller
suitable for digital AV applications. The
device is the first in a full line-up of CortexM3 devices that will become available during
2009. The new TMPM330FDFG generalpurpose microcontroller with ARM 32-bit
CPU for embedded applications has an
HDMI-CEC channel enabling interdependent control of digital AV applications
10
through a single cable. It also has a function
for handling a remote control signal. Signals
such as CEC signals and remote control
signals that support various formats have
conventionally been processed in software.
Now these signals can be processed by hardware under conditions where the host CPU
is stopped, thereby reducing the standby
power consumption.
News ID 512
I IPSO Alliance: use of IP in networks
of smart objects
A group of technology vendors and users have
formed the IP for Smart Objects Alliance,
whose goal is promoting the Internet Protocol
as the networking technology best suited for
connecting sensor- and actuator-equipped or
"smart" objects and delivering information
gathered by those objects. Smart objects are
objects in the physical world that ‘ typically
with the help of embedded devices ‘ transmit
information about their condition or environment to locations where the information
can be analyzed, correlated with other data
and acted upon. Applications range from automated and energy-efficient homes and office
buildings, factory equipment maintenance
and asset tracking to hospital patient monitoring and safety and compliance assurance.
News ID 438
Hammer Down Your Power Consumption with picoPower™!
THE Performance Choice for Lowest-Power
Microcontrollers
Performance and power consumption have always been key elements in the development of AVR® microcontrollers. Today’s
increasing use of battery and signal line powered applications makes power consumption criteria more important than ever.
To meet the tough requirements of modern microcontrollers, Atmel® has combined more than ten years of low power research and
development into picoPower technology.
picoPower enables tinyAVR®, megaAVR® and XMEGA™ microcontrollers to achieve the industry’s lowest power consumption. Why be satisfied with
microamps when you can have nanoamps? With Atmel MCUs today’s embedded designers get systems using a mere 650 nA running a real-time
clock (RTC) and only 100 nA in sleep mode. Combined with several other innovative techniques, picoPower microcontrollers help you reduce your
applications power consumption without compromising system performance!
Visit our website to learn how picoPower can help you hammer down the power consumption of your next designs. PLUS, get a chance to apply
for a free AVR design kit!
http://www.atmel.com/picopower/
© 2008 Atmel Corporation. All rights reserved. Atmel®, logo and Everywhere You Are® are registered trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries.
Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.
Exhibition Preview:
Embedded Systems at electronica 2008
Worldwide trends
and innovations in
the electronics industry
will be presented during
electronica 2008 at
the New Munich
Trade Fair Center from
November 11 to 14, 2008.
Around 3,000 exhibitors and
78,000 visitors are
expected to attend.
I The motto of the trade fair is “Get the whole
picture“. In 14 exhibition halls the world’s
leading trade fair for components, systems
and applications will present the complete
spectrum of electronics ranging from semiconductors, embedded systems, displays, sensor
technology, measuring and test equipment,
and electromechanics/system peripherals
(previously classified under interconnection
systems/components, switches, relays, keyboards and casing technology) through to
electronic design. The Focus Areas - automotive, wireless, embedded systems und micronano systems – will be presented by means of
separate exhibition sections and a series of talks.
Two 2-day conferences will also be held on the
subjects of automotive and wireless.
During electronica, Messe München and ICC
Media will be staging a 4-day program with
technical presentations in the “Embedded
Forum“ which is located in the exhibition hall
A6 (Embedded Hall). Access to the presentation
in the Embedded Forum is free of charge to all
electronica visitors.
According to the “Study of Worldwide Trends
and R&D Programmes in Embedded Systems”
by the European Community, the importance of
ES for Europe is creasing. Europe is today a
major player in the field of Embedded Systems.
While the US is the worldwide leader in the area
of traditional computing and data processing,
Europe has driven the revolution in ES.
Embedded Systems play a growing role in
research and development (R&D) and in the
economy of modern states as well. Its share in
the overall R&D activities in Europe was 9% in
2003 and will reach 14% in 2009. But Europe, although being a major ES player, may lose its
leading position to the US due to the imbalance
of money invested during the last decades. This
New electronica opening times
In line with the suggestions of exhibitors and visitors, the organising company "Messe
München" has changed the opening times of the exhibition this year. Consequently, the trade
fair pavilions are open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on the first two days and exhibitors will be
available to the international public between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on "Long Thursday". On the
last day, the fair closes its gates earlier, at 5 p.m.
October 2008
12
might even threaten the competitiveness of
European industries, where innovation is deeply
influenced by Embedded Systems. This is the
most outstanding result of this study. Embedded
Systems have become a key factor in domains
like automotive, industrial automation and
medical devices. In these domains – at the same
time – the European industry is currently
leading the market. Therefore, Embedded
Systems are already a massive economic factor
that can help to maintain European competitiveness in these and other high-technology
areas. The value added by embedded electronics of a car will increase from 20% now to
35-40% by 2015.
The enormous potential of Embedded Systems
for Europe’s economic development is documented by the comparison of the world
market’s estimated growth-rate in ES of 14%
p.a. between 2004 and 2009 and the average
annual growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP) of 4% between 1999 and 2002. The
importance of Embedded Systems is evidenced
even more by comparison of the electronics and
the ES market. The number of microprocessors,
for example, is estimated to double between
2000 and 2010, which would result in nearly 3
embedded devices per person on earth. Today
98% of all processors produced are used in
Embedded Systems. I
Hall A6 - Stand 107
Hall A1 - Stand 429
I Freescale: PowerQUICC III processor for embedded media
processing
Freescale has introduced the MPC8536E PowerQUICC III processor. The
advanced power and energy management features of the MPC8536E
tackle next-generation embedded media processing while enabling designers to address environmental and energy specifications. For instance,
printers and other office automation equipment must demonstrate certain environmental benefits and energy usage efficiencies in order to qualify for the ENERGY STAR program. The advanced power management
features of the MPC8536E address this challenge by pacing energy usage
according to the required workload, thus enabling OEMs to significantly decrease energy usage for their end products.
I MathWorks: latest version of MATLAB and Simulink
The MathWorks will be launching the latest version of MATLAB and Simulink
at this year’s electronica 2008. On its stand The MathWorks will present a
number of product demos on Model-Based Design and its use within simulation, test and measurement and HDL code generation. In addition, The
MathWorks will be conducting a series of short lectures and presentations on
the use of Model-based design. The Model-Based Design tools of The MathWorks support new and advanced methods for the development of complex
embedded systems. In the embedded space, Model-Based Design tool support
more and more domains for a fast generation of system models, formalisation of verification and validation on the model level or the automatic code
generation out of the prototype model and the final implementation.
News ID 412
News ID 489
Online ticket registration
for visitors saves money
and time
If you register for electronica 2008 early at
www.electronica.de, you can save 20
percent by comparison with the regular
entrance prices. This is because a day
ticket costs 26 euros if ordered on the
Internet instead of 32.50 euros. A fourday ticket valid for all days of the event
costs 60 euros instead of 75 euros. You pay
conveniently and safely by credit card.
Holders of guest tickets or e-guest tickets
can also use such tickets on the same
Internet link even before the fair starts.
After ordering the entrance ticket to electronica online, the user automatically
receives an e-mail containing a link to his
or her personal ticket voucher. This
voucher must be printed out and taken
with you to electronica. Very practical:
even en route to the New Munich Trade
Fair Centre, this printout can be used as
a ticket for all means of public transport
(MVV). At the entrance to electronica,
the voucher can be exchanged quickly
and easily for a full entrance ticket.
Visitors already registered have a separate
entrance area. You thus avoid any queues
and can go straight away to what interests
you without any delay.
78K0R/Kx3-L Ultra Low Power Microcontrollers:
Nothing lasts forever?
It‘s not just battery lifetimes that benefit from the 16-bit
78K0R/Kx3-L microcontroller. Alongside industry-leading
power-performance at 1.5 mW/MIPS, consuming just 0.52 mA/
MIPS at 20 MHz, plus similarly impressive lower speed and
low power modes, designers also benefit from innovations
in on-chip integration and flexibility of supply voltage:
m 1 MHz/8 MHz/20 MHz high accuracy oscillator circuits
m High speed, high accuracy A/D’s
m x1 to x12 programmable gain amplifier and multiple
comparator channels on-chip
m Real-time clock requiring just 1 µA stand-by current
m Flash programming across 1.8 to 5.5 V supply range
Kx3-L – One of more than 60 microcontrollers from our
78K0R family: from 16 kB up to 512 kB Flash. From 44- up
to 144-pins. From low power to high performance.
Order your ticket by 30 October and win
a self-fly helicopter flight. Every visitor
who registers on the Internet for electronica 2008 by 30 October is entered in
a competition: the organising company,
"Messe München", is raffling a self-fly
helicopter flight by Jochen Schweizer
Events – of course accompanied by an
experienced flight instructor – or an
Amazon.com voucher to a value of 359
euros.
www.eu.necel.com/78K
13
October 2008
Hall A4 - Stand 375
I Actel to demonstrate miniature motor
control with Icicle Kit
At Electronica 2008, Actel will highlight its
focus on power. For power-sensitive portable
applications, Actel will demonstrate miniature motor control and human machine interface functionality using its cell-phone-sized
Actel Icicle Kit, which leverages the company's
award-winning, ultra-low power IGLOO
FPGAs. Visitors to the booth will also see the
company's mixed-signal Fusion FPGAs operating in a MicroTCA chassis. Also demonstrated will be the FPGA-optimized ARM CortexM1 processor running on Fusion to show current, temperature and voltage monitoring and
other intelligent system and power management functionalities in a single chip.
News ID 497
Hall A5 - Stand 506
I Infineon: XC2300 MCUs with enhanced
safety features
Infineon introduces a new series of microcontrollers for use in automotive safety applications
that incorporate innovative features to comply
with state-of-the-art automotive safety standards. The new XC2300A series of the XC2300
family provides 32-bit performance and a rich
peripheral feature set and, with its newly added
enhanced safety features, is further optimized
for use in airbag systems and power-steering
applications. The members of the XC2300A series provide an application-proven and rich set
of peripherals as well as specific features designed to support failure-free operation of the
electronic control unit by detecting and in some
cases avoiding unplanned and undesired system
behavior.
News ID 507
Hall A1 - Stand 658
I ASSET to exhibit open tools for embedded
instrumentation
At Electronica 2008 ASSET InterTech will be exhibiting its open tools for embedded instrumentation, including the ScanWorks platform
which offers solutions for boundary scan
(JTAG), emulation, signal integrity on highspeed serial I/O buses, and chip/board/system
validation, test and debug. ASSET InterTech is
a supplier of open tools for embedded instrumentation to engineers doing design validation,
test and debug. The ScanWorks platform provides automation, access and analysis tools in
one environment. Users can quickly and easily
validate and test semiconductors, circuit boards
or entire systems during every phase of a
product's life, including design, manufacturing/repair and field maintenance.
News ID 493
Hall A4 - Stand 542
I ALPS: focus on extensive sensor range
ALPS ELECTRIC EUROPE will again participate in this year's electronica showcasing its latest portfolio addressing demanding, reliable and
cost effective applications with particular focus
on its latest extensive range of Sensors. Other
displayed items will include automotive, communications and electromechanical components, magnetic devices, thermal and photo
printers as well as numerous other products
which emphasize the company's huge commitment for interaction between user and product.
Besides the presentation of standard products,
ALPS will show by means of several customer
applications and live demonstrations both current state-of-the-art technology and near future
advanced concepts ranging from Pb Free Micro
Lenses for Optical Communication to E-Field
Communication Modules.
News ID 490
Hall A3 - Stand 507
I Memphis develops Intel certified
server modules
Memphis Electronic will develop special certificated modules in the area of server and hightech. At electronica 2008 Memphis will present
the first Fully Buffered Dual Inline Memory
Module (FBDIMM) with Intelcertification.
The FBDIMM technology has been specially
developed for the server market and offers the
advantage that despite increasing memory
clock frequency, the maximum storage extension of a system can be raised. The storage
modules are linked over a serial bus and have a
buffer on each module. The Intel-certification
attests that the server modules are compatible
with Intel-servers, work under full load and
have no design or mechanical defects.
News ID 508
Hall C3 - Stand 317
I Fujitsu: low pin-count 8-bit
microcontroller
Fujitsu has announced the MB95200 low pincount series, an extension of its 8-bit microcontroller family, F²MC-8FX. The series of single-chip standard microcontrollers with 8 24
pins is powered by an optimised core, with low-
leakage technology and embedded flash. Fast
processing and low power consumption make
the devices suitable for use in white goods such
as washing machines, refrigerators, ovens and air
conditioning units as well as for small household
appliances and consumer products such as
shavers, cordless phones and remote controls.
News ID 402
Hall A1 - Stand 506
I Altium: live product demonstrations
at electronica 2008
Altium will reveal the secrets to next-generation
electronics design at electronica 2008. The live
demonstrations will show how engineers, regardless of experience or background, can deliver
sustainable differentiation through innovation in
electronics design. Altium will be previewing the
latest features in its unified solution, and how it
can exploit today’s low-cost, high-performance
FPGA devices. Demonstrations will focus on the
Innovation Station, Altium’s complete off-theshelf solution that places intelligent devices at the
centre of the design process. By using the Altium
Innovation Station, engineers are no longer
constrained to a hardware configuration or a
pre-determined programmable device. Because
Altium’s solution works on a single data model,
previously separate design disciplines are intrinsically linked. Changes can be made to the
design without the documentation and formatting issues that often inhibit innovation.
News ID 492
Hall A4 - Stand 420
I TI: DAC with 18-bit monotonic performance
TI has introduced the highest accuracy digitalto-analog converter, which features 18-bit monotonic performance, 2 LSBintegral nonlinearity, 1 LSB differential nonlinearity. Delivered
in a small QFN-24 package, the DAC9881 enables customers to increase system performance
and simplify designs in precision industrial applications such as automatic test equipment, instrumentation, process control, data acquisition
and communications systems. Developed on
TI’s HPA07 high-performance analog CMOS
process technology, the DAC9881 enables customers to achieve higher levels of system performance in industrial applications, such as the
18-bit monotonic performance guarantees stability in closed-loop applications, such as industrial process control, low linearity error, low
noise and 4x more granularity than 16-bit.
News ID 428
Hall A2 - Stand M07
Hall A4 - Stand 560
I NEC: 8’bit microcontrollers with
I Microchip: demo board for touch-sensing
built’in Flash memory
NEC Electronics has announced that it starts
sample shipments of 18 new models of its 8’bit
microcontroller with built’in Flash memory.
These products are ideally suited to ancillary
functions as sub’microcontrollers, such as controlling small battery’powered systems, managing
power to reduce the standby power of home appliances and the like, and controlling key input.
applications
Microchip has announced the PICDEM Touch
Sense 2 Demo Board (Part DM164128) for capacitive touch-sensing applications. The easyto-use board comes with the royalty-free
mTouch Sensing Solution Software Development Kit and is populated with a 16-bit
PIC24FJ256GB110 microcontroller, which features an integrated Charge Time Measurement Unit peripheral for fast capacitive touch
sensing. This is also the world’s first 16-bit
MCU family with USB On-The-Go.
News ID 414
Hall A5 - Stand 207
I ST: advanced motor-control algorithms
for STM32 MCU
STMicroelectronics, has extended its library of
functions supporting vector control of electric
motors using the 32-bit STM32 microcontroller, with turnkey algorithms supporting single-shunt sensorless control, control of IPM
motors, and field-weakening controls for
PMSM motors. ST’s Cortex-M3 based STM32
MCU has already been designed into approximately 40 customer motor-control applications.
News ID 405
Hall A4 - Stand 420
I TI: video development platform
with TNETV3020
Texas Instruments has announced a video development platform that enables media gateway
equipment manufacturers as well as the broadcast community to build customized multichannel video solutions for next-generation
video applications. Combining TI’s
TNETV3020 multicore digital signal processor
(DSP), open-framework video software and a
reference board, this video development platform reduces development time for multimedia
processing equipment manufacturers.
News ID 415
Hall A5 - Stand 576
I Digi-Key and HI-TECH announce worldwide
distribution agreement
Digi-Key and HI-TECH Software have announced a global agreement for the distribution
of HI-TECH Software’s development tools.
HI-TECH is a provider of development tools for
embedded systems, offering compilers, RTOS,
and an Eclipse-based IDE for 8-, 16-, and 32-bit
microcontroller and DSP chip architectures.
HI-TECH products stocked by Digi-Key are
available for purchase directly from Digi-Key.
News ID 447
News ID 407
Hall A6 - Stand S02
I pls presents enhanced version of
Universal Debug Engine
pls Programmierbare Logik & Systeme presents
version of its Universal Debug Engine 2.4 at
electronica 2008 in Area A6, Both S02. The
UDE 2.4 also immediately supports NXP Semiconductor’s LPC32x0 microcontroller family,
which is designed for demanding industrial,
consumer, medical and network applications.
The devices are designed for up to 208 MHz
system clock and are based on an ARM9EJ-S
core with Embedded Trace Module and integrated Vector Floating Point coprocessor.
News ID 413
Hall A4 - Stand 159
I ADI unveils new high-speed
converter family at electronica
Analog Devices will unveil a new family of
high-speed converters and discuss additions to
its Blackfin and SHARC families of processors
at electronica 2008. ADI will also introduce its
latest iSensor and iMEMS intelligent sensor
products. The company will have a range of
demonstrations that represent industry-leading
innovations driving emerging applications in
automotive, industrial, medical and consumer
markets. The demonstrations will also highlight
ADI’s converter and embedded/convergent
processing and DSP technology.
News ID 495
Hall A5 - Stand 321
I Ramtron: European debut for F-RAM
memory devices
At Electronica 2008, Ramtron will debut the new
V-Family of high-speed and power flexible FRAM memory devices, which offer a lower operating voltage (2.0V to 3.6V) and integrated fea-
M
tures that reduce board space as well as assembly
and device costs. Applications suitable for the
new V-Family F-RAM devices include medical,
automotive, industrial control, robotics, utility
metering, RAID controllers, and industrial PCs.
