TI real-time floating point C2000 MCUs deliver 7x speed increase

Texas Instruments just unveiled more than 15 C2000 32-bit Piccolo microcontrollers that uniquely combine floating-point core, complex math unit, and control-oriented peripheral options. The TMS320C2000 microcontroller platform is designed for the real challenges of real-time motor control in low-end drive, renewable energy, and hybrid electric vehicle applications, allowing customers to dramatically increase performance and reduce system costs.

 At the heart of the new low-cost MCUs is an enhanced math engine comprised of 80 MHz floating-point C28x(tm) core, Viterbi Complex Math Unit (VCU) and Control Law Accelerator (CLA). This math engine computes such control law algorithms as PID 2P2Z and 3P3Z, processing complex algorithms quickly while fast ADCs keep up with the speed of the math engine core. Floating-point performance results in up to 40% fewer cycles and ease-of-use, while the control law accelerator adds an extra 80 MIPS of performance and parallel control loops, and the new CPU extension (VCU) provides more than 75 added math instructions. The combination delivers a full 7x faster speed over software-only solutions.

Ordinarily, power line communication is added to systems through an expensive and external PLC module. Adding the Viterbi Complex Math Unit (VCU) to the C2000 MCUs eliminates the need for a separate processor, resulting in a substantial savings. 

Features of the F2806x Piccolo floating-point MCUs include:

• Cutting-edge math engine
• Floating-point core
• VCU complex math unit provides 75 tailored math instructions, accelerating the processing of communications algorithms such as those for power line communications by a factor of up to 7x
• USB 2.0 full-speed host and device, CAN and direct memory access (DMA)
• An increased memory range of 52 to 100KB RAM, 128-256 KB flash, and 80 and 100-pin package options.
• Control-oriented peripherals: high-resolution PWMs (150ps), 3 MSPS 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and 3 analog comparators with 10-bit reference.

Also included is free controlSUITE software with application and math libraries with source code and detailed documentation, and the IQmath Library for code compatibility scaling throughout the C2000 platform including the Piccolo family and high-performance Delfino floating-point-series, enabling designers to get to market faster.

 When asked, "What's next?" Sangmin Chon, director of C2000 marketing at TI, pointed to the trends of increased connectivity, energy efficiency, and real-time control. Where the F28335 power line communications kit is available today, continuing application-specific kits will likely be rolled out in the future.

 Samples of the Piccolo F2806x floating-point MCUs are available and pricing begins at $4.96 (1K volume). Typically sold at $39.00, an $11 promotional price is available to the first 1,000 customers ordering the F2806x controlSTICK through TI's eStore  before February 14, 2011. The 2806x Experimenter's Kit is priced at $99.00 and is now available . Both include Code Composer Studio IDE with no compiler or memory limitations.  The F2806x controlCARD is offered at $59.00 and is also currently available.

An overview of the F2806x MCUs can be seen in this video.