TI Microcontrollers Revolutionize Real-Time Control
Texas Instruments has just launched a new line of microcontrollers (MCUs) that significantly boost real-time control, networking, and analytics capabilities for edge applications. The Sitara AM2x MCUs push the boundaries, providing engineers with ten times the computing power of traditional flash-based MCUs. These advancements are particularly useful in areas like automotive systems, factory automation, robotics, and sustainable energy management.
Chris Morris, a senior research analyst at Omdia, emphasized the ever-growing demand for fast, accurate microcontrollers driven by industrial automation, next-gen vehicles, smart analytics, and improved connectivity. “Achieving advanced, energy-efficient processing in distributed systems is key to the next phase of Industry 4.0,” he noted.
The Sitara AM2x series is built on Arm MCU cores and includes both single and multicore devices running up to 1GHz. They are packed with specialized peripherals and accelerators, and come with user-friendly tools and software that make evaluation easier, cutting down on design complexity and costs.
Mike Pienovi, general manager for Sitara MCUs at Texas Instruments, pointed out the increasing need for higher performance at lower system costs. “Our new Sitara MCUs blend TI’s leading processing capabilities, real-time control, and advanced networking perfectly, allowing engineers to surpass performance limits in emerging applications,” he said.
The first devices in this portfolio, the AM243x MCUs, feature up to four Arm Cortex-R5F cores operating at up to 800MHz. This high-speed processing is essential in factory robotics, where quick computations and ample internal memory enhance a robot’s precision and speed, boosting productivity.
This extra processing power also enables better analytics, such as predictive maintenance, which helps reduce factory downtime. Remarkably, these MCUs deliver this performance while using less than 1W of active power, helping to cut both operational costs and energy consumption.
In addition, these MCUs come with sensing and actuation peripherals for low-latency real-time processing and control, and industrial networking accelerators. They support multiple gigabit industrial Ethernet protocols and time-sensitive networking, simplifying integration into existing systems. Engineers can use certified protocol stacks from TI to meet various industrial communication standards like EtherNet/IP, EtherCat, Profinet, and IO-Link Master.
On-chip security features offer the latest in encryption, while integrated safety mechanisms and diagnostics help meet Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 of the IEC 61508 standard for industrial designs.
To simplify the design process, TI offers the Sitara AM243x LaunchPad development kit. This tool, along with the Sitara MCU+ software framework, allows developers to easily use the MCU’s real-time control and networking capabilities. Additionally, developers have access to application-specific examples, a range of tools and software, and training resources via the MCU+ Academy, streamlining their design process and speeding up time to market.
Preproduction models of the AM2431, AM2432, and AM2434 MCUs are available in 17x17mm or 11x11mm packages.