News ID 494
Hall B4 - Stand 425
I Yamaichi: Bluetooth USB dongle for
industrial Y-Con series
Yamaichi announces the Y-ConBluetoothDongle-1, a IP67/68/69K device for wireless
data transmission according to the Bluetooth
SIG 2.0 standard. Y-ConBluetooth-Dongle-1 is
a Class 2 device working on 2.4 GHz, with a
maximum data rate of 3 Mbit/s. The built in
antenna allows a range of ca. 10 m. The operating temperature range is -10 C to +80 C, and
the USB interface connector has a durability of
ca. 1,500 mating cycles.
News ID 485
Hall A6 - Stand 642
I Vector: enhanced version of calibration
and diagnostic tool
Vector has extended its CANape measurement, calibration and diagnostic tool for optimal parameterization of ECUs. Version 7.0 has
extended measurement data acquisition options
and comprehensive diagnostic capabilities. Developers of FlexRay ECUs will benefit from the
FIBEX Explorer and dynamic allocation of XCP
bandwidth. The multi-recorder concept enables
parallel configuration of different measurements, and measurements can be started or
stopped independently of one another.
News ID 450
Hall A3 - Stand 431
I Anders extends intelligent colour
display platform offering
Anders Electronics will be announcing an extension to its UMR family of intelligent colour display platforms at electronica. The latest platform
will significantly extend the range of functionality and price points for designers and integrators
looking to incorporate colour TFT-LCD and
enhanced features into embedded applications.
The UMR family of intelligent colour display platforms has been developed to help designers and
system integrators deliver the ultimate user
experience in a wide variety of display-based
applications. The range currently includes the
UMR-X10-70 and UMR-X10-35, both of which
will also be on display at electronica 2008.
News ID 496
ore information about each news story is available on
www.embedded-control-europe.com/ece_magazine
You just have to type in the “News ID”. —
October 2008
16
Hall A2 - Stand M07
Hall A5 - Stand 506
I NEC: enhanced lineup of TFT LCD modules
I Infineon: multiband UHF transmitter
NEC announces five new amorphous-silicon
thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display modules incorporating a newly designed LED unit
that achieves both long operating life of 70,000
hours and low power consumption in the
backlight system. These new products enhance
NEC LCD Technologies’ core product lineup of
TFT LCD modules featuring white LED backlight systems.
with 8051 MCU
Infineon announces mass production availability of the SmartLEWIS MCU PMA7110,
a single-chip transmitter IC with integrated
microcontroller that provides virtually all
functions needed in a wireless remote control
device. The new, highest-integration member
of the SmartLEWIS MCU family of lowpower ASK/FSK multi-band transmitter ICs
for the sub 1GHz ISM frequency bands, covers the four frequency bands 315 MHz, 434
MHz, 868 MHz and 915 MHz on a single
chip. The advanced power control system
makes the PMA7110 ideal for use in battery
operated remote controls and wireless
sensing applications.
News ID 487
Hall A4 - Stand 375
I Actel: radiation-tolerant, flash-based
FPGAs
Actel has introduced radiation-tolerant, flashbased FPGAs for space-flight applications. The
reprogrammability of the low-power RT ProASIC3 devices simplifies prototyping and eases
hardware timing validation while offering critical immunity to radiation-induced configuration upsets. This announcement, combined
with the launch of the RTAX-DSP solutions announced, broadens Actel´s industry-leading
space-flight offering and gives designers the reliable, flexible solutions needed to design nextgeneration space-flight systems.
the world’s largest LCD monitor with a screen
diagonal of 108 inches used here as a screen for
interactive games but also generally suited as a
display for commercial e-signage applications
plus an approach for dynamic digital moving
walkways and escalator advertising whereas
the screen content jumps with the movement of
the viewer from display-to-display. LEDs are also
one of the important innovation topics of the
electronica. With energy-saving LED lamps, new
approaches for solar-powered applications and
sustainable production technologies, Sharp is
showing how progress and environmental
protection go hand-in-hand.
News ID 498
Hall A4 - Stand 420
I TI: 24-bit, 625kSPS ADC features wide
News ID 476
Hall A3 - Stand 207
I Sharp: ‘Green’ electronics for the
networked society
At electronica, Sharp is presenting key technologies for digital networking: displays of 2.2
to 108 inches in different technical designs, cameras, RF components and Zigbee-compatible
sensors. The highlights in digital signage include
bandwidth
Texas Instruments has introduced a 24-bit,
high-speed (625kSPS) delta-sigma analog-todigital converter, the ADS1672, featuring wide
bandwidth and a dual-path digital filter to give
greater flexibi lity to designersof automated test
equipment, test and measurement, medical
instrumentation, vibration analysis and
sonar/military equipment.
News ID 516
News ID 429
Hall A4 - Stand 560
I Microchip: LIN Bus 2.0/2.1 and SAE J2602
conform transceivers
Microchip has announced the MCP2021 and
MCP2022 LIN/SAE J2602 transceivers. The devices are 3rd party-LIN/J2602 approved, OEM
approved, and AEC-Q100 certified to meet the
stringent requirements of global automotive
manufacturers worldwide. The transceivers include built-in voltage regulators and are compliant with the LIN Bus 2.0/2.1 and SAE J2602
standards, as well as the previous-generation
LIN 1.X standards.
News ID 437
HIG
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XIB
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ED
ST
LE
Hall A2 - Stand M07
I NEC: GUI for configuration of MCUs
NEC announces the availability of Applilet2 device configuration software. The free to download Applilet2 software provides a graphical
user interface to configure all of the features and
peripherals available on all of NEC's MCUs and
significantly reduces the development cycle for
new products and applications. Applilet2 fully
supports all of the development tools available
for all of NEC's microcontrollers including IAR
Systems’ and Green Hills’ development environments. Users can also add their own code to
the project and this will not be altered during
the code generation process.
News ID 440
Please visit us at: electronica 2008, Hall.Stand A6.S02
17
October 2008
Hall A4 - Stand 159
Hall A4 - Stand 420
Hall A5 - Stand 506
I ADI: op amp with over-voltage protection
I TI: new DSPs and floating-point-DSP-plus-
I Infineon: XC2200M MCU series for
Analog Devices has introduced the ADA40912, a highly integrated precision operational amplifier with on-chip over-voltage protection circuitry which is an alternative to discrete analog
input solutions. The ADA4091-2 op amp’s
performance is fully specified, including the device’s on-chip over-voltage circuitry. This simplifies equipment design and error analysis and
results in more consistent output readings in industrial process controls, battery-powered instrumentation, power supply control and protection systems and remote sensors.
ARM applications processor
TI has announced three new devices that transcend traditional floating-point processors,
enabling engineers to easily design more
portable, connected, cost-efficient and highprecision end products. The devices, based on
TI’s new C674x DSP core, merge the advantages
of floating point with a combination of connectivity peripherals, low power and low cost
that, until now, has only been available with
fixed-point devices. TI’s new processors include
the industry’s lowest power floating-point
DSPs ‘ the TMS320C6745 DSP and
TMS320C6747 DSP ‘ as well as the OMAPL137 floating-point-DSP-plus-ARM applications processor.
automotive body applications
Infineon introduces a new series of highly-integrated microcontrollers designed for use in
automotive body applications, featuring very
low power consumption in stand-by and operation mode, higher performance and AUTOSAR compliance. The new XC2200M series
of the XC2200 family fulfils the demanding requirements of BCM applications such as internal and external lighting systems, car access and
door modules; Central Gateway applications
that manage all internal interfaces and the communication with external interfaces for aftersales software updates; and HVAC applications.
News ID 442
Hall A6 - Stand 414
I Digi: development of networked
devices with .NET Micro Framework
Digi International has introduced Microsoft
.NET Micro Framework v2.5 support for the
ConnectCore 9P 9215 ARM9-based Ethernet
networking core module. The .NET Micro
Framework extends the reach of Microsoft’s
embedded solutions to integrated device
platforms with smaller memory footprints.
The ConnectCore 9P 9215 features a rich set
of interfaces expanding the .NET Micro
Framework’s capabilities into new applications such as
News ID 511
Hall A4 - Stand 420
I TI: multi-purpose chip for closed-loop
contactless applications
TI has announced the availability of a new
secure multi-purpose contactless chip designed
for the growing closed-loop contactless micropayment, loyalty, ID and access application
markets. TI’s ISO/IEC 14443 Type B chip
called the RF-HCT-WRC5-KP221, combines
processing speed, advanced radio frequency
performance and industry-standard security
with a flexible and configurable memory that
supports up to five applications on one
contactless card or token.
News ID 504
Hall A5 - Stand 207
I STM expands STM32 options with 16Kbyte
Hall A2 - Stand M07
I NEC: 9.0-inch WVGA LCD module for
industrial
NEC has introduced a 9.0-inch amorphous-silicon TFT liquid crystal display module
(NL8048BC24-04 ), with WVGA resolution for
industrial equipment, including factory automation and measurement equipment. A
viewing angle of 176 degrees, high luminance of
350 candelas per square meter and high contrast ratio of 800:1 are realized through NEC’s
UA-SFT technology, which boasts high transmissivity and wide viewing-angle properties.
UA-SFT technology also reduces the color
shift that occurs due to a change in viewing
angle, allowing information to be viewed easily and accurately from any angle in either portrait or landscape orientation.
News ID 445
Hall A5 - Stand 159
I Rutronik: solutions provider shows
at 200 MSPS
Texas Instruments introduces a 16-bit, singlechannel, 200 mega samples per second ADC to
provide faster speeds previously only available
with lower resolution ADCs. The new data converters enable new levels of performance in
communications, test and measurement, and
defense applications. Evaluation modules simplify design and enable rapid evaluations of
these complex systems.
examples of applications
At this year’s electronica Rutronik will set the
focus on its presentation as solutions provider
for vertical markets. This new concept will not
set the primary focus on the display of technical devices, but rather present examples of
trend-setting applications embedding the components as well as the people using the technology. Special attention is spent on comprehensive total solutions for the markets e-Metering, renewable energies, automotive,
power&lighting, wireless and automation. At
the fair a consulting team consisting of product
manager, FAE and sales will answer any questions on site. As an important module in the offering of the distributor Webgate, logistics as
well as quality & services also play a major role
and are presented on a separate area at the
booth.
News ID 457
News ID 528
News ID 411
Hall A4 - Stand 420
I TI: 16-bit analog-to-digital converter
October 2008
News ID 510
Flash devices
STMicroelectronic has extended options for
users of its STM32 MCUs, by introducing new
devices with 16 Kbyte Flash density as well as a
complete new 48MHz series of microcontrollers
optimized for USB applications. There are now
60 STM32 MCUs available, combining the advanced ARM Cortex-M3 core with pin and software compatibility across all variants for efficient
product development and shorter design cycles.
News ID 520
Hall A4 - Stand 420
I TI: RF range extender for 2.4-GHz
low-power wireless networks
Texas Instruments has introduced a highly integrated radio frequency range extender for 2.4GHz wireless applications, such as ZigBee networks, wireless sensor networks and industrial, consumer and audio equipment. The
CC2590 extends range up to eight times the
line-of-sight by integrating a power amplifier
for improved typical output power of +12 dBm
and a low-noise amplifier for improved receiver sensitivity of +6 dB.
News ID 523
Hall A6 - Stand 143
I Renesas: low pin count 2 and 4Kbyte
flash MCU
Renesas announces the availability of the
R8C/2J microcontroller, which is based on the
existing R8C/Tiny series and has an innovative
16-bit CPU core and 8-bit bus. This new
R8C/2J device features a reduced set of peripheral functions and offers the flash memory options of 2 or 4Kbyte making it suitable for
cost sensitive functions, such as intelligent
watch-dog timer, power-on reset, low voltage
detect or as a secondary fail-safe MCU.
News ID 468
18
Embedded Forum at electronica
The Embedded Forum is a theater-style presentation area with free access for all electronica visitors.
The Embedded Forum is located in Hall A6, the dedicated “Embedded Hall”, close to the Main Entrance East.
At the Embedded Forum ICC Media is staging a 4-day forum programme with half-hour presentations about
technical and market trends, products, solutions and applications.
Programme Overview
Tuesday, Nov 11
Thursday, Nov 13
Session 1: Microcontrollers & Microprocessors, DSPs
Session 2: Development Tools / Small Form Factor Boards
Session 3: Embedded Computing Boards & Modules
Session 1: Development Tools & RTOS
Session 2: Microcontrollers & Microprocessors, DSPs
Session 3: FPGA-based Embedded Systems Design
Wednesday, Nov 12
Friday, Nov 14
Session 1: Small Form Factor Boards
Session 2: Development Tools & RTOS
Session 3: Motor Control
Session 1: Microcontrollers
Session 2: Model-based Design / Embedded Packaging
Tuesday, Nov 11
Session 1: Microcontrollers & Microprocessors, DSPs
10h30 - 11h00
Designing with AMD
presented by James Edwards and Oliver Götting, AMD
11h00 - 11h30
New low power processors for portability and performance
presented by Sebastian Perez-Vasseur, Texas Instruments
11h30 - 12h00
OMAP™35x application processors
presented by Jesus Ibanez, Texas Instruments
Session 2: Development Tools / Small Form Factor Boards
13h00 - 13h30
Code Free Test Creation – TestShell Reality
presented by Eitan Lavie, Product Manager at QualiSystems
13h30 - 14h00
Automated Defect Prevention for Embedded System Software Development
presented by Parasoft
14h00 - 14h30
Rethink Cool! Intel Atom processors for Embedded Computing Applications
presented by Intel
14h30 - 15h00
Small Form Factor Boards: Trends, Integration and Application
presented by Josef Behammer, Kontron
19
October 2008
Session 3 : Embedded Computing Boards & Modules
15h10 - 15h40
MicroTCA systems for real applications: key components and building blocks
presented by Vollrath Dirksen, N.A.T.
15h40 - 16h10
High End Multiprocessing with MicroTCA/AMC Systems
presented by Irene Hahner, Kontron
16h10 - 16h40
COM Express and UGM – an ideal combination
presented by Hubert Hafner, Kontron
16h40 - 17h10
Technical Trends with CompactPCI Boards
presented by Kontron
Wednesday, Nov 12
Session 1: Small Form Factor Boards
10h00 - 10h30
Efficient Design-In of Intel Atom processor
presented by Felix Kunz and Walter Furter, Digital-Logic
10h30 - 11h00
Future of Small Form Factor Boards
presented by Wolfgang Heinz-Fischer, Advantech
11h00 - 11h30
Battery Management with Intel Atom
presented by Christian Eder, congatec
11h30 - 12h00
AMD Turion64X2 processor reference design kit for Mini-ITX boards
presented by James Edwards and Oliver Götting, AMD
Session 2 : Development Tools & RTOS
12h30 - 13h00
A ‘new product introduction’ perspective on development systems
presented by Colin Weaving, Future Electronics
13h00 - 13h30
SMP Linux Debugging - Experiences, Challenges, Solutions
presented by Thomas Bauch, pls
13h30 - 14h00
Embedded System Virtualization: Trends and Opportunities
presented by David Kleidermacher and Joe Fabbre, Green Hills Software
14h00 - 14h30
Software Development Challenges for Multicore-based Systems
presented by David Kleidermacher and Joe Fabbre, Green Hills Software
Session 3 : Motor Control
15h00 - 15h30
Model-Based Design of Controls for an Electric Motor Application
presented by Gernot Schraberger, The MathWorks
15h30 - 16h00
Driver Evolution for Flexible CAN-based Motion Controls
presented by Eric Wallentine, ON Semiconductor
October 2008
20
16h00 - 16h30
Wireless Mesh Technologies
presented by John Schwartz, Digi International
16h30 - 17h00
Improving the performance of Burshless DC motors using
integrated Magnetic Rotary Encoders
presented by Josef Janisch, austriamicrosystems
Thursday, Nov 13
Session 1 : Development Tools & RTOS
10h00 - 10h30
Accelerate “Smart” User Interface Innovation
presented by Thomas Ulber, Mentor Graphics
10h30 - 11h00
(Details to follow soon)
tbd
11h00 - 11h30
Principles of High Assurance Software Engineering (PHASE)
presented by David Kleidermacher and Joe Fabbre, Green Hills Software
11h30 - 12h00
Platforms for Next Generation Mobile Devices
presented by David Kleidermacher and Joe Fabbre, Green Hills Software
Session 2 : Microcontrollers & Microprocessors, DSPs
12h30 - 13h00
Less Power, More Features... Microcontrollers For Next-Generation Designs
presented by Steve Norman, NEC Electronics
13h00 - 13h30
The Embedded Systems market in Germany
presented by Peter Burghardt, BITKOM
13h30 - 14h00
TMS320C2000™ 32-bit Microcontrollers – New platform and tools
presented by Stefan Bruder, Texas Instruments
14h00 - 14h30
MSP430F5xx Ultra Low Power MCU – A new level of integration
presented by David Smith, Texas Instruments
Session 3 : FPGA-based Embedded Systems Design
15h00 - 15h30
Design and Prototyping with FPGAs, but Targeting ASICs for Volume Production
presented by Barry West, ON Semiconductor
15h40 - 16h10
Model-Based Design for Implementing Digital Hardware Systems
presented by Prashant Rao, The MathWorks
Friday, Nov 14
Session 1 : Microcontrollers
10h00 - 10h30
Next Generation ARM9 Core-based Embedded Display Microcontrollers
presented by Roland Gehrmann, Toshiba
10h30 - 11h00
Product Design with Industrial Grade Modules and Software
presented by Axel Berghoff, PHYTEC
11h00 - 11h30
Measure, Control and Drive with 16-bit Real Time Signal Controller
presented by Infineon
Session 2 : Model-based Design / Embedded Packaging
12h10 - 12h40
Model-Based Design of Controls for an Electric Motor Application
presented by Gernot Schraberger, The MathWorks
12h40 - 13h10
(Details to follow soon)
tbd
13h10 - 13h40
How to embed standard active and passive components into a PCB
presented by Tuomas Waris, Microdul, HTC/Imbera
FREE Subscription to ECE magazine
Ensure getting your personal copy of ECE magazine free of charge by completting the online form at:
• www.embedded-control-europe.com/ece_magazine
October 2008
22
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MSC – Distributor of
MSC Vertriebs GmbH · Zentrale · Industriestraße 16 · 76297 Stutensee
Tel. +49 7249 910 - 0 · Fax +49 7249 79 93 · Stutensee@msc-ge.com
Q www.msc-ge.com
FPGAS & ASICS
Is motion control technology moving
from controllers to FPGAs?
