Freescale used embedded world to launch the Kinetis KV5x MCU family, targeted at digital motor control. Geoff Lees, pictured, general manager of Freescale's MCU business, said: "The Cortex-M7 provides the opportunity for a significant step in performance. While the M4 core is already competent for motor control, M7 cores takes that further."
The KV5x family blend the M7's processing power with analogue and timing peripherals and new connectivity, security and safety features. Running at 240MHz, KV5x MCUs have up to 1Mbyte of on chip flash, 128kbyte of data memory and 64kbyte of instruction memory. Also integrated are four 12bit A/D converters, each capable of 5Msample/s, and an IEEE1588 Ethernet controller. According to Freescale, the KV5x family can support fully asynchronous dual three phase motor control.
Freescale also announced volume availability of the i.MX 6SoloX applications processor. With Cortex-M4 and Cortex-A9 cores, i.MX 6SoloX is suited to display centric automotive applications, but also supports home automation, building control and healthcare applications.
Lees also said Freescale is looking at using ST's 28nm FDSOI process in the future. "Leakage could be up to 25 times less," he claimed. "We can get to our targets more effectively using a 28nm process than we could at 40nm or 65nm."
The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) launched the CoreMark-Pro benchmark, which tests processors using five integer workloads and four floating point workloads.
Express Logic announced plans to join ARM's mbed ecosystem. Michael May, vp of marketing, said mbed will need a more robust RTOS and TCP/IP stack as things get more complex, adding ThreadX RTOS and NetX Duo IPv6 network stack will complement the mbed OS.
congatec unveiled the PA-3 single board computer. Based on Intel's Atom E3800 processor, the pico ITX form factor board is aimed at demanding industrial applications.
NXP announced the LPC18Sxx and 43Sxx MCU families. The company says both ranges are suited for any connected application where large volumes of data are handled. The LPC18Sxx range features a Cortex-M3, whilst the 43Sxx family integrates Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0 cores.
Spansion announced a RAM device featuring its 12pin HyperBus interface. Targeted at SoC and MCU applications, HyperRAM devices have a read throughput up to 333Mbyte/s and come in an 8 x 6mm 25ball BGA.
Marcel Kuba, director of field applications engineering, said the device would be targeted at automotive apps and has been designed for use in temperatures of up to 105°C.
Microchip launched the MM7150 Motion Module, which combines its SSC7150 motion coprocessor with nine axis sensors, including accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope. Connecting with a host MCU via I2C, the module is self calibrating and suited for applications ranging from industrial automation to wearable devices.
Following its launch last year of MIPS M class MCU cores, Imagination Technologies said parts based on the core will be launched in late 2015 or early 2016. With hardware virtualisation and hypervisor functionality, the M core is said to suit IoT security and safety critical applications, including automotive.
Microsemi unveiled a reference design that uses the security features of its SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs and IGLOO2 FPGAs and Escrypt's CycurKEYS cloud based Certificate Authority. It allows customers to integrate Public Key Infrastructure functionality into systems targeted at automotive, industrial, embedded and cyber physical systems.
Altium announced Designer 15.1, with several features for improved design productivity, documentation outputs and high speed design efficiency. Building on design productivity and efficiency, Designer 15.1 adds improved support for xSignals, expanded rigid-flex support, new output documentation options and new design reuse features.
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk