TI's new, highly-integrated C2000 32-bit Piccolo F2805x MCUs

Taking the complexity out of motor control designs, the folks from Texas Instruments (TI) have introduced their latest motor control solution – new highly integrated C2000 Piccolo F2805x MCUs, motor control software, application-specific development tools, and extensive support.

These Piccolo microcontrollers are optimized for a variety of three-phase inverter motor control applications to enhance power efficiency and control performance of electric pumps, fans, traction drives, textile machines and more.

The new Piccolo F2805x microcontrollers pack a number of analog components on chip to increase system efficiency and decrease the number of discrete parts. Piccolo F2805x microcontrollers offer the intelligence and performance of the TMS320C28x digital signal processing (DSP) core with a C-programmable Control Law Accelerator (CLA) co-processor on-chip. The CLA is a 32-bit floating-point math accelerator, designed to work independently of the CPU core to offload time-sensitive control algorithms or DSP processing, freeing the CPU to handle motion profiles, system management, communications and safety checking, resulting in up to a 5x increase in performance for closed loop applications.

Features and benefits of the Piccolo F2805x microcontrollers

• C28x CPU running at 60 MHz with C-programmable, 32-bit floating-point CLA co-processor running at 60 MHz ease programming, improve flexibility and enable direct access to on-chip peripherals for parallel execution of algorithms and control loops. The CLA enables faster system response, higher KHz control loops and improved triggering and fault detection.
• Embedded memory for more storage, including up to 128 KB Flash and up to 20 KB SRAM. Boot ROM and dual 128-bit security key on protected zones for both Flash and ROM ensure code security for entire device or mixed-source software development.
• On-chip communication interfaces, such as an SPI module, I2C bus, CAN 2.0 and 3 SCI/UART modules improve connectivity for real-time communications.

Furthermore, these MCUs feature integrated analog to improve system efficiency and reduce bill of materials cost (BOM):

• 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) up to 2.3 MSPS for synchronous motor-phase readings – dual sample and hold.
• 14 enhanced pulse-width-modulation (PWM) channels with fault management, providing motor control for multiple motors, as well as power conversion.
• 7 windowed analog comparators with 10-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) provide individual current feedback for each motor phase, integrated fault protection and accurate, on-time feedback.
• Dual, zero-pin oscillators increase system robustness by integrating the clock source on-chip and providing a second, backup oscillator for smooth recovery from clock failure conditions.
• Voltage regulator decreases system complexity and costs, enabling a single voltage supply rail to power the microcontroller.
• Up to 4 programmable gain amplifiers (PGAs) act as variable resistors to adjust incoming feedback waveforms prior to ADC conversion, eliminating the costs and reducing board area.
• 32-bit enhanced input capture module (eCAP) and enhanced quadrature encoder pulse (eQEP) module for sensored motor control to accurately detect and capture position and speed of rotating motion systems.  

Tools, software, training, and support
Designers can begin development easily with TI’s motor control development kits with free open source motor control software libraries and examples. These libraries and example projects are available for both the C28x and CLA cores of the Piccolo F2805x microcontrollers and include functions covering nearly all essential motor control mathematical functions, as well as device-specific peripheral configurations. Designed with simplicity in mind, the motor control libraries are completely modular and ideal for all stages of development, enabling designers to connect together functional software code blocks, similar to connecting blocks of a block diagram. After connecting the software blocks of the motor control libraries, designers can simply tune their parameters, compile the code and flash into the Piccolo F2805x microcontroller.

C2000 Piccolo-based modular development tools enable experimentation with various C2000 microcontrollers to fit price performance and peripheral feature-set requirements. These tools include: C2000 LaunchPad, controlCARD, controlSTICK and  C2000 experimenter kits. All of these tools include TI’s Code Composer Studio v5 integrated development environment and C2000 controlSUITE software, providing easy-to-use open source demonstration GUIs, software examples and documentation for motor control development.  Motor control training is available online, and 24/7 support can be found on TI’s E2E Community.

Pricing and availability   
Piccolo F2805x microcontrollers are available for order now starting at $3.25 USD per 1ku. A variety of C2000, motor control and Piccolo tools are available at different price points.

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