By Stefano Zammattio, Altera Europe
Low-cost FPGAs offer not just
better performance but also
reduction in system costs and
implementation times for
motion control applications.
Figure 1. Examples of
industrial networks that
can be supported by Altera
FPGA devices
I Very early motion control systems used mechanical gearboxes and levers to select speeds
and drive power, but these systems were quickly replaced by analog electronic controllers that
gave much more flexible speed control and the
ability to create systems with more complicated movements. The next evolutionary step was
to add even more flexibility, reproducibility and
performance through the use of digital control
techniques implemented on microprocessors
and DSPs – the end result of this is the sophisticated motion control devices in wide use
today. With roadmaps for processor/DSP technology offering steadily increasing performance
you might wonder how could FPGAs, like
Altera Cyclone III series, possibly be the next
stage in the evolution of motor control.
Certainly microprocessors and DSPs are steadily decreasing in price, and motion control
system manufacturers have leveraged this to
create drives that are supremely effective and
reasonably priced. For most manufacturers
the evolutionary trend has been to arm the
drive with more local processing power and
flexibility - leveraging the increasing amount of
processing power available per dollar. However the industrial market is changing and simply
making faster, more intelligent and well-controlled drives is not enough to satisfy the new
demands of industrial customers. Today every
October 2008
market is under pressure to reduce costs, in the
industrial space cost reduction means creating
more efficient factories rather than faster or
more intelligent drive systems – this means
factory-wide information systems, low-cost
control networks and manufacturing systems
that can be quickly and cheaply reconfigured to
manufacture a different product. These cost-reducing measures can be enabled by the use of
industrial Ethernet on the factory floor and
equipment that is highly interoperable, allowing it to be easily modified for new applications
or systems. So how can FPGA devices deliver
these features and hence reduce costs for the
industrial customer?
Industrial Ethernet (IE) is a rapidly growing
technology, both in terms of rate of adoption
and evolution – there are many different IE
standards (>20), each providing a slightly different solution to the industrial networking
challenge. Setting up new systems using IE is
quick and easy due to features like low-cost
standard connectors, support for long cabling
distances (up to 100m) and hot plug capability. However, drive manufacturers are faced with
the problem of which IE protocol(s) they
should support. Customers, of course, will demand the option that fits their application and
budget best - but how can the manufacturer
cost effectively support multiple IE standards?
24
An obvious solution is to develop custom
daughter cards (one per IE standard) or integrate a multi-standard ASIC device in to the
controller. But, because there are so many standards (note that these are constantly evolving as
well!) and that ASIC devices quickly become
obsolete (due to newer versions being available
with support for new/updated IE standards) you
would need to support a new product development for each change and each new protocol to
be supported. This is an expensive solution
especially when calculated over the long term of
industrial equipment lifetimes.
However, a board that carries a low-cost FPGA
device and Ethernet PHY transceivers can
(with appropriate hardware and software IP)
support any IE standard. As the FPGA is programmable, it can be easily re-configured to
support any new protocol, this can be done at
any time - even if the device is in a machine already on the factory floor. This allows system
developers to easily program in new IE protocols (or updated versions of the current protocol) and enables them to re-use the same
equipment in any part of the factory. Legacy
support is easy - simply install the appropriate
FPGA configuration that supports the same
version of the IE protocol used in the rest of the
equipment and your device is ready to connect
to the system. An implementation of an IE pro-
FPGAS & ASICS
effectively address this connectivity issue but
how else can they be used to reduce the cost of
drive systems?
Figure 2. Reducing cost with FPGA-based
system integration
Today processing power is relatively cheap and
other features consume a significant fraction of
the cost of the system – for example the cost of
a proprietary fieldbus ASIC, connectors and cables can be much greater than the cost of the
CPU or DSP. This is one of the reasons why IE
is becoming so popular. FPGA devices also offer
the ability to absorb all the digital logic and interfaces in the drive system. Interfaces like
PWM, I2C and SPI are easy to implement in the
FPGA, as are digital motor encoder and A/D
converter interfaces; more complex interfaces
like PCI, PCI express and serial rapid IO are
also available as off-the-shelf IP. FPGAs can
even be used to support other useful protocols
like CAN, Profibus and other traditional fieldbuses. If later on the designer decides they need
to add another I/O interface or block of processing logic, it is easy to add these to the FPGA
design.
tocol based on a low-cost FPGA device can be
cheaper and lower power than one based on a
multi-standard ASIC device, and certainly is
much more future-proof. Clearly FPGAs can
Soft processors like the 32-bit Nios II processor
from Altera also offer the ability to integrate
software functionality into the FPGA. This
means things like IE stack processing, sensor
data processing, generating graphics for LCD
displays and even serving data over web pages
can now all be done from inside a single FPGA
device. This enables the industrial developer to
integrate a large portion of the system into a
single FPGA device and reduce the size and cost
of the circuit board. Smaller size is usually a
good thing for the product but an additional
side benefit is that this kind of integration can
deliver a much lower power system, enabling
designers to eliminate cooling fans and reduce
the cost, physical size and form factor restrictions even further.
Many industrial systems use analog signals between the sensor/encoder devices and the controller, in busy industrial environments these
analog signals are subject to noise, especially if
the controller is a long way from the unit being
monitored. As with many applications (eg.
Audio CDs, DVD, digital radio, etc), one way
around this is to transmit the signal in a digital
format, this means converting or even generating the data in a digital format at the remote
location. The EnDAT and BiSS encoder interfaces and sigma delta A/D converters are examples of sensors that output the data directly into a digital format. Not only is there no
noise from the data transmission but these new
FPGAS & ASICS
tralised control and ones with distributed control. A centralised system has many motors and
sensors connected to a single controller – this
brings the advantage of low cost and the ability to easily co-ordinate the control of the system
as a whole. With the advent of relatively lowcost industrial PCs (IPC) this type of application is increasing in popularity but it is limited
by the processing power and I/O capability of
the single controller (or IPC). In a distributed
system each motor has its own dedicated
processor to locally control the motion – this
approach is more expensive and contains a lot
of wasted computational resource but it is possible to easily build large systems as long as
there is a limited requirement for interaction
between the control axes and a well-defined system model and control methodology.
Figure 3. Example of an FPGA-based motor controller system
Frequently these last two requirements are
quite complex and often the easiest way to implement them is to use an industrial PC combined with a clock-based control system like
IEEE1588. This adds even more cost and wasted processing resource to the system. There is a
clear benefit in somehow combining the low
cost and easily co-ordinated control of the centralised system with the scalability and fast drive
performance of the decentralised system.
Figure 4. Comparison of a traditional distributed drive control system with a centralised
IPC/PLC-based system using real-time Ethernet
technologies bring other benefits like transmission of motor temperature data on the same
wire as the encoder positional data and lower
quantisation noise in the sigma delta A/D
converters. With a traditional DSP or microcontroller solution these novel digital sensors
require a resolver to convert the data back to the
analog domain so that they can be read by the
on-chip A/D converter. Thanks to the ability to
support digital logic, the FPGA is able to resolve
these signals directly in digital format, delivering the quality of the new technologies without
the cost or clumsiness of having to use an external resolver and analog interface. The flexibility of the FPGA enables the designer to add
as many interfaces of whatever type required to
their design, opening the door to customised
single chip solutions that were simply not
possible before. The flexibility and power delivered by the combination of IE and FPGA devices also brings about the opportunity to open
up the way drive systems are put together. The
trend to put more intelligence in the drive is an
obvious consequence of the falling cost of processing power but it also means that the drives
are increasingly complex, require detailed models of the motors and rely on proprietary software. The result of this is that the user has no
real visibility of the drive technology – some
drives may offer up to a thousand parameters in
an attempt to open up the drive control but this
makes them awkward and time-consuming to
customise.
Also, proprietary motor models make it impractical to use motors from another vendor.
This makes it difficult for users to cost-effectively design and put together their own custom
systems, especially where multiple axes of control need to interact closely to deliver the motion required. Motion control systems can be
simply divided into two types, ones with cen-
Today this can be achieved through the use of
high-performance real-time IE protocols (eg,
EtherCAT, SERCOS III, PROFINET IRT, etc).
With these protocols it is possible to make a
high-speed, low-latency connection between
many drive controllers and a single industrial
PC. This alleviates the I/O bottleneck for the PC
and enables the designer to bring many drives
and sensors under the control of a single
processor. Drive specific calculations like current control and velocity observation can still
done locally at the drive; in a FPGA these can
easily be implemented in hardware allowing
even complex algorithms to calculated in
<100ns. This alleviates the IPC/PLC and the IE
connection of the burden of transmitting and
calculating the low-level data, and allows the
system to use its resources for the higher-level
requirements like velocity and position control.
Hence the combination of fast IE and the FPGA
give the IPC the ability to support a high performance centralised feedback control system
for many motors. This also gives the end user
easy access to the control algorithms being run
in the IPC, hence ‘opening up’ the system and
giving the user full control. I
More information about each news is available on
www.Embedded-Control-Europe.com/ece_magazine
• You have to type in the “News ID”. —
October 2008
26
FPGAS & ASICS
Product News
I Lattice: PCI Express development kit
I Picor: Cool-ORing family targets
for LatticeECP2M FPGAs
Lattice announces the availability of a new low
cost PCI Express development kit for its LatticeECP2M family of low cost 90nm FPGAs
which is based on a new PCI Express x1/x4
evaluation board. The new kit includes four key
capabilities for quick evaluation and rapid, low
cost PCI Express system design. There are several demos available, including a control plane
application, a throughput demo for highbandwidth applications, and two demos supporting scatter-gather DMA capabilities: a
color bar demo and an image transfer demo
(which also makes use of the Lattice ScatterGather DMA IP core).
redundant power architectures
Picor announces the Cool-ORing family of fullfunction Active ORing solutions and discrete Active ORing controllers addressing the requirements of redundant power architectures implemented in high-availability systems such as
servers, high-end computing and telecom and
communications infrastructure systems. The
Cool-ORing PI2121 / PI2123 / PI2125 are complete full-function Active ORing solutions with integrated high-speed ORing MOSFET controllers
and very low on-state resistance MOSFETs.
News ID 532
I Cypress combines PSoC and nvSRAM
I Holtek: microcontrollers in 10-pin package
Two new devices, the HT48R01A and
HT46R01A, have been added to Holtek’s range
of ultra small outline 10-pin package Holtek
microcontrollers. Common features include 1K
x 14 of Program Memory, 64 bytes of Data
Memory, up to 8 I/O pins, a 6-level stack and an
8-bit Timer/Event counter. Additionally the devices contain an RTC timer, an external interrupt and a complimentary buzzer pair output
function. The internal Low Voltage Reset function can also be selected to have three different
voltage activation levels. Both devices are supplied in ultra small 10-pin package types. The
HT46R01A also contains an 8-bit 4 channel
A/D converter as well as a single channel 8-bit
PWM output.
News ID 398
I MSC: high power light engine on
Keithley: series 3700 switch/multimeter
line with new plug-in cards
Keithley announces an expansion of its Series
3700 System Switch/Multimeter and Plug-in
Card Family with the addition of two new plugin cards, the Model 3724 Dual 1X30 Solid State
FET Relay Multiplexer Card and the Model
3750 Multifunction I/O Card. The new cards
offer test engineers broader support for a
wider variety of switching configurations in
order to keep up with the demands of increased
testing complexity.
I
News ID 1767
News ID 471
I Actel expands military-qualified
in a single package
Cypress introduces a device integrating a
non-volatile static random access memory and
a programmable system on chip. The new
PSoC NV family serves applications requiring
continuous data logging from sensors, analog,
and digital inputs. The devices’ analog frontend can simultaneously sample up to 8 inputs
from sensors and analog sources and store the
data in the embedded nvSRAM. Regular operation accesses are directed to an SRAM array
and automatically secured into a non-volatile
quantum trap cell in case of power failure.
flash-based FPGA offerings
Actel has added new ProASIC3 and ProASIC3EL FPGAs to its military-qualified product
offerings. Verified to operate across the full military temperature range (-55 to +125 C) and
ranging in density from 600,000 to 3-million
system gates, the new low-power devices are
immune to neutron-induced configuration
upsets, saving board space and minimising
complexity in the system.
News ID 1861
I Radiocrafts: wireless M-Bus and
RLDRAM I/II devices
Lattice Semiconductor has announced FPGAbased support for RLDRAM I/II devices. The
LatticeSC and LatticeSCM FPGA families now
support RLDRAM I/II rates up to 800Mbps.
The high-speed RLDRAM I and RLDRAM II
memory controller IP is implemented in
Lattice’s low power MACO structured ASIC
technology.
ZigBee-gateway for smart metering
Radiocrafts and Wavecom have announced the
launch of a GSM/GPRS/EDGE gateway for
smart metering which embeds wireless M-Bus
and ZigBee, all in a compact form factor. The
wireless M-Bus standard specifies the
communication between water, gas, heat and
electricity meters and concentrators, whereas
ZigBee is a standard for monitoring and control
applications using low power radio networking.
The solution is based on Wavecom’s Fastrack
Supreme, a programmable application processor
with GSM/GPRS/EDGE modem capabilities.
News ID 462
I Lattice: FPGA-based support for
a COB basis
MSC is delivering a high power light engine on
a COB basis in the dimensions of 58,5mm x
29,7mm with 160 LED dies on board. Carrier
material for the board, which is deliverable in
cold white and warm white, is ceramic/metal.
This product has a optimized heat distribution
due to direct mounting onto aluminium base.
This light engine has a very high reliability due
to the matrix interconnection system. Because
of the high packing density it generates a
homogeny high-performance Light output with
up to 800lm at a power consumption of 10Watt.
The price of the light engine is very competitive
for use in low and high volume applications. Already available are also a 30Watt device with
2400lm and a 100Watt device with >10.000lm.
8000lm will follow. Even custom specific devices
with various dimensions are possible.
News ID 425
News ID 448
Connect One: miniature IP controller
for mobile M2M
Connect One releases iChip CO2144, a new
addition to its iChipSEC family of machine-tomachine IP Controllers. CO2144 offers complete
IP connectivity and security in small form factor,
10x10mm LFBGA 144-ball package. This miniature package supports wireless LAN and all
cellular standards, making it ideal for applications such as automotive, remote monitoring,
and medical devices where secure, robust connectivity is essential. Multiple power-save modes
increase battery life for these mobile devices.
I ITTIA: improved DB-SQL engine
offers query optimizer
ITTIA announces new advances in its lightweight DB-SQL database library, including a
new query optimizer. Enhancements to the SQL
engine improve index utilization and add support for parametric queries and statement
caching. ITTIA DB-SQL version 2.6 executes
SQL queries faster through enhanced caching
and query plan optimization. The SQL engine
now caches table descriptions and statement execution plans to significantly improve execution
time in a deployed application.
News ID 477
News ID 1786
News ID 1862
I
27
October 2008
FPGAS & ASICS
FPGAs enable large power savings
for industrial motor control
By Mike Thompson, Actel Corporation
Mixed-signal FPGAs are a new
alternative for industrial
motor control. In combination
with an integrated soft
processor, they offer the
ability to easily implement
motor designs for a range of
motor types, at a cost
attractive for
most applications.
I From elevators and home appliances to robotics and automated industrial manufacturing
lines, electric motors are used nearly everywhere. Today, electrical power consumption
across the globe is reaching staggering figures.
More than 50 percent of this power is consumed by electric motors. Unfortunately, many
of these motors are inefficient and waste a substantial amount of the power they absorb. For
example, the efficiency of small AC motors can
be as low as 50 percent. While an increase in
motor size can improve motor efficiency, there
is still opportunity to improve efficiency and
reduce energy consumption.
Adding electronic control can dramatically
improve efficiency, but the high cost of control
and power electronics has been a barrier to its
implementation. With technology improvements in semiconductor processes and integration, mixed-signal field-programmable gate
arrays (FPGAs) are emerging as an important
alternative for motor control. These highly integrated, flexible platforms offer most of the resources needed for motor control on a single,
low-cost device. Using FPGAs in lieu of fixed
logic gives designers the flexibility to implement
the most efficient design for their application,
and the ability to use the same device across a
broad range of motor control applications.
With a mixed-signal FPGA and a soft FPGAoptimized microprocessor, intelligent load
October 2008
Figure 1. For efficient control of single and
three-phase motors, mixed-signal FPGAs, like
the Actel Fusion device, offer a highly flexible,
low-cost, single-chip solution, which can
contribute to the reduction of power
requirements and the maximization of
energy cost savings.
matching or variable speed control can be
achieved, increasing the power efficiency of
electric motors across the full range with a minimal increase in motor cost. In fact, coupled
with best practices, the mixed-signal FPGA plus
soft FPGA-optimized microprocessor combination can result in motor efficiencies approaching 95 percent. Implemented broadly,
electronic motor control could result in global
electric power savings between 15 and 20
percent in addition to significant annual
reductions in energy consumption and
greenhouse gasses.
When an AC motor is operated near full load,
it can reach efficiencies over 90 percent. However, few motors are consistently operated at full
load due to natural load variations and over-sizing, reducing efficiency by as much as 75 percent and wasting power. It is not unusual to find
motors that are two to three times larger than
they need be for the load that they are driving,
which is an expensive mode of operation.
Even when correctly sized to meet the maximum load, the motor is typically run at a lower,
less efficient loading. For example, an escalator
is sized to carry the maximum number of people. Most of the time, however, there are far
fewer people on the escalator than the specified
maximum capacity, causing it to run at a low
level of efficiency and waste power. With electronic motor control, the load can be intelli28
gently and continuously sensed and exactly
matched with the proper input power, maximizing the efficiency of the motor over the full
operating load range and minimizing power
consumption and operating costs. Even small
variations in the loading can be detected and
power precisely applied to match it without affecting the speed of the motor. In effect, electronic control constantly sizes an AC induction
motor to the job, so that it is always operating
under ideal load conditions.
The conversion of AC motors does not necessarily require an expensive replacement of all of
the motors that are currently in use. The US
Department of Energy estimates that the US industrial sector alone uses 12.4 million motors
larger than 1hp. Motor replacement is on-going
with as many as 600,000 motor failures and replacements annually. This means that, over the
next 20 years, most of the motors larger than
1hp will need to be replaced, and the scenario
is much the same elsewhere around the world.
Replacing all these motors with highly efficient
electronically controlled motors can reduce ongoing industrial power requirements by as
much as 18 percent, resulting in significant energy cost savings for the manufacturing sector.
For applications that can be operated at a constant speed, intelligent load matching via electronic control is a great solution. Unfortunate-
FPGAS & ASICS
stantial number of calculations that have to
occur in the short period of time available within each 120 degree phase, including trigonometry, proportional-integral-derivative (PID),
real-time flux and torque interface functions.
For AC motors controlled with a vector scheme,
the requirement is for a small, but powerful
processor that can support these calculations
and the rest of the application for communication and the user interface.
Figure 2. Mixed-signal FPGAs offer several advantages for industrial motor control designs,
including lowered cost due to fewer components, easier manufacturing, increased motor reliability
and efficiency.
ly, not all applications that utilize AC motors
can be operated at a constant speed. For lowcost drives that are suitable for applications
with known loading, variable-frequency drives
(VFD) can be used to vary the motor rotational speed to match it to current conditions. The
ability to continuously vary the speed depending on conditions and maintain a constant ratio
between frequency and voltage (V/f control) is
an easy way to get variable speed operation
from a three-phase motor.
Compared with alternative solutions, the cost of
FPGAs and the lack of the required analog
peripherals for AC motor control has historically excluded them from consideration as a
solution for these applications. However, new
cost-effective mixed-signal FPGAs offer a highly flexible single-chip solution providing much
of the resource needed for motor control
implementation for a broad range of motors
- from single-pole permanent magnet motors
to large three-phase AC drives.
At 600 ksamples per second, roughly two to
three times faster than is required for AC
motor control, the ADC in a mixed-signal
FPGA allows the direct measurement of the stator and rotor currents to determine rotor
speed and position. Additionally, with up to 30
ADC inputs, sampling the back-EMF of each
winding, the motor current, bus voltage, and
any other condition in a motor is as easy as connecting the device and making the appropriate
measurement. The use of a mixed-signal FPGA
with an integrated soft processor, such as the
32-bit ARM Cortex-M1 microprocessor, allows
motors to be built with sensorless sinusoidal
current control, eliminating costly sensors and
further reducing the price of the electronic controls. Together, a Cortex-M1 processor in a
mixed-signal FPGA can also perform diagnostics in addition to monitoring the bus voltage,
motor currents and speed. The ability to run diagnostics and respond intelligently to problems
as they occur can significantly reduce damage
and increase the life of the motor, further reducing the cost of ownership.
The concept of harnessing rotating magnetic
fields is still evolving with new motor technologies and electronic motor control techniques. In many applications, both the load and
the speed are variable, so vector control (fieldoriented) is widely used. Because it is not based
on steady-state motor equations, it can deal with
the varying operating conditions that are seen in
many motor applications. Vector control allows
responsive and accurate speed control with a
changing load and offers optimum efficiency
even during motor transition. It also allows full
motor torque capabilities at low speed. An
advantage of using mixed-signal FPGAs for vector control is that the same device can be used
to control a range of motor types, including permanent-magnet AC and brushless DC motors,
with only slight changes, by using the appropriate model for the motor type (figure 2).
For a three-phase AC motor, the vector algorithm must be continuously calculated at a rate
between 1 kHz and 10 kHz. There are a sub-
In actual applications, AC motor control requires 8 to 20 MIPS per control axis, which is
easily achieved with an ARM Cortex-M1
processor in a mixed-signal FPGA. This combination enables the full conversion, including
the measurement of the currents, to be carried
out in less than 6µs allowing more than 165,000
conversions per second, which is more than
adequate for most AC motor control applications. In addition to the processor, the right peripheral set for the application is important.
Programmable logic is often preferred for implementing the various user interfaces and digital control logic, including network and peripheral interfaces, pulse width modulation
(PWM), quadrature-encoder interface and
sensor inputs, critical to today’s motor control
systems. Because the processor, memory and
peripherals can be supported within a single device with a mixed-signal FPGA, the additional
components required are minimal, other than
the inverter block and the motor itself, significantly reducing the cost of the electronics and
making this solution attractive for a broad
range of motor designs.
The demand for energy savings is putting
pressure on industrial manufacturers to use
more efficient motors. The largest potential savings will come from the use of electronically
controlled motors in industrial applications in
the range of 500W to 10kW. Motors larger than
this generally have a much higher efficiency and
the motors in this range are used in very large
number in the industrial environment. Many of
these motors run at constant speed with frequent starts and stops, resulting in as much as
50 percent of the energy they consume being
wasted. A motor controller built with a mixedsignal FPGA and used with discrete trench insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) can
achieve efficiencies approaching 95 percent
across the full operating range. This means that
a smaller, lower power motor can be implemented and run continuously at lower speeds,
eliminating the need to turn the motor on and
off, thereby reducing power consumption,
heating and motor noise. I
www.embedded-control-europe-com
29
October 2008
MICROCONTROLLERS & DSPS
Low-cost direct display control with
embedded microcontrollers
By Guenter Plechinger, Renesas
The market for visualization
solutions and their corresponding functions in many
devices is growing rapidly. In
this article an LCD demo
application is presented that
uses the Renesas H8S/SX flash
controller, a single-chip-MCU.
I This LCD demo application is a low-cost
solution, which offers advanced TFT display
solutions for a broad range of applications in
cost-sensitive fields. One can add a TFT display
for applications in fridges, ovens, metering,
thermostat units or medical equipment, offering simplicity for the user, at the same time as
an attractive appearance. Together with a
broad, seamless offer of middleware, it makes
the design start very simple.
The direct drive TFT control solution utilizes a
H8S/2378 or a 32-bit H8SX/1668R MCU together with a graphic software package (GUI,
Graphic User Interface) from Segger. This software package contains library routines allowing
any kind of high quality pictures to be drawn
on the display. In other words, this programme
allows drawing of user interfaces with soft transitions as well as custom-specific pictures. By
using the Renesas software application programming interface (API), emWin- and
embOS software packets from Segger can be
tied into H8S/SX-LCD- applications. The
emWin software package enables the user to
quickly develop 2D graphics and animation
support as well as to support user-defined text
fonts. The embOS supports the multi-bus
exDMA architecture (external bus direct memory access) of the H8S/SX MCU, minimizing
costs by allowing different tasks to be run at one
time. The H8S/SX comes with up to 50 MHz
October 2008
clock and is equipped with highly-integrated
peripheral functions for real time tasks. The onchip functions drive the TFT-panel in a fully
deterministic way, meaning the CPU load is
hardly noticeable. There is no need for any
external LCD controller with frame buffer.
The multi-bus architecture and the on-chip
exDMA controller enable data transmission
from the external frame buffer to the LCD
panel. The major CPU relief is achieved using
the transfer cycle exDMA module. Control
signals are synchronized by the TPU timer unit
with the data transfer.
One major advantage of the H8S/SX-family is
upward-compatibility to the H8/300-,
H8/300H-, SLP- and Tiny-CPU families. This
ensures availability of the widest performance
range. In addition, Renesas flash technology ensures the utmost reliability. H8SX-MCUs with
50 MHz (in future up to 80 MHz) offer speed
advantages over the H8S-CPU as well as improved architectural features. The memory
line up in Renesas microcontrollers offers a
wide selection from ROMless devices, maskROM-derivatives up to high integrated 50MHz
flash 32-bit CISC-Controllers with 1MByte
flash. With their small packages (9x9mm²
LGA, BGA or 120-, 144-pin QFP-package)
these H8S/SX-derivatives meet the requirements of systems with high packing density.
The H8S/SX family provides numerous com30
munication interfaces – either USB-, Ethernet-,
I²C bus or serial SCIs interfaces, with smart
card-Option. The ROMless devices with RAM
are pin-compatible to up to 1MByte
flash/56KByte RAM devices with 384KByte /
40KByte or 512Kbyte / 40KByte. For timer
applications the 6-channel timer pulse unit
(TPU) with 16 input-capture- /output-compare is very useful. In addition to the timer
blocks (16-bit timer TPU, 8-times 8-bit TMR,
watchdog timer) functions like 10-bit A/D- and
8-bit D/A converters complete the peripherals.
6 flexible current-saving modes allow a long
battery lifetime: clock-division-, sleep-, modulestop-, all-module-clock-stop-, software-standby- and hardware-standby-mode.
The latest TFT-LCD panels are truly dual-purpose peripherals because they have both output
and input capabilities. They generally use a parallel interface, require constant refreshing, and
support touch-sensitive control functionality.
As output devices, the panels give product developers a very flexible and dynamic way to
show a large amount of information to users. As
input devices, the panels allow the user of a
product to touch a button or icon on the screen
to activate a function and then slide the finger
to select options, rotate/resize an image, or perform other actions in an easy, natural way.
Hardware issues include driving the LCD
interface at high data rates. Software issues
MICROCONTROLLERS & DSPS
application programs can be ported easily. The
main application will only be interrupted by a
very short interrupt service routine of the
exDMA controllers. The exDMA-controller of
H8S/SX copies in a cyclic way all data for a full
picture from SRAM to the TFT panel.
Figure 1. Complex images and animation can be created because the H8S CPU performs updates
to the external SRAM frame buffer during LCD panel operation
center on generating the code that produces the
displayed images. To ease the development of
low-end to mid-range systems that can display
complex images on QVGA and VGA TFT-LCD
panels, Renesas now offers 16-bit H8S series
and 32-bit H8SX series microcontrollers that
have a TFT-LCD parallel-interface with directdrive capabilities. These devices simplify designs
by eliminating the need for an external LCD controller chip, while providing sufficient throughput to perform both system control tasks and
execute the graphics software for generating
animated display images. Moreover, these
microcontrollers are supported by a defined
software application-programming interface
(API) to which third-party graphic routines and
An important architectural feature of the H8S
and H8SX microcontrollers is a dual databus
system. It allows the exDMA engine of the TFTLCD interface to drive data efficiently from an
external SRAM frame buffer to the LCD display.
This data movement is done in parallel with the
operation of the main system bus (CPU and
DMA engines) and the LCD panel is driven
without loading the system bus. Thus, the
chips can directly operate a TFT-LCD panel
with complex images while also performing
other system connectivity and algorithm operations. Updates to the external frame buffer are
supported during LCD panel operation, allowing the creation of complex GUI images or
animation. The microcontrollers have the onchip hardware peripheral functions needed
for handling high-quality image displays.
Control signals for the TFT-LCD panel (V-sync,
H-sync, data-enable and pixel clock) are
generated from timers and GPIO accesses.
These signals synchronize the data movement
th ssnc of lctronics
componnts.systms.automotiv.mbddd.wirlss.micronano-systms.
MICROCONTROLLERS & DSPS
Derivative
H8S/2378F Series
H8SX/1668R Series
Cycle time
28,5ns @ 35MHz/ 3,3 Volt
20ns @ 50MHz/ 3,3 Volt
Flash-/ RAM-size
Up to 512 Kbyte/ 32 Kbyte
256KB… 1Mbyte/ 40…56 Kbyte
Address range
16 Mbyte (linear)
4 Gbyte (linear)
DMA Controllers
4x DMA Controller,
2 x exDMA Controller, DTC
4x DMA Controller,
4x exDMA Controller, DTC
Timers
TPU 6 x 16-bit
2 x 8-bit Timer
Watchdog-Timer
TPU 12 x 16-bit
6 x 8-bit Timer
Watchdog-Timer
16-bit
2x 16-bit
5 channels async, sync,
multi master,
ISO7816-3 Smartcard
I2C and IrDA modes
6 channels async, sync,
multi master,
ISO7816-3 Smartcard
I2C and IrDA modes, USB function
Programmable
pattern controllers
Serial interfaces
Analog/ Digital
10 bit / 16-channel converter 2 x 10 bit / 4-channel converter
Digital/ Analog
8 bit / 6-channel converter
8 bit / 2-channel converter
Internal/External Interrupts
86/17
122/ 13
I/O lines
113
101
Others
SDRAM Interface
SDRAM Interface
Package
144-pin QFP/ TQFP, LGA
120,144-pin QFP/ TQFP, LGA,
BGA
(translucent objects) features because the CPU
core can perform the data computations necessary for updating the image bit-map loaded
into the frame buffer. All these features are supported in the software API Renesas has created
for these microcontrollers.
An important benefit is derived from the way
the dual-bus architecture of the H8S and H8SX
microcontrollers impacts the flow of image
data, the control of the LCD panel, the control
of the system, and the interleaving of accesses to
external SRAM and flash-specific high-performance operation. All this can be implemented
at low clock frequencies, reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic
susceptibility (EMS) levels and also decreasing
power consumption. For example, when a
50MHz H8SX chip directly drives a WVGA
TFT-LCD panel, it can achieve a 35-frame-persecond update rate while supporting fullscreen animation. Moreover, this performance
is available with the CPU core being 90 percent
idle leaving 45 MIPS of computing power
available for controlling other system operations in real time.
Table 1. Technical features of H8S/2378F and H8SX/1668R derivatives
between the external SRAM and the LCD
panel. The data movement is actually across the
common external data bus (SRAM and LCD
data bus), so the H8S and H8SX devices use a
minimal number of data pins for the LCD direct drive. This reduces device cost and decreases current consumption. The external
data buses for H8S and H8SX are 16 bits wide,
allowing support for up to 18-bit-per-pixel
LCD-panel interfaces.
The CPU core is used to reconfigure the timers
and exDMA engine, an approach that provides
flexibility in the way data is driven to the display,
as well as in the types of displays that can be
driven. Actually, there is no hardware limitation
on the display and type of panel. The higherlevel software routines of the application use this
configuration to optimize the amount of system
memory used or to implement complex graph-
ics features such as transparency or alpha
blending. The on-chip timers can be configured
to drive the VCOM input signal if required.
Besides the memory accesses needed to drive
the LCD panel, pre-allocated accesses are available to the external SRAM frame buffer. In fact,
50 percent of the available bandwidth has
been allocated for LCD data. Thus, a large
amount of bandwidth can be used for accessing
external memory devices, including external
flash chips if they are used for image storage.
Note that because the SRAM frame buffer can
be accessed, animation is supported whereby
either the CPU or system DMA is used to transfer updated bit maps to the frame buffer in a
synchronized manner. This enables fast moving
and smooth action without any tearing. Further, the H8S and H8SX chips can implement
advanced transparency and alpha blending
Specialized software knowledge is needed to create animated images on the TFT-LCD panels
that are driven by H8S or H8SX chips. Clearly,
the hardware is only half of the design solution.
The development of application code is a challenge in itself. Moreover, it is one in which the
definition of requirements introduces input
from another area of expertise, because typically,
a graphics design group or third-party company will define and create the images for the TFT
panel driven by the microcontroller. Part of the
solution is software that bridges the gap between
the images created by third-party companies to
the Renesas microcontrollers. The defined software API mentioned earlier is a platform-independent interface that uses LCD and image-centric commands. It supports the definition of bit
maps with transparency and translucent
parameters that can be overlaid into the frame
buffer. The API also has system memorymanagement and optimization functions. I
Product News
I SST launches enhanced performance
I Renesas: 600MHz SuperH processor
I Freescale: scalable MCU family for
FlashFlex MCU
SST announces a new addition to its FlashFlex
family of 8-bit MCUs, the SST89C58RC. The
new device is a 8051-based MCU featuring two
system management buses, each supporting up
to 400 Kbit per second data throughput, in a
tiny 6mm x 6mm QFN package. The
SST89C58RC supports operating voltages from
2.7V to 5.5V for implementation in applications
with a variety of power supply requirements.
with LCD panel controller
Renesas announces availability of the SH7785,
its latest high performance addition to the SuperH family of microprocessors, to the consumer and industrial markets. The SH7785 is
capable of up to 600 MHz operation which, together with an integrated LCD panel controller and a PCI interface, makes it ideal for advanced industrial PCs and industrial equipment
and digital home appliances.
large appliance market
Freescale Semiconductor has introduced a scalable microcontroller family designed to help engineers cut through the noise in large appliance
and industrial applications. Freescale's Flexis AC
family features 8-bit devices and 32-bit V1 ColdFire MCUs designed to provide robust 5-volt
EMC/EMI performance and an array of on-chip
peripherals to help reduce component count,
system complexity and overall system cost.
News ID 1540
News ID 1833
News ID 1629
October 2008
32
MICROCONTROLLERS & DSPS
I Atmel: ARM Cortex-M3 licensed
I Maxim: 32-bit MCU for financial terminal
I Evatronix: tiny 8051 ISA-compliant
for AT91SAM3 Flash MCU family
Atmel announces that it has licensed the ARM
Cortex-M3 32-bit RISC processor for the next
generation of its AT91SAM ARM technologybased microcontrollers. Atmel’s planned
AT91SAM3 Flash MCU family will combine
the ARM Cortex-M3 processor with system implementation features such as multi-layer internal buses, an enhancement to the DMA for
system peripherals and distributed peripheral
data controllers that give the AT91SAM family
its high internal data bandwidth, and enable intensive data processing and high-speed data
transfers.
market
Maxim Integrated Products introduces the
MAXQ1103, a high-performance 32-bit RISC
microcontroller for the financial terminal market. The MAXQ1103 integrates security supervisory features, advanced encryption acceleration, and 1kB internal NVSRAM around a 32bit MAXQ microcontroller core. With this
high integration, the MAXQ1103 simplifies and
protects designs that require a high level of
physical and logical security, such as financial
terminals, government security applications,
and digital rights management.
MCU core
Evatronix announce the T8051 IP core implementing Intel 8051 instruction set architecture.
Thanks to considerable size reduction and efficient
management of available resources the design has
one of the best performance-to-size ratios on the
market. With the CPU’s 2700 gates, the T8051 is
addresses IC designers who want to make use of
complete 8-bit architecture functionality while
substantially reducing the size of their systems.
News ID 461
I ADI: digital potentiometers for
News ID 1825
industry applications
Sharp presents an enhanced range of LED
backlit liquid-crystal panels for industry applications. The portfolio now incorporates five
displays in the screen diagonals of 3.5 to 15
inches. The new LED backlit displays combine
the high resilience required of industrial applications with the benefits of a LED backlight.
I QNX: WiFi drivers for Neutrino RTOS
Global Edge Software announces its alliance
with QNX Software Systems. Through this
alliance, users of the QNX Neutrino realtime
operating system will be able to benefit from
GlobalEdge software and services. Along with
the software services, GlobalEdge also brings to
this alliance a whole range of IP offerings complementing QNX Software Systems’ products
for the networking and telecom markets.
open-loop applications
Analog Devices introduces the digital potentiometer family AD529x digiPot with better resistor tolerance, allowing designers to improve
system control by setting more accurate amplifier gain ranges. Designed for open-loop applications and systems that demand precision
calibration and tolerance matching, the
AD529x family consists of three single-channel,
10-bit programmable digiPots featuring less
than one percent end-to-end resistor tolerance
error over a wide ±15-V supply range.
News ID 1851
News ID 1829
News ID 1822
News ID 1688
I Sharp: LCDs with LED backlight for
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23rd world’s leading trade fair
New Munich Trade Fair Centre
November 11–14, 2008
MICROCONTROLLERS & DSPS
I ADI: RS-232 transceiver with dc-to-dc
I Freescale and Green Hills: multicore
I Esterel and AbsInt integrate
converter
Analog Devices is expanding its family of interface products with a fully isolated singlepackage surface mount RS-232 transceiver
with integrated dc-to-dc converter to supply
isolated power. Featuring a very small form factor SMT package, the ADM3251E transceiver
integrates a line driver, line receiver, oscillator,
rectifier, regulator, voltage doubler, voltage
inverter and transformers into a single-chip
solution that isolates both the data and power
lines on chip.
networking development
Freescale and Green Hills have announced a development partnership to produce multicore development tools for Freescale’s QorIQ communications platforms. Green Hills demonstrated
the MULTI IDE simultaneously debugging 8
cores on the QorIQ P4080 processor running on
the Virtutech Simics system simulator at the recent Freescale Technology Forum in Florida.
StackAnalyzer tools in SCADE suite
Esterel and AbsInt announce an OEM agreement between Esterel and AbsInt. As a result, Esterel will recast AbsInt’s aiT and StackAnalyzer
products as SCADE Suite Timing Verifier and
SCADE Suite Stack Verifier under the SCADE
family of products. SCADE Suite will be the first
model-based critical software development solution to offer intrinsic stack usage analysis and
worst case execution time analysis.
News ID 1790
I Tundra: evaluation platform accelerates
I Yamaichi: QFN test & burn-in socket
in open-top design
Yamaichi Electronics introduces the new QFN
socket series NP506 with ultra fine pitch 0.4
mm and 0.5 mm in open-top design for the test
& burn-in of small IC packages. The NP506
socket series is especially distinguished by two
characteristics: the active centering of the IC
module enables balancing of larger module tolerances for sawed as well as punched QFNs and
twin-beam contacts ensure extremely reliable
bonding and the best signal integrity.
News ID 1795
I Digi: ruggedised M2M networking
solutions
Digi introduces a line of wired and wireless device networking solutions designed for reliable
operation in hazardous environments. The
product line includes the Digi Connect WAN
IA cellular router, XTend radio frequency
modem, PortServer TS Haz serial server and
Digi OneIAP Haz serial server. The new products are Class 1, Division 2 rated, certifying
them for use in environments where volatile
flammable liquids, vapors or gases may exist.
Industries exhibiting these characteristics include power distribution, oil and gas,
water/wastewater, pharmaceutical, food and
beverage and agribusiness to name a few.
News ID 1837
News ID 466
RapidIO adoption
Tundra Semiconductor has introduced an evaluation platform centered on its Tsi620TM
multi-standard RapidIO Switch. In addition to
the Tsi620, the multi-platform evaluation platform uses Texas Instruments’ TMS320TCI6487
high performance multi-core DSP and an Altera Stratix III FPGA to enable prototyping and,
ultimately, cost reduction in applications such
as high performance wireless and video processing, medical imaging and military signalprocessing solutions.
News ID 1810
I Atmel: AVR-based 125-kHz RFID
evaluation kit
Atmel has announced a significant enhancement to the ATA2270-EK1 125-kHz RFID
demo kit. This kit, which enables the evaluation and prototyping of Atmel’s wide portfolio
of LF IDIC, has been upgraded to include a
PC-based GUI application to be connected
directly to the kit’s hardware. This user interface provides an optimized platform for the
evaluation and customization of Atmel's RFID
solutions used in access control, industrial
automation, loyalty cards, anti-counterfeiting,
and animal identification.
News ID 400
I PRQA: enhanced compliance package
I TI: 14-bit, 800-MSPS digitizer solution
Texas Instruments introduces an evaluation
module that combines two of TI’s ADS5474
ADCs in an interleaved fashion with a Xilinx
Virtex-5 FPGA to create a 800-MSPS ADC
solution. The FPGA comes pre-installed with
SP Devices’ proprietary time-interleaving
technology and continuously monitors the
system and removes ADC gain, clocking and
temperature mismatches to reduce the interleaving spurs below the ADC harmonic spurs
thus increasing spurious free dynamic range
from 45.78 dBc to 86.44 dBc for a 70-MHz
input signal.
News ID 370
I Cypress: tool combines code-free design
with customization capabilities
Cypress has introduced PSoC Designer 5.0, an
integrated design environment that includes
both code-free and high-level language programming modes in one package. Cypress has
combined the PSoC Express visual embedded
system design tool with the full-featured PSoC
Designer software to create a new design paradigm ‘ users can now start projects in a dragand-drop visual design mode and then move to
code-based design in C language to refine and
customize their projects, all from within a single
tool.
News ID 1741
microcontroller
The HT56R64 from Holtek is the first member
of the new TinyPower microcontroller series,
which provides devices with low power consumption characteristics. In addition to the low
power benefits of this new technology and as
the device also contains a fast wake-up feature,
multiple clock sources and a choice of operating modes, this range of special features combine to ensure the device is able to operate at
minimum power levels in line with the present
day demands for green products.
for MISRA C++
PRQA announces the availability of a QA C++
product upgrade, an enhanced compliance package for MISRA C++, and a Benchmarking Test
Suite for rigorous assessment of analysis tool adherence claims. The advanced code analysis technology in QA C++ is purpose-fit to achieving
high-grade compliance to coding standards, in a
package designed to fit inside software development and build environments. This latest version
(2.5) now supplies industry-leading coverage
and the most accurate diagnostic compliance factors for the MISRA C++ guidelines. The MISRA
C++ compliance package links product diagnostics to individual rules, with extensive help, explanation, and code examples throughout.
reduction and simplified design
Actel announces new power reduction and design creation enhancements to its Libero Integrated Development Environment. Giving designers additional power supply options and
enabling even lower power consumption, the
new Libero IDE 8.4 offers an FPGA core operating voltage range from 1.14 to 1.575 volts for
its flash-based IGLOO, IGLOO PLUS and
ProASIC3L FPGAs. Enhancements to the
SmartPower analysis tools within the Libero
IDE also allow easy comparisons of multiple
design scenarios and their resulting power
consumption and battery life implications.
News ID 397
News ID 517
News ID 1830
News ID 1858
I Holtek: low power A/D with LCD
October 2008
34
I Actel: enhanced IDE offers power
MICROCONTROLLERS & DSPS
:PV $"/ HFU JU...
)BSEXBSF TPGUXBSF GPS
$"/ CVT BQQMJDBUJPOTŒ
I Lynux Works: C-to-FPGA tools integrate
I IAR: enhanced Cortex-M3 debug
with BlueCat Linux OS
LynuxWorks and Impulse Accelerated Technologies have announced technical collaboration, libraries and reference examples combining the Impulse C-to-FPGA tools with LynuxWorks BlueCat operating system. The Impulse
development environment increases productivity by providing C-language compilation, optimization and hardware generation for FPGAs.
The tools also handle the hardware interconnections between embedded PowerPC and
MicroBlaze processors and custom C-language
hardware accelerators.
support and speed optimization
IAR Systems has announced the launch of
version 5.20 of IAR Embedded Workbench for
ARM, its integrated development environment for building and debugging embedded
applications which includes a significant number of improvements focusing on the ARM
Cortex-M3 core. On the debug side, support
has been implemented to handle trace packets
sent over the SWO channel which is part of
CoreSight, the on-chip debug and trace
solution used in the Cortex processor family.
News ID 509
News ID 443
I Vector supports development of
CompactPCI
CAN interface
PCAN cPCI
CAN interface for CompactPCIslots. Available as 2-channel,
4-channel and optoisolated
version.
Ethernet systems and CAN tunneling
CANoe.IP from Vector extends the development
and test tool CANoe by adding specific functions
for embedded Ethernet systems. As a multi-network tool, CANoe.IP is the natural choice for use
in systems with different networks such as CAN
and Ethernet. In addition, developers benefit
from wireless receiving and sending of CAN
messages from mobile or difficult-to-access
CAN bus systems (CAN tunneling).
I Logic and TI offer Zoom Medical OMAP35x
Development Kit
Logic and Texas Instruments have released a
new development kit specifically designed to
quickly bring new medical products to market.
The new Zoom Medical OMAP35x Development Kit and companion System on Modules
use TI’s OMAP35x processor to provide developers with a cost-effective, compact way to design and produce medical, industrial and other
embedded applications.
News ID 1813
News ID 1561
!LSO AVAILABLE WITH #!.OPEN ÚRMWARE
I Lauterbach: TRACE32 debugger
integration of Rhapsody and Trace32
Join a free seminar and learn how the Telelogic
Rhapsody and Lauterbach Trace32 integration
streamlines and accelerates your application
testing. By attending the presentation, you will
get a clear understanding how this exciting integration will benefit your development projects.
In most embedded development projects, testing
is the last step in the lifecycle ‘ a practice that
greatly underestimates the danger inherent in
relegating testing to the end of your development
process.
controls Renesas dual-core processor
The SH7786 from Renesas is intended for highperformance multimedia systems, especially
car information system such as car navigation
systems. The dual core processor is equipped
with the user debug interface and the advanced
user debug interface to provide comprehensive
on-chip debugging. The TRACE32 debugger
controls both cores through the same H-UDI
interface using just one set of debug and trace
hardware. For asymmetric multiprocessing
each core is handled by a separate instance of
the TRACE32 debug environment.
News ID 420
News ID 1859
I Catalyst: 12-bit digital temperature
I iSYSTEM: 2008 version of IDE for Windows
sensor for DDR3 applications
Catalyst has unveiled its first device in a new line
of temperature sensors. The new CAT6095 is a
12-bit digital output temperature sensor available in an ultra-thin, 0.55mm height UDFN
package for DDR3 memory module applications in high-speed PCs and laptops, environmental control systems and industrial process
control equipment. The CAT6095 can also be
used for general temperature sensing applications in networking equipment, cellular base stations and medical equipment. The UDFN package provides accurate temperature monitoring
in a 30 percent lower profile package compared
to standard 2 x 3 x 0.8mm TDFN packages.
and Eclipse
iSYSTEM has released its 2008 version of
winIDEA, an integrated development environment for embedded systems development,
debugging and test. Beside high-end functionality such as trace, profiling and statement as
well as decision coverage iSYSTEM focuses on
connectivity. The iSYSTEM API allows for
flexible integration and application of the
iSYSTEM solutions in the entire development
process. Solutions to automate test, e.g. with the
test tool suite of LDRA or National Instruments
LabVIEW, prove the successful use and integration of traditional debug tools in the field of
test automation.
News ID 467
News ID 1603
I Lauterbach and Telelogic: seminar about
35
October 2008
MicroMod Motherboard
I/O-Board with CAN interface.
!VAILABLE IN ÚVE DIFFERENT
VERSIONS INCL CONÚGURATION
software.
PCAN Explorer 4
Universal CAN monitor,
symbolic representation, VBS
INTERFACE INTEGRATED DATA LOGGER
CAPABILITY TO ADD PLUG INS
E G 0LOTTER XXXQFBLTZTUFNDPN
Otto-Roehm-Str. 69
64293 Darmstadt / Germany
Phone: +49 6151 8173-20
Fax:
+49 6151 8173-29
info@peak-system.com
MOTOR CONTROL
8-bit MCUs with PFC and FOC enable
efficient motor control
By Anil Mathew, Infineon
Infineon’s XC800 family of
8-bit MCUs combines a
dual-cycle 8051 core with
embedded flash memory and
powerful on-chip peripherals.
The scalable MCUs are well
suited for a wide range of
applications, including various
forms of motor control
in industrial and
consumer products.
Figure 1. XC800 block diagram
I In addition to low power consumption, higher performance and reduced costs are key
drivers of microcontrollers. Therefore an 8-bitmicrontroller family which offers 16-bit performance at 8-bit costs addresses a variety of
demanding applications. With the XC800 family Infineon has combined an 8051-core with
embedded flash memory of 4 KBytes to 64
KBytes and pin-count from 20 to 64 pins. To reduce system costs features such as oscillator,
voltage regulator, EEROM and supervisory
circuits are integrated. Different flash sizes, scalable peripherals and innovative features like
field oriented control (FOC) make it easy to select the right product for a dedicated application. Advanced control schemes like FOC or
power factor control (PFC) allow manufacturers to reduce the size of the motor required,
yielding higher efficiency, better dynamic
response and lower torque ripple.
The XC800 family provides some powerful
peripherals which make these MCUs suited for
various motor control applications. These peripherals include a capture/compare unit
(CCU6) for flexible PWM generation, an enhanced fast AD converter for precise measurement and hardware synchronization to PWM,
an additional capture/compare unit (T2CCU)
and a MultiCAN module. The CCU6 is a
high-resolution capture/compare unit with
application-specific modes, mainly for AC
drive control or inverters. The CCU6 unit is
October 2008
made up of a timer T12 block with three capture/compare channels and a timer T13 block
with one compare channel. The capture channels are used for time measurements and the
compare channels for PWM generation. 16-bit
resolution enables high-precision space vector
PWM generation. The T12 channels can independently generate up to six PWM signals or
accept up to six capture triggers, or they can
jointly generate control signal patterns to drive
AC motors or inverters. Dead-time control results in minimum hardware effort (direct control of MOSFET/IGBT). With the CCU6, sinusoidal or space vector modulation can be easily implemented. Special operating modes support the control of brushless DC motors. Furthermore block commutation and control
mechanisms for multiphase machines are
supported.
In addition to the CCU6 unit, the microcontrollers integrate the T2CCU (timer 2 capture/compare unit) as an additional block to the
standard timer 2 unit. The T2CCU can be used
for various digital signal generation and event
capturing functions like pulse generation or
pulse width modulation. Target applications include various automotive control and industrial
applications like frequency generation, digitalto-analog conversion and process control. The
MCU family includes a precision and fast
ADC with 10-bit resolution (+/- 2LSB) with
eight multiplexed analog input channels and a
36
conversion time of <1.5µs (sample time of
0.25µs). The ADC uses a successive approximation technique to convert the analog voltage
levels from up to eight different sources. It can
also operate in 8-bit conversion mode, where
the conversion time is further reduced. The fast
ADC enables single shut current measurements. Providing special modes (auto scan, injection or comparator) and hardware synchronization to the PWM unit, the ADC reduces the CPU load. Due to the minimized
blind angle the torque ripple in motor control
applications can be reduced.
More and more complex applications require
communication over the CAN network. The
MultiCAN module of the devices supports
CAN 2.0 B active and two independent CAN
nodes. Using the MultiCAN module, related
functional blocks like CAN gateways or FIFOs
can easily be implemented. The 8-bit MCUs of
the family offer scalable solutions for different
types of motor control methods, ranging from
block commutation for brushless DC motors
(BLDC with Hall sensor or sensorless), to
FOC for PMSMs (permanent magnet synchronous motors) and both FOC and PFC
(power factor control) for complex motor
drives. On the low-end side the XC866 offers
fast instruction cycle times of only 75ns and
flexible flash memory capacity of 4K, 8K or
16KBytes. In addition compatible ROM versions for further cost-saving potential in high
MOTOR CONTROL
Figure 3. FOC block diagram
Figure 2. High-performance PWM unit (CCU6)
volume production are available. High performance and cost-saving features include
26.67MHz system frequency, on-chip oscillator
and PLL for clock generation and an embedded
voltage regulator supporting single voltage
supply of 3.3V or 5.0V. The CCU6 enables flexible and easy-to-use PWM signal generation
with special modes for motor control. This
makes the XC866 suited for control applications
using brushless DC motors. The peripherals also
include an 8-channel 10-bit ADC, three 16-bit
timers, UART, SCC (synchronous serial channel)
and on-chip debugging support (JTAG). The
XC866 also offers support for LIN (local interconnected network). The XC886/888 enhances
the XC800 family of 8-bit MCUs with a member
providing advanced motor drive capability by
combining up to 32 KBytes of embedded flash
and an integrated vector computer to support
FOC. FOC is a technique for operating electric
motors which results in smooth and energy
efficient operation at all speeds. The FOC capability is implemented on the XC886/8 by combining the high-performance 8051 core and the
vector computer coprocessor core, which
performs 16-bit arithmetic operations. The full
programmable vector computer is built by two
parallel operating units: the MDU (multiplication/division unit), a 16-bit multiply and divide
unit, and the CORDIC, a 16-bit coprocessor
dedicated for vector rotation and angular calculations. The interrupt-based operation of the vector computer reduces the CPU load. Unlike
most competitive FOC implementations that are
hard-coded, the XC886/8 microcontroller-based
solution offers the added benefit of software
reprogrammability to give the developers more
versatile application options.
The high-end XC878 MCUs with up to 64
KBytes of flash memory also include a 16-bit
vector computer for the FOC support. In addition two independent PWM units with up to
ten PWM outputs and four separate timebases
make it possible to combine motor control and
PFC algorithms on one chip. Two 3-phase motors can be controlled independently. The
XC878 family is capable of supporting both
PFC and FOC and enables excellent torque
dynamics, reduced noise and higher energy
efficiency for motor drives in industrial and
automotive applications. FOC enables smooth
and efficient motor operation at all speeds,
delivering motor efficiency of up to 95 percent.
PFC controls and reduces the amount of
current drawn from the AC-voltage source.
15kHz PWM frequency and 133µs current
control response time) requires only 58% of the
CPU performance, providing plenty of headroom for application-specific functionality.
This highly efficient programming of the sensorless FOC algorithm in 16-bit arithmetic can
only be realized by a nested utilization of the
vector computer and the 8051-compatible CPU
core itself. The resulting sinusoidal waveform of
this implementation results in very low-noise
operation of the motor. The system costs are reduced drastically by using an 8-bit standard microcontroller, using just one shunt in the DC
link for acquiring the three-phase currents, and
by the use of a FOC algorithm that makes expensive Hall sensors obsolete. Another benefit of
the solution is the software reprogrammability,
which enables an optimized startup phase of the
motor by programming a controlled ramp
using any signal of the algorithm. Many consumer appliances such as washing machines, air
conditioners or fans with speed control require
cost-effective and energy-saving approaches. A
widespread way to implement such appliances is
FOC since it does not require costly sensors. In turn
however, they require relatively complex signal processing. The 16-bit vector unit of the XC878 is
hard-wired to do the most important calculations
associated with FOC motor control, such as vector
rotation or angle computations. This allows to implement a budget solution, enabling motor efficiencies of up to 95 percent.
Figure 4. Sensorless FOC of a PMSM
Line-powered motor control applications
continue to require more power efficiency and
the ability to obtain a regulated DC power
source with reduced current harmonic distortion. Motor drive systems like air-conditioner
compressors benefit from the combination of
PFC and FOC on 8-bit MCUs. The XC878
MCU series today includes up to 12 product
variants that differ in peripheral set, flash
memory (52 or 64 KBytes) and temperature
range. FOC implemented on the low-cost 8-bit
XC886/8 MCU redefines the economic models
for developers of motor-controlled products
such as fans and HVAC (heating, ventilation
and air conditioning) control. Sensorless FOC
execution on the MCUs (for instance with
In addition, the devices support PFC to improve the efficiency of the motor drive and reduce noise and vibration. Using the same microcontroller to implement both FOC and the
PFC block results in significant cost savings, because other solutions need to use expensive
ASICs, and fixed-function or discrete-based solutions. In contrast to existing solutions requiring external circuitry, in the XC878 family
PFC is performed by software. Combining
both FOC and PFC capabilities, it is an ideal solution for the control of compressor motors in
air conditioners. While the XC878 handles the
compressor and PFC control for the outdoor
unit, an XC866 can be used for the fan control
for the indoor unit. I
Figure 5. XC878 controls the outdoor unit of
an air conditioner.
37
October 2008
MOTOR CONTROL
Are you ready for the low-power
market trend?
By Alex Zaretsky, NEC Electronics Europe
New MCU families
from NEC Electronics offer
better power performance
with 8-, 16- and 32-bit cores.
These families are specifically
designed for battery-operated
devices, and cater for
the majority of industrial
applications requiring
low-power capabilities.
I Almost everything we use is based on electronic devices and semiconductors these days,
which consume a lot of energy. Energy consumption and even energy waste has a significant impact on the green environment, and the
energy cost and battery longevity of portable
electronic devices.
sumption. Complying with the needs of the
green environment, new technology will enable
customers to offer products with reduced
standby as well as active power consumption.
Problems relating to power consumption are
not only applicable to green environment consideration, but also to battery-powered devices.
System designers must consider many topologies for power supply when designing portable
devices, such as sensors, detectors and medical
diagnostic devices, as they become more powerhungry. Highly integrated power-management solutions are required to achieve the overall design goal of maximum battery life in the
smallest PCB area possible.
It is no secret that energy usage affects climate
change and global warming. Climate change is
already happening and its impact could, in the
longer term, be critical. Greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing globally in the second half of the twentieth century and they are
still growing. Industrial energy prices have increased dramatically in the last few years making even more impact on businesses. To ensure
that electrical and electronic devices are safe
and have minimal impact on the environment,
it is essential that ecological considerations are
applied. One of the ways to reduce the impact
of energy on the environment and society is to
employ more ECO-friendly devices and to
conserve power as much as possible.
The increased integration of portable applications puts greater demands on the battery
lifetime of the product compared with previous
generations, and requires microcontrollers that
are economical in power consumption, produce
low noise and run on a low voltage at reasonable speed.
From the environmental impact reduction
point of view, NEC Electronics are constantly
looking for the best solutions, and contribute to
the production of final products that consume
less power and integrate multiple functions on
a single chip, by utilizing advanced process
techniques and by designing for low power con-
Many battery-operated devices challenge the
battery resources of an application. Batteries are
limited in the maximum amount of energy they
can store with different capabilities of voltage
regulation. Battery lifetime mostly depends on
size, the bigger the battery, the longer it will last.
Low-power microcontrollers allow the use of
October 2008
38
smaller size batteries, and thus reduce overall
system size and cost. An interesting application
area to consider is the medical market. Low
power consumption and hence extended battery life is one of the most critical aspects when
designing a blood glucose meter (BGM). In
many BGMs and similar medical devices, the
power consumption starts as soon as the devices have been manufactured. During production, time and date information is loaded
into the BGM device to reduce the possibility of
the user entering these incorrectly.
This is important, as sometimes when clinics
download the recorded test results, incorrectly
dated information can corrupt the accuracy of
the prognosis. So from production and storage
until the user opens the box, the BGM keeps
running to ensure time and date information is
not lost. Diabetics who use insulin usually test
their blood sugar up to 10 times per day and
every measurement means a drain on the battery. Imagine a diabetic user on holiday, needing regular tests during throughout the day, if
the battery power runs out. In this scenario, it
is easy to see why using a low-power microcontroller that extends battery life even by one
or two days is a key advantage for improving
the standard of care for diabetic people.
Recharging may also be not as practical as it
seems. Consider the digital thermometers or
other electronic medical devices frequently
MOTOR CONTROL
can be saved by spending as long as possible
in this mode. As a general rule, power consumption increases
proportionally to clock
speed, and the bus
width may also double
power consumption. It
is good practice to design a system to run as
slowly as reasonably
possible in all operating modes of the microcontroller. Sleep
mode and other lowFigure 1. Power consumption of the MCU µPD78F0533
power modes allow
powering down the
device and turning it back on when needed, thus
used by hospitals today. The same device may be
reducing the average power consumption.
used by the nurses on all shifts day by day. It may
be difficult to find time for it to be on a
Not every task an MCU has to perform will
recharging cradle. Standby power and active
benefit from the highest speed performance. So
power consumption must therefore be reduced
if a processor can complete the instructions at
in order to increase battery life. Whether it is for
fastest possible speed before going back to sleep
an electric toothbrush, shaver, glucose meter or
in lower power mode, this can save more power
a remote control for anything not within arm
than constantly running at slow speeds. While
reach, battery-powered devices are an everyday
looking at the microcontroller data sheet, you
part of life. As a result, power management is a
need to ask several questions to make the optisignificant concern for embedded developers
mum choice. What is the current consumption
today. Consequently, portable systems require
in sleep mode and other modes including active
low-power microcontrollers which are able to
mode? What components are still powered on in
operate on low voltages and consume very little
each mode and how much static current do they
current, as well as support multiple low-power
consume? What are the dynamic clock options
modes. For an embedded designer looking to
and how does current consumption change with
choose a microcontroller, the almost limitless
each of them? How much power does the device
range of available devices can make the task
consume per MIPS?
complex. It is helpful to research current trends
in the industry to narrow down the range of
With the goal of setting new records in low
choice. What is the future of microcontrollers,
power consumption, while still keeping high
how are they changing and what impact is inperformance, NEC Electronics have released
dustry having on these changes? The industrial
new MCU families, which provide a direct
market suggests the trend is towards lower
upgrade path for corresponding devices in the
power and higher integration.
well-established all-flash generation among a
wide range of applications. The new family
Many microcontrollers offer low-power concomprises the 78K0/Kx2-L, 78K0R/Kx3-L and
sumption, but which one is right for your
V850ES/Jx3-L, all offering industry-leading
design? The availability of the right tools, cost,
power performance with 8-, 16- and 32-bit
speed and integration is not the main concern
cores respectively. These cutting-edge lowany longer. If a microcontroller has an efficient
power families are specifically designed for
low-power mode, a significant amount of power
battery-operated devices, as well as for saving
energy cost. The vast choice available allows
finding the right device within the families, thus
catering for the majority of industrial applications requiring low-power capabilities.
Figure 2. Batteries need low-power MCUs to
increase lifetime.
The standby current in the 8-bit 78K0/Kx2-L
has been reduced by 80% from its existing corresponding 78K0/Kx2 family and is only 0.7µA
when running from the 30 kHz internal low
speed oscillator and supplied from 3V. There
are also two internal high speed oscillators, 4
and 8 MHz, with high accuracy and super low
noise. The benchmark result of the average
39
current consumption of the family is as low as
4.29µA when run at 1 MHz and waking up
from sleep mode for 10ms every 1 second. In
addition to the low-power features, which also
include current consumption of just 650uA at
4 MHz from the internal oscillator, the chip integrates up to 1 Kbyte of RAM and up to 32
Kbytes of flash memories, as well as up to 11
ADC channels with 10-bit resolution, up to 2
operational amplifier channels, RTC and a
number of different timers and serial interfaces.
The 16-bit 78K0R/Kx3-L microcontroller family has been released with ultra-low power consumption combined with the market-leading
operational power performance and increased
embedded functionality. It consumes less than
1µA when in the low-power mode with RTC
on, yet is still capable of providing high performance of 13 Dhrystone MIPS at 20 MHz
consuming 1.5mW per MIPS at 3V. There are
3 options for the internal selectable clocks consisting of 1 MHz internal oscillator as well as 8
MHz and 20 MHz with 1% accuracy. The rich
analog support includes 12 high speed and high
accuracy ADC channels with the conversion
time of 3µsec, a choice of x1 to x12 programmable gain amplifiers and multiple analog
comparators on chip.
Flash programming at as low as 1.8V is one of
the key features of the family. It allows extending battery life enough to program logging data
in to flash at 1.8V before it runs out completely. The other crucial peripherals include the
multiplier/divider, DMA channels, key-return
function, and timer array unit (TAU) allowing
advanced manipulation with the 8 separate
standalone 16-bit timers coming with a variety
of individual functions, as well as a serial array
unit (SAU) for featuring multiple serial interfaces and others. The family is available in
memory options of up to 3 Kbytes of RAM, up
to 64K bytes of flash and a wide range of I/O
counts from 44 to 144 pin packages to meet
most of the industrial applications and cost
requirements.
With a standby current of just 1.5 A and power
consumption of only 0.9mW per Dhrystone
MIPS in active mode, the 32-bit V850ES/Jx3-L
series has been designed to provide 32-bit
performance with 8-bit power consumption.
The new family is capable of high-end math
operations, running at 5 to 20 MHz frequency,
operating in the 2.2 to 3.6V range and still remaining tolerant to 5V I/O, hence making an
additional cost saving on external level shifters.
It provides up to 256 Kbytes of flash memory
and up to 16 Kbytes of RAM. The mixture and
resourcefulness of the peripherals that support
the processor on chip make the V850ES/Jx3-L
microcontroller line suited for industrial applications that require low-power consumption. I
October 2008
TOOLS & SOFTWARE
Fine-grained memory protection
guarantees safe function integration
By Mario Cupelli, HighTec EDV-Systeme, and Heiko Riessland, pls
Programmierbare Logik & Systeme
How do you combine different software modules in a
single control unit without
jeopardizing the safety of the
overall system? The real-time
operating system PXROS-HR
uses the memory protection
unit of the TriCore architecture to realize hardwarebased memory protection,
with each software module
running in effect on its own
controller.
I To meet the demand for more safety and
comfort in automotive and industrial applications, a variety of different control and memory units are required. But how do you combine
different software modules without risk in a
single control unit? As a rule, pure softwarebased approaches to a solution do not offer the
necessary safety, and are also expensive. To rule
out interaction and possible error propagation,
strict encapsulation of all the software modules
to be deployed is absolutely necessary. The realtime operating system PXROS-HR, which was
developed by HighTec EDV Systeme, uses the
memory protection unit (MPU) of the TriCore
architecture in order to realize hardware-based
memory protection. It is as if each software
module and each capsule were running on a
controller of its own. The operating system
thereby takes over the management of the
MPU, and during runtime monitors the memory integrity of the capsules.
In the case of the drive application depicted in
figure 1, the basic system is made up of the
RTOS PXROS-HR, driver and protocols, debug
monitor and a motor control unit. The TriCore
architecture differentiates for software modules
the privilege levels Supervisor, User-0 and
User-1. In the User-1 level, accesses to some special function register (SFR) and peripheral
units are still allowed; whereas, in the User-0
October 2008
level neither SFR accesses nor peripheral accesses are permissible. The software modules
external to the basic system, shown in figure 1
as red-framed VCUs, should typically run in the
User-0 level. These so-called PXROS-HR tasks
can execute services of the basic system via an
application programming interface (API). As
with the help of the MPU the resources have
been defined by memory limits, each of these
components is encapsulated. The communication between software modules also takes place
solely by exchange of encapsulated messages.
The hardware-based memory protection is realized by means of the four data protection registers and two code protection registers of the
TriCore memory protection unit, and is individually adjustable for the different privilege levels. By means of an upper and lower bound as
well as its access right (reading, writing, executing), each protection register configures a
valid “view window” in the memory. Switchover
of the protection registers for the respective software module is undertaken by the PXROS-HR.
Thereby any unauthorized access to a module
external to the view window during the operating system runtime is detected and handled.
The typical configuration of software modules
(PXROS-HR tasks) is shown in figure 2. Two of
the four data protection registers configure the
40
sectors for constants, stack and data of a task.
The two remaining registers can be used for exchanging messages. The sending of a message
from Task1 and the receipt of the message in
Task2 correspond to the handover of an encapsulated memory sector (object) including
access right.
The protected message object can thus have any
size. The memory use, in contrast to approaches that realize the protection by mapping
(MMU), is minimal. As is well known, the
memory efficiency achieved, particularly in embedded applications, is a determining criterion,
because typically here only a small amount of
RAM is available. Therefore, the PXROS-HR in
combination with the MPU of the TriCore architecture guarantees a fine-grained protection
which is safe, and with only approximately 5%
performance loss, at the same time also highly
efficient. In practice, this approach offers
significant advantages for all persons involved:
the system designer, the software developer and
ultimately also the product manager.
For the system designer, the encapsulation of
the software modules particularly means that
the complexity of the software system is considerably reduced. Each software module is free
of interaction and is configured with its allocated resources. At the same time, the absence
TOOLS & SOFTWARE
Figure 1. In the drive application depicted, the basic system is made up of the RTOS PXROS-HR,
driver and protocols, debug monitor and a motor control unit.
bugger and PXROS-HR. The current implementation enables the setting of two code
breakpoints in the debugger. The remaining
memory protection unit is used for memory
protection, which is realized by the operating
system. The second operating mode enables the
debugging of currently up to two reloadable
PXROS-HR tasks. Because a complete stop of
the hardware here is not wanted, the application
debugging takes place via a debug monitor,
which is integrated in the target operating system. The monitor encapsulates task-specific
breakpoints, context handling and call stacks
for the debugger which is to a large extent
transparent and addressable via a gdb compatible command interface. Ethernet and serial interfaces serve as standard connection to the target monitor. However, JTAG as communication
channel is also usable with the universal debug
engine and an enhanced monitor. The latter is
an advantage, because firstly Ethernet is not a
typical interface for TriCore targets and secondly both the kernel debugging and the application debugging can take place, if required,
via a JTAG connection.
Ultimately, product managers also benefit from
the fact that a fault in a software module cannot jeopardize the integrity of the entire system.
If the cause of the fault can be definitely associated with a specific software module, the
question of product liability can also be clearly and conclusively regulated.
Figure 2. With typical PXROS-HR tasks, the four data protection registers configure the sectors for
constants and stack of a task. The two remaining registers can be used for exchanging messages.
of interaction creates a risk-free combination of
safety-critical and non-safety-critical software
modules. In total, this leads to a simplified and
cost-effective certification process of such applications. For software developers the encapsulation moreover brings, among other things,
the advantage that, with the independence of
software modules, a simple module test is possible. The adherence to the memory resources,
predetermined by the system designer, for the
software developer is forced by the MPU. A protection violation, caused for example by an inadvertent pointer access or transient error,
does not lead to any interference whatsoever to
the remaining system. By means of the encapsulated structure, safe and simple function in-
tegration is possible, because faults in software
modules can be uncovered at an early stage of
the development. A prerequisite is obviously
that the debug tools used, as in the case of the
universal debug engine (UDE) from pls Programmierbare Logik & Systeme, also observe
the mechanisms used and support two essential
operating modes.
The first operating mode uses a JTAG debugger
for debugging of the PXROS-HR kernels. The
memory protection unit employed by the operating system is generally used for the realization of a maximum of four hardware code
breakpoints and further data breakpoints. The
MPU resources must be shared between de41
Summing up: the encapsulation of software
modules by means of hardware-based memory protection does not only lead to appreciable
reduction of the test and certification efforts,
but also enables simple and safe function integration, and protects, in the event of system
crash or damage, against possible unjustified
product liability claims. However, the development of such complex systems presumes, as described in the example of the operating system
PXROS-HR from HighTec and the universal
debug engine from pls, that all tools used support the encapsulation of software modules. I
Product News
I MIPS: code, debug and analyze Linux
systems on MIPS architecture
MIPS has introduced the MIPS navigator integrated component suite to enable embedded developers to more easily code, debug
and analyze Linux systems on MIPS-Based
SoCs and embedded systems. Navigator ICS
brings together the industry’s leading tools
and technologies for MIPS development in a
cohesive, off-the-shelf product, with components for Linux development.
News ID 423
October 2008
TOOLS & SOFTWARE
Software bugs: prevention with CSE
tools is better than cure
By Fergus Bolger, PRQA
Industry has reached a turning-point in its approach to
software quality. Debugging
is increasingly being seen as a
waste of time and effort,
whilst coding standard
enforcement with CSE tools is
accepted as a significantly
more efficient use of
resources.
I Einstein once claimed that intellectuals solve
problems, but geniuses prevent them. Adopting
this approach would turn current software development practice on its head and place
greater emphasis on eliminating the source of
coding problems at the developer/coding phase
rather than aiming to catch bugs in the integration phase. This approach will resonate
with any organization that finds considerable
portions of their software engineering resources trapped in debug cycles, and is one
which is driving the development of Coding
Standard Enforcement (CSE) tools.
CSE tools are designed to prevent and detect
software bugs. A typical example is a company
which had spent hundreds of engineering
hours trying to locate the cause of a memory
crash before asking Programming Research
(PRQA) to carry out an on-site code CSE audit.
Within half an hour, the audit had found that
the root cause of the problem was inconsistent
memory allocation methods being used on the
same global object accessed by different system
modules. The bug, and the hours of debugging,
could have been prevented by following a set of
coding rules which would constrain, but not
ban, the use of dynamic memory allocation. In
another typical scenario, a recent switch to 64bit hardware seemed to be the cause of erratic
system behaviour, whereas PRQA analysis tools
revealed that the true cause of the problem was
unwanted conversions between pointer and integral types. This category of software fault
could have been prevented by establishing a set
of coding rules to identify and focus on such
conversion issues. There are, of course, already
ISO standards in place which define C and C++
languages, however, only about 70% of C
language is strictly defined, which means there
are still elements of unreliability or uncertain
behaviour within the code. Using the right
software tools to identify and prevent problems
early in the development cycle is vital, and explains why companies developing critical software systems invest huge amounts of money to
safeguard their software development.
Awareness is growing that resources devoted
to late-cycle fix-and-retest approaches to
achieving software correctness could be more
effectively allocated to prevention. CSE tools
provide users with the ability to adopt an
existing coding standard or develop their
own custom standard, and subsequently
automate enforcement.
For some customers, CSE is necessary in order
to comply with safety or quality standards,
whilst others use it to avoid known problematic
areas of the chosen programming language,
handle the wide array of portability issues within the C or C++ languages across compiler
Posthalterring 18 · D-85599 Parsdorf
Tel. + 49 (0) 89/99 15 09-0
Fax + 49 (0) 89/99 15 09-50
E-mail: service@actron.de
AG
www.actron.de
October 2008
42
TOOLS & SOFTWARE
dialects or hardware platforms, or simply to
achieve best practice in software development.
Contractual requirements may also stipulate the
use of CSE where, for example, an OEM is outsourcing its software development and requires the supplier to meet certain quality levels of software development. Here, CSE acts as
a gatekeeper, checking all incoming source
code against the specified standard.
Code reviews, unit and system testing, including coverage analysis, functional verification
steps, and feature upgrade cycles can all be considerably shortened by using CSE. Bug-ridden
software does not magically heal itself in the
next design iteration; it simply transfers its
problems elsewhere. The goal, therefore, should
be to empower software engineers to prevent
mistakes, or to identify and correct them before
they reach the test environment.
quality. Debugging is increasingly being seen as
a waste of time and effort, whilst coding standard
enforcement, or pre-bugging, is a significantly
more efficient use of resources. By adopting best
practice coding standards, organisations not
only improve their time to market but also
reduce rework and re-testing. Fewer bugs in
released software helps to support their reputations, whilst improving customer satisfaction
and limiting the risk of litigation in case of
system failure. It appears therefore that companies do not need to use their intellect to solve
problem bugs, but simply have the genius to
prevent them by using Coding Standard
Enforcement (CSE) tools. I
Product News
I Freescale: three new Power
Architecture families for automotive
Freescale Semiconductor has expanded its
portfolio of Power Architecture microcontrollers to address a broad range of cost-sensitive automotive applications requiring 32bit performance. The company has introduced three new automotive MCU families
optimized for safety, chassis, instrument
cluster, body electronics and gateway designs.
News ID 1630
The follow-on benefits from a prevention-oriented approach to code construction can be as
high as 50%. CSE protects software developers
from using parts of the language that are
known to give rise to problems. It can prevent
straightforward coding mistakes, misuse of
language and unexpected behaviour which can
result when language definitions are not sufficiently strict. PRQA tools analyze source code on
a file-by-file basis and also across a complete
project to identify potentially dangerous usage
of language. The tools also identify language
usage which is not compliant with the relevant
ISO standard. In the QAC and QAC++ tool
suites, comprehensive libraries of selectable
warning messages are used to highlight source
code which is non-portable, difficult to maintain,
overly complex, or written in any way that is likely to cause problems. A message browser displays
diagnostics on source code and associated header files for the complete project. These are categorized and grouped across all source files and
can also be viewed as an annotated source code
listing, with the option to view in HTML format
with links to additional information and advice.
As embedded software systems become increasingly complex, companies are beginning to
consider C++, rather than C, as their embedded
language of choice, and dealing with technologies that allow them to abstract away from the
C and assembler-level code that they might
have been working with for 10 years or more.
This will necessarily mean that even greater
levels of protection and care with software
implementation will be required.
These changes mean that the industry has
reached a turning-point in its approach to assuring software quality. The past three years
have seen a huge rise in the acceptance of the
need for CSE and companies are taking more
pro-active control of the whole issue of software
43
October 2008
AUTOMOTIVE
Flexible system solutions for in-car
display instruments
By M. Bräuer, M. Mierse, Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe
This article announces
components with an
integrated APIX interface,
a new in-car interface
standard, for applications
which require greater
computing power.
I Safety and comfort in modern vehicles depend decisively on increasingly powerful displays – this applies just as much to information
and communication as to navigation and entertainment. For developers, their simple and
cost-effective control is of primary importance. APIX technology (Automotive Pixel
Link), developed by Inova, is helpful in this respect. Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME)
was the first leading manufacturer to integrate
this technology into its micro and graphic controller architectures in order to expand the
functionality and versatility of its products. As
a result, an innovative and open system platform was created, leading to increased performance and low costs of implementation.
Modern automotive electronics must establish
itself in the area of conflicting interests between
increasing demands for more functionality,
comfort, flexibility and safety on the one hand
and shorter development times and increased
cost pressure on the other. Well-known measures here are the standardisation of hardware
(e.g. the interfaces or bus systems in the vehicle)
and modularisation aimed at simplified multiple uses. Increased functionality requires constant increases in hardware performance and
faster bus connections between individual
hardware components. In the field of display instruments, the demand is for more comfort and
information as part of a trend towards an inOctober 2008
creased number of TFT displays with increasing resolution and colour depth. Displays
which are increasing in size for reasons of modularity and flexibility are being used in different
locations to the actual control units. A typical
example of a modular construction consists of
the head unit (control unit for the central operating panel) and the central information display, which is now generally installed in a separate location. Modularisation here also permits
simpler scaling. Certain control units are the
same for all production series others are
equipped according to requirements with
greater or reduced performance (display resolution, colour depth). The secure and cost-effective transfer of picture data between both of
these devices still remains a problem (for example 800 x 480 pixels in 24 bit/pixel colour
depth at 60 Hz refresh rate corresponds to a rate
of approximately 500 Mbit/s).
A good approach to solving this problem is the
automotive pixel link (APIX), a potential new
standard developed for the transfer of video
and peripheral data in the car. An EMC-optimised bit-serial transfer of picture data is already possible in the first APIX generation with
a transfer speed of up to 1 Gbit/s using two
screened pairs of copper wire up to a distance
of 20 m. In addition to the main channel, the
APIX link offers two bidirectional side band
channels through which control information,
44
for example, can be transferred at a speed of up
to 8 Mbit/s independently of the main channel.
In addition to the APIX Physical Layer Standard, Inova also provides a protocol for communication using the sideband channels. This
is implemented in the automotive shell (Ashell), which controls the transfer of data via the
sidebands. For certain data, such as control data
for stepper motors, safety standards must be
met here in order to ensure the correct transfer
of data. Each transfer is protected by a CRC. Errors in transmission are reported. Safety-related can also be sent automatically using the implemented ARQ (automatic repeat query)
management (Go-back-N) until the transfer is
free of errors.
Fujitsu, which this year was the first semiconductor company in the world to present processors and graphics controllers with an integrated APIX (Figure 1) offers solutions for all vehicle bus systems. The first two components
with an APIX interface, the MCU MB91F467S
from the MB91460 series and the MB88F388
(Indigo) graphics controller are the suited
combination for the development of a low-end
instrument panel architecture, where the control unit including MCU is installed separately from the display unit with an MB88F388.
Low-end here means that the graphics to be displayed are primarily in the form of bitmaps or
sprites and there are no complex rendering
AUTOMOTIVE
tasks to carry out. Figures 2 and 3 show the
block diagrams for the components.
MB91F467S is a 176-pin variant of the 32-bit
FR (Fujitsu Risc) MB91F467D dashboard controller. Stepping motor controllers (SMCs),
now featured on the Indigo are not included on
the MB91F467S. It also features 1 MBytes of
flash memory and 64 KBytes of RAM on-chip
memory. Graphics data can be read in by internal flash memory or via the external bus interface and forwarded via the APIX transmitter
(Tx). Two CAN channels enable connection to
an in-car network, if necessary also redundantly, in order to increase transfer security.
Further serial interfaces available are the 6 LIN
USART modules, which can operate as an SPI,
UART or LIN, as well as three I²C interfaces. 16
channels of a 10-bit ADC and a wide range of
timers take over other necessary functions.
The APIX interface is connected to the internal
buses in such a way that DMA transfers from
external memory to the APIX can be performed
without disturbing the CPU. The MB91F467S
has two pairs of APIX sideband connections.
Two connected APIX receivers can thus be controlled if necessary (for example for an instrument panel and HUD). The MCU works with
a cycle frequency of up to 100MHz and thus offers enough performance for a timely supply to
devices connected to the APIX with data and
commands and the completion of various
software tasks in its own core.
Figure 1. Comparison of the different standards
The counterpart to the MCU is the MB88F388
graphics controller. This component is distinguished primarily by the fact that it is a single
chip solution which does not need external
memory. It was optimised especially for in-car
applications such as cluster instruments (especially hybrid clusters), head-up displays
(HUDs) and central information displays.
Using the programmable display controller,
timings for displays with resolutions of 320x160
to 1280x480 pixels can be generated. Colour
values can be optimised with the integrated
gamma correction and dithering unit according
to the parameters and colour resolution of the
displays used.
Figure 2. Block diagram of the MCU MB91F467S
In addition to the graphics engine, the graphics controller also offers numerous peripheral
units to cover all necessary interfaces. The sideband channel can therefore be used to transfer
control data for these resources. Their number
and selection are specifically defined for the
requirements of displays and dashboards. In
addition to UART, I2C and SPI as possible communication channels to external components,
SMCs there move the stepper motors of analogue pointer instruments, PWMs control the
brightness of the display background illumination and LEDs are switched on and off via
GPIOs. This mix of features makes external
Figure 3. Block diagram of the MB88F388 (Indigo) graphics controller
45
October 2008
AUTOMOTIVE
components such as watchdog, external memory or special external interfaces superfluous.
MB91F467S and Indigo can, for instance, be
used for the implementation of an instrument
panel which consists of two modules which can
be installed into different locations in the vehicle. A separation like this is useful for a number of reasons. Such as if there is little room
available in the dashboard area, electricity
consumption or heat pose a problem or even
for better system scalability. Instead of being
connected by lines with various cables, the two
modules need only be connected via the APIX
link. Pixel data is transferred from the
MB91F467S via the APIX link to the Indigo and
saved in the RAM. In order to reduce electricity consumption and radiation, the APIX is operated in a slower mode, namely 105 Mbit/s. In
combination with other components, the
Indigo can also be operated with full APIX
bandwidth. However, other than the transfer of
picture data, further information is necessary
for this separate installation in the vehicle to ensure the operation of the instrument display
panel. The ambient brightness values on the
display have to be recorded so that the backlight
can be dynamically readjusted, for example.
This process requires a bidirectional exchange
of data in addition to the flow of image data,
which naturally must not be disturbed. The display brightness must be recorded cyclically
using a light-sensitive component (digitalised
using an ADC channel) and transferred to the
control unit – subsequently the PWM value calculated is transferred to the display in order to
correct the backlight accordingly. Precisely this
task is performed by the sideband channel of
the APIX interface. The transfer bandwidth
possible here is 6 Mbit/s.
If the sideband channel is integrated and fixed
into the processor structure, all relevant data
from and to the display can be transferred
using the same interface. In ideal circumstances, this architecture replaces a vehicle-specific communication channel such as a CAN
node, which is expensive due to the hardware
and software expense. The newest generation
of microcontrollers and graphics controllers
with integrated APIX interfaces from FME provide exactly this feature and therefore offer
clear advantages for system architecture in the
vehicle.
In addition to the A-shell, which enables a secure transfer of data, there is a remote handler
function. This supports the control of peripheral functions on the Indigo (SMCs, sound
generator etc). It therefore supports the transfer of data in both directions as well as handling interrupts and for the user, solves the
tasks which can arise as a result of different cycles on the two components or latency periods
in the transfer of data via the APIX link. Together with the driver software also offered by
Fujitsu (Remote Handler API), the customer is
offered an interface with which he can operate
Indigo peripherals almost as peripherals on the
MB91F467S. Remote Handler and Automotive
Shell offer many turnkey functions in hardware
and at an API level and thus simplify the customer’s software development decisively. I
Product News
I SEGGER: task sensitive embOS plug-in
I CMX: software suite supports
I TI: support tool for high-speed analog
for Embedded Workbench for ARM
SEGGER has announced the availability of a
new task sensitive plug-in for the IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM. The plug-in not only
visualizes the state and stack usage of all tasks
and other OS-objects such as mailboxes, timers
and semaphores in the system. The new version
of the plug-in also allows selecting and analyzing any task. This means the register, call
stack, source code and disassembly windows,
which normally show the state of the running
task only, switch to the state of the selected task.
This works for all tasks in the system, including tasks which have not been started, the running task as well as blocked and interrupted
tasks.
ColdFire and Flexis processors
CMX Systems offers two RTOSes, two TCP/IP
stacks, five Flash File Systems and multiple USB
stacks for the ColdFire and Flexis processor
families. CMX-RTX is a truly preemptive,
multi-tasking RTOS supporting a wide variety
of 8-, 16-, 32-bit microcomputers, microprocessors, and DSP's. CMX-RTX offers the
smallest footprint, the fastest context switching
times, and the lowest interrupt latency times
available on the market today. RTOS functionality provided in CMX-RTX includes: task
management, message management, queue
management, system management, event management, memory management, resource management, semaphore management and timer
management.
designs
Texas Instruments has introduced a support
tool that enables designers to rapidly evaluate
signal chain performance for test and measurement, industrial and communications applications, including arbitrary waveform and
signal generators. The development kit simplifies the complexity of interfacing between
high-speed digital-to-analog converters (DAC)
and amplifiers and includes clocking and power
management devices to further ease design and
reduce cycle time.
News ID 392
I QNX: BIOS-less instant-on platform
LED driver
Atmel has announced the AT42QT1060, a
touch control chip that integrates 6 channels
of touch sensing with the ability to drive up
to 7 low current LEDs directly through a
pulse width modulated output function. The
device operates from 5.5VDC down to
1.8VDC and consumes less than 1uA in
standby mode to give long battery life; it
comes in a 4mm x 4mm MLF28 package,
making it ideal for use in mobile phones and
other handheld devices.
core processor
Freescale introduces the MPC8640D ‘ a lower
cost, lower power version of the MPC8641D
dual core processor. The device is available in
single and dual core versions and is ideal for
networking, telecom, pervasive computing,
aerospace and defence applications. The
MPC8640D enables customers to utilize high
performance e600 Power Architecture cores and
AltiVec 128-bit vector processing at lower price
points and power requirements.
for Atom processors
QNX and Kontron announce that the Kontron
nanoETXexpress-SP Computer-on-Module is
the first commercial embedded platform to
support QNX’s fastboot technology for Intel
Atom processors. Designed to enable boot
times of milliseconds, QNX fastboot technology is an advanced feature of the QNX Neutrino
RTOS. It eliminates the need for a BIOS on x86
platforms, including those that support Intel
Atom processors, thereby reducing hardware
costs and dramatically improving instant-on
performance. Systems designers can use QNX
fastboot technology to improve startup times for
a wide variety of automotive, medical, industrial, military, and consumer products.
News ID 424
News ID 1764
News ID 475
News ID 439
News ID 453
I Atmel: 6-channel touch controller with
October 2008
I Freescale: lower pow, low cost dual
46
TEST & MEASUREMENT
Automated station saves time in
DPI measurements on ICs
By Stefan Steude, Langer EMV Technik
Industries producing and
using ICs need to know how
they behave under radiated
electromagnetic emissions.
Manual measurements
according to the Direct RF
Power Injection method (DPI)
are however extremely
time-consuming.
This article describes
automated measuring
technology.
Figure 1. DPI method
according to IEC62132-4
I Measuring ICs according to the DPI (Direct
RF Power Injection) method provides information on their behaviour under the influence
of radiated electromagnetic emissions. Industries that produce and use ICs need comprehensive knowledge about this disturbance behaviour, to guarantee the function of an individual circuit or the entire electronics under the
influence of RF disturbances. Measurements
according to the DPI method, however, are
extremely time-consuming. Automated and
flexibly adaptable measuring stations are thus
required.
The DPI method according to standard IEC
62132-4 defines the measuring procedure for
the direct injection of conducted disturbances
into a semiconductor pin. This disturbance injection simulates the share of a disturbance
which is caused by field coupling into a cable
harness or an antenna-like structure on the
PCB. The DPI method is designed to inject RF
current into IC pins according to a predefined
measurement set-up. The power and frequency of this RF current are increased gradually.
The measured result is the maximum RF
power that can be injected into the pin as a
function of frequency. The expectations for the
results of an IC measurement have changed
since the publication of the standard in
10/2006. A pin's compatible RF power is not the
only IC information that is important. Infor-
mation on the maximum input RF voltage or
on the IC pin's impedance is also crucial for IC
manufacturers and users. An automated sequence reduces the duration of the measuring
procedure and its susceptibility to errors. The
DPI method will be briefly introduced and then
further developed to an automated measuring
station in the following.
The set-up principle for measuring the disturbance immunity according to the DPI method
is shown in figure 1. The RF generator generates
a sine-wave alternating voltage (RF signal). The
power amplifier increases the power of the RF
signal. This power is measured by the directional coupler and injected into an IC pin via a
decoupling capacitor C. The capacitor C prevents useful signals from entering the power
amplifier. The filters (resistance R / inductivity
L) prevent RF current from leaking to control
and supply lines. The IC is monitored for malfunctions by an appropriate device. The frequency and power of the disturbance threshold
as well as the respective abort condition are
recorded if a malfunction occurs. The measuring sequence on an IC pin is shown as a flow
chart in figure 2. During a manual measurement, each IC pin is examined individually according to the flow chart. The measuring time
depends on the number of frequency and
power steps and takes several days. In the
course of this procedure errors slip in as a rule.
47
An automated run of the flow chart (figure 2)
overcomes these drawbacks. The automated
measuring station controls the entire sequence
according to the DPI method. This also includes
the storage, evaluation and visualisation of the
Figure 2. Flow chart for the DPI method as a
basis for an algorithm
October 2008
TEST & MEASUREMENT
ily expandable. The
flow chart for the
DPI control software can be adapted
to individual needs.
The retention time
and frequency steps,
for example, can be
varied. More steps
can be added to the
sequence and the
entire sequence can
even be rearranged.
Notification by email, for example,
can be added to the
measuring sequence.
Furthermore, various abort conditions
are possible in the
course of the measurement sequence.
A wide variety of
Figure 3. Automated measuring station with DPI control software
different IC faults
that are recognized
by monitoring can be used as an abort condimeasured results. The measuring station (figure
tion, such as: violation of the tolerance mask of
1) described in the standard is supplemented by
signals, evaluation of digital information
the following devices: a PC with DPI control
(restart, reading out of error registers), optical
software, a P500 probe as a RF ampere and voltmonitoring (via video camera and image prometer on the IC pin, and an oscilloscope for the
cessing), power supply monitoring, and results
visualisation of the measured current and voltof an IC test software or firmware. There are also
age characteristics. The probe and oscilloscope
abort conditions not concerned with the propmeasure the time characteristics of current and
er functioning of the IC but intended to protect
voltage. The DPI control software stores these
it, such as: reaching a maximum RF voltage on
time characteristics. The effective current and
the IC pin (measured with the probe), reaching
voltage values as well as the phase angle are dea maximum power on the IC pin (measured
termined in the oscilloscope. The DPI control
with the directional coupler or probe), and
software can calculate other electric parameters
reaching a maximum IC temperature.
such as the impedance of the test IC, forward
power of the injected RF signal, generator
The measuring instruments can be changed to
voltage etc, on the basis of these values. All
keep the measuring station flexible in terms of
measurement steps are stored in a SQL database
its hardware design. The software supports a
and as an Excel file during the automated measmultitude of measuring instruments. The
urement sequence.
measuring stations functionality is not bound
to a special hardware. The measuring instruThe measured results are evaluated using the
ments are connected to the PC that hosts the
database or MS Excel. The desired measured reDPI control software via standard interfaces
sults can easily and quickly be visualised
such as USB, GPIB and Ethernet. The IC can
through an enquiry to the database. Measuring
easily be changed via an adapter board to adjust
the time characteristics of the RF current and
the measuring station to different measuring revoltage provides a lot of additional information
quirements (figure 4). The freely moving probe
which is important for examinations in the
ensures the accessibility of each individual pin
course of development. Concrete statements
for injections. The time needed for a measuring
about IC characteristics are possible. The cursequence on an IC pin can be calculated by
rent and voltage characteristics, for example,
multiplying T, the adjusting time plus retention
show when damping diodes release current
time plus evaluation time, by the number of
paths to functional complexes and trigger
power steps and by the number of frequency
error mechanisms. The information gained is
steps, as follows:
important for both IC manufacturers and IC
users. The IC manufacturer can use this inforT = (adjusting time for all devices + retention
mation for IC development. IC users can derive
time + evaluation time)
EMC measures for circuit and layout design.
- Number of power steps
Flexibility is another advantage of the auto- Number of frequency steps
mated measuring station. The software is easOctober 2008
48
Around 210 frequency steps are required for a
measurement between 0.1 MHz and 1 GHz according to the recommendations of the DPI
standard. The number of power steps has also
to be taken into account, in this case assumed
to be 40 steps based on reality. The time that is
required for a measuring sequence on the pin
was estimated as shown below:
Estimation of time per pin for a manual measurement:
T = (10 sec adjusting time + 3 sec retention
time + 10 sec evaluation time)
- 40 power steps
- 210 frequency steps
≈ 54 h (7 working days) / pin
Estimation of time per pin for an automated
measurement:
- 40 power steps
- 210 frequency steps
≈ 16 h / pin
The automated measurement reduces the time
needed for a measurement by 70%. This time
can be further reduced if the power steps are
not executed on the basis of a fixed list but chosen intelligently. The DPI control software
provides two additional methods:
1) The power at which the IC failed in the
previous step minus X dBm is chosen at a new
frequency;
2) A rough and a fine power run are organised
one after the other. This considerably reduces
the number of power steps. The time of a measurement run decreases in proportion to the
number of power steps.
The automated measuring station in figure 4
has been proven and tested on many test ICs.
The disturbance immunity of a LIN ICs is chosen as an example here. The measurement was
taken using the following parameters:
RF injection into the LIN pin via C = 4.7 nF,
fixed list for setting the frequency generator was
in frequency steps [MHz]: [25, 50, 100, 150,
200, 250, ..., 950, 1000.0] (21 steps) and level
steps (power of the RF generator) [dBm]: [-28,
-27.5, -27, ..., -18.5, -18] (21 steps), Retention
time was 3 sec, and during fault triggering the
tolerance tube over signal RxD at:
timing of < 7.5 µs and amplitude of < 0.9 V was
measured.
The PDirectional coupler power was measured
by the directional coupler. The PProbe power
was calculated on the basis of the time characteristics of current and voltage. This automated measurement run theoretically takes 51
min. But in practice the measuring run took no
more than 21 minutes since not all power steps
were carried out at each frequency. I
PRODUCT NEWS
Editors
Jürgen Hübner
phone + 49 (0) 80 92 - 2 47 7413
fax
+ 49 (0) 80 92 - 2 47 74 29
jh@iccmedia.com
Wolfgang Patelay
wp@iccmedia.com
I Wind River: test automation solution
Wind River announces a test automation solution, called Wind River Test Management, that
will automate the software quality assurance
process and improve overall code quality. It is
expected to be available in the third quarter of
2008. Test Management will be a scalable, distributed testing framework that links device
software development and quality assurance
teams in an intelligent, collaborative workflow.
News ID 1800
Tony Devereux
devrex@teyboyz.freeserve.co.uk
Toshiba: platform for sensorless
BLDC motor control design
Toshiba has expanded its family of motion control development platforms with a new evaluation board that will speed implementation of
sensorless drives for three-phase brushless DC
motors. The new board is ideal for testing and
prototyping drives for motion control applications requiring motor bridge voltages ranging
from around 10V to 42V.
I
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News ID 1759
I Maxim: dual-/quad-channel DACs simplify
power-supply adjustments
Maxim
Integrated
introduces
the
DS4422/DS4424 low-cost, dual-/quadchannel, sink/source current DACs. These I2Ccontrolled, 7-bit current DACs feature two
(DS4422)/four (DS4424) output channels that
are specifically designed for power-supply margining and adjustment. Each output channel
provides control of a DC-DC power supply by
sinking or sourcing current directly into the
power supply's feedback node.
News ID 1704
I Tilcon supports MontaVista Linux platform
Tilcon announces the availability of Version
5.5.5 of Interface Development Suite for MontaVista Linux. Tilcon’s IDS directly supports
many X-windows variants including X.org,
NanoX, and TinyX. Alternatively, MontaVista
Linux users can leverage the Tilcon embedded
window manager which further supports
OpenGL ES and DirectFB for direct HW acceleration. Tilcon’s window management technology for MontaVista Linux introduces the
capability to provide optimized support for
any custom 2D/3D graphics library.
News ID 1865
I Renesas: low pin-count R8C/Tiny
microcontrollers
Renesas announces availability of the latest application specific standard products in its
R8C/Tiny series. Four groups of devices have
been launched. The R8C/2E and /2F are 32-pin
devices, offering 8KB or 16KB flash memory.
49
They feature a comprehensive range of analogue functions such as A/D and D/A converters, dual-channel comparators, Serial UART
I/O and both 8-bit and 16-bit timers.
News ID 1658
I ADI: 16-bit, 10-MSPS SAR data converter
Analog Devices expandeds its PulSAR family of
precision 16-bit SAR with the AD7626 PulSAR
ADC that achieves a new level of 16-bit data capture performance, with best-in-class 15-bit ENOB
and 10-MSPS throughput.The AD7626 PulSAR
ADC has a 92-dB SNR that is 8 dB (1.3 bits) better than any ADC, regardless of architecture.
News ID 1701
I HCC: USB audio features for embedded
applications
HCC-Embedded announces the release of
USBH-Audio, a class driver for use with HCC’s
USB Host stack. USBH-Audio supports a full
spectrum of audio features for embedded applications. Included are FORMAT TYPE I
(PCM/PCM8) streams, FORMAT TYPE II
(MPEG) streams, sampling rate adjustment to
rate supported by the audio device, streaming
type input terminal (playback), streaming type
output terminal (e.g., record from a microphone), AF Version 1.0.
News ID 1560
I TI delivers RFID asset visibility in harsh
and metallic environments
Texas Instruments announces two additions to
its LF product family: the 12 mm Multi-Usage
Wedge Transponder and 24 mm LF Circular
Inlay. The 12 mm Multi-Usage Wedge
Transponder offersimprovements in chip circuitry that enables direct-on-metal mounting.
The 24 mm LF Circular Inlay, manufactured
using TI’s patented tuning process, provides
improved consistency in read and write performance in applications such as waste management and industrial production.
News ID 1703
I Express Logic: MCAPI support for
ThreadX RTOS
Express Logic and PolyCore Software announce
the first commercial RTOS integration of the
Multicore Communications API specification.
MCAPI provides an industry standard, implementation agnostic API for multicore systems
communication. PolyCore Software’s PolyMessenger/MCAPI is a communications framework simplifying multicore communication.
Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS is a widely-used,
small, fast, royalty-free real-time operating
system for embedded applications.
News ID 533
October 2008
PRODUCT NEWS
Atom processor N270
QNX Software Systems announces support
for the Intel Atom processor N270 and the Mobile Intel 945GSE Express chipset. As a result,
embedded developers can combine the superior performance-per-watt of the Intel Atom
processor N270 with the fault-tolerant operation, advanced graphics capabilities, and rich
multimedia support of the QNX Neutrino
RTOS and QNX Aviage middleware family.
QNX support for Intel Atom processors includes an HMI player based on Adobe Flash
Lite 3, optimized 2D/3D hardware-assisted
graphics based on OpenGL ES, and an Intel-optimized compiler for high performance.
News ID 500
I Crossware: tool suite supports
SiLabs C8051F9xx MCUs
Crossware has enhanced its 8051 Development
Suite by adding support for the C8051F9xx family of mixed signal microcontrollers from SiLabs.
The C8051F9xx MCUs are capable of operating
down to 0.9 V, enabling portable devices to derive power from a single-cell battery. The novel
8-bit architecture with an integrated high-efficiency dc-dc boost converter, which can supply
up to 65 mW of power for both internal MCU
use and to drive other components, creates a
true single-cell battery system solution.
News ID 1723
MHz. According to SST, the maximum active
power consumption for both read and write operations is significantly less than that of the lowest power 3V products currently on the market.
COMPANY
News ID 1860
Actron
42
ATMEL
11
Digi-Key
2
Express Logic
51
Green Hills
5
HCC-Embedded
52
I RTS: new version of Real-Time Hypervisor
software
Real-Time Systems has introduced the latest version of its Real-Time Hypervisor software,
which enables the simultaneous running of
multiple operating systems on multi-core
processors, also supports Microsoft Windows
XP. The RTS Real-time Hypervisor makes it possible to run ‘ simultaneously, independently and
robustly ‘ a number of standard operating systems on a single x-86 multi-core execution platform. Moreover, RTS software technology does
not in the least interfere with any of the supported operating systems’ timing behavior.
Advertisers Index
I QNX announces support for Intel
PAGE
News ID 1697
I Coverity introduces Software Readiness
Manager for Java
Coverity announces the availability of Coverity
Software Readiness Manager for Java. The
product allows development managers, release
managers and executives to objectively assess the
release readiness of their critical code by
combining essential data from multiple sources
including Prevent, Coverity’s static analysis
product.
News ID 1854
Hilscher
14,15,21,25
Holtek
9
Lauterbach
43
I Aonix: GUI development for 64-bit
architectures
Aonix has released TeleUSE version 4.0, the latest version of its object-oriented user interface
management system environment, for 64-bit
architectures. Platform support in TeleUSE
4.0 enables seamless cross-platform motif
graphical user interface application development on the latest 64-bit systems running
Linux, Solaris, and HPUX. A 32-bit edition of
TeleUSE 4.0 continues to support development
of applications on 32-bit platforms.
I SiliconSystems doubles capacity of
Embedded USB products
SiliconSystems announces higher capacity offerings across its entire SiliconDrive II product
family supporting the industry-standard Universal Serial Bus interface. SiliconSystems’ SiliconDrive II USB CF, SiliconDrive II 10-pin
module and SiliconDrive II USB Blade products
are now available in capacities of up to 16 gigabyte, 8GB and 4GB, respectively.
Messe München
31,33
MSC
3,23
NEC
13
Peak System
35
pls
17
Texas Instruments
7
News ID 1845
News ID 426
I TI: zero-drift instrumentation
I SST expands 1.8V Serial Flash product
line with 4-Mbit device
SST has added a 4-Mbit device to its 1.8V 25WF
Series SPI serial flash memory family. The
small form factor SST25WF040 is intended for
battery-powered, space- and height-constrained
mobile applications. The SST25WF040 has a full
voltage range from 1.65V to 1.95V for read and
write operations and a fast read speed of 40
amplifier for portable applications
Texas Instruments introduces a zero-drift instrumentation amplifier with only 75 uA of
quiescent current and operation on power
supplies as low as 1.8 V, the INA333 maximizes power efficiency. Low offset voltage of
25 uV and offset drift of 0.1 uV/C deliver excellent accuracy and long-term stability.
News ID 1756
ore information about each news story is available on
M
www.embedded-control-europe.com/ece_magazine
You just have to type in the “News ID”. —
October 2008
50
MAKING ONE OF THESE?
...THEN YOU NEED THREADX
ThreadX is Express Logic's small, fast,
royalty-free RTOS that powers over
500 million electronic devices, with
millions more produced each month. That's because ThreadX is easy-to-use,
making your development job easier and more likely to finish on time or even
ahead of schedule. Developers of consumer, medical, networking, industrial,
aerospace, and automotive electronics products rely on ThreadX for their
RTOS. Call today to find out how ThreadX can help you bring your next
electronic product to market faster. Make it better - make it with ThreadX.
T H R E A D
• Small
Small footprint
overhead
• Low
L
over
head
Full source
source code
• Full
• Easy-to-use
Easy-to-use
• Field-proven
Field-proven
cost
• Low
L
Royalty-free
• Royalty-free
For a free evaluation copy, call one of our European
Offices or visit www.rtos.com
Express Logic (UK)
Express
(UK
U ) Ltd
4b Empir
e Court
Cour t
Empire
Prospect
Pr
ospect Hill
4DA
Redditch B97 4D
DA
UK
Tel:
Te
el: +44 (0) 1527
152
27 597007
1527
Fax: +44 (0) 152
27 597701
info@expresslogic.co.uk
Email: info@expr
resslogic.co.uk
Express
Express Logic GmbH
GmbH
Hanover Office:
Am Saegewerk 2a
D-29308
Winsen
D 29308 W
inse
en
Germany
Ger many
Tel:
Te
el: +49 5143 911-303
9
Fax: +49 5143 911-305
Email info@expresslogic.de
info@expresslogic.de
Express
Express Logic G
GmbH
m H
mb
Munich Office:
Eichbaumstr.
Eichbaumstr. 80
D-85635
D 85635 Siegertsbrunn
Sieger ts
sbr unn
Germany
Ger many
Tel:
Te
el: +49 8102 784-5865
78
84-5865
Fax: +49 8102 784-5866
78
84-5866
Email: sales@expresslogic.de
sales@expresslogic.de
Copyright © 2008, Expr
Express
ess Logic,, Inc.
ThreadX
Express
trademarks
are
property
Thr
readX is a rregistered
egistered trademark of Ex
xpress Logic, Inc. All other trademar
rks ar
e the pr
oper ty of their rrespective
espective owners.
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