RS Components has expanded its electronics offer with the introduction of the new Hercules safety microcontroller platform from Texas Instruments. Designed to help developers obtain IEC 61508 SIL 3 and ISO 26262 ASIL-D system certification for safety-critical medical, industrial and transportation applications, the platform consists of three ARM Cortex-based microcontroller families that deliver scalable performance, connectivity, memory and safety features for applications that require a high level of reliability.

Hercules microcontrollers implement safety capabilities in hardware to detect random faults and protect against systematic faults, thus reducing software overheads. The dual ARM Cortex-R4F floating-point cores in lockstep provide the highest level of on line diagnostics with cycle-by-cycle error checking, while built-in self-test for the CPU and RAM enable periodic diagnostic routines for the detection of potential latent faults.

The CPU features error correction code (ECC) for Flash and RAM to monitor data for corruption without impacting performance. A memory protection unit on the CPU ensures that each bus master is allocated memory to prevent the transfer of corrupt data. Parity on peripheral RAMs, dual analogue-to-digital-converters (ADCs) and timers, as well as voltage and clock monitoring, provide additional diagnostic coverage.

Coupled with robust tools, software and safety documentation, this advanced on-chip functionality enables developers to differentiate their end products and speed time to market.

“The addition of the Hercules microcontrollers to the RS electronics line is a step forward in augmenting the choice of application-specific products to customers, and introduces a new range of safety-critical, high-reliability devices to our offering,” said Fred Knowles, Head of Product Management – Electronics at RS Components. “Our next-day despatch service guarantees fast delivery on parts, enabling engineers to start working quickly on their designs to meet increasingly tough deadlines in bringing products to market.”

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MSC now offers 12 new high-performance RX631 microcontrollers (MCUs) in 64- and 48-pin packages from Renesas Electronics. The new devices are particularly suited for compact and cost-sensitive industrial and consumer applications.

The MCUs are provided with 256 KB, 384 KB or 512 KB flash memory and achieve up to 165 DMIPS processing power at 100 MHz operation. At the same time, the new MCUs offer users a wide range of communication, timer and analog peripherals including USB 2.0 full-speed channel (Host, Device and OTG), CAN interface, 12 A/D converter channels, a 10-bit D/A converter and a real-time clock (RTC).

Furthermore, the RX631 derivatives that come in a 64-pin LQFP package, provide a six-channel multi-function timer pulse unit 2 (MTU2) with complementary six-phase PWM, a six-channel timer pulse unit (TPU), a four-channel compare match timer (CMT), a four-channel timer (TMR) and dual watchdog timers. The RX631 derivatives also feature numerous serial data communication channels, six SCI, two SPI, and one I2C. Four channels of DMA and a Data Transfer Controller make it easy to handle transfers with peripherals and ensure efficient use of the CPU.

Many functional enhancements were made to reduce system costs and power consumption, including a Vbat pin for connection to a coin cell or super cap to automatically power the RTC and a tamper-detection system within the RTC to time stamp and store an intrusion event from three different, independent sources. The RX631 MCUs also feature an on-chip temperature sensor, on-chip 50 MHz oscillator to boot up a system at high speed and on-chip voltage reference for the A/D and D/A converters. Furthermore, thanks to an on-chip data flash with up to 100000 erase cycles and finer write/erase granularity at just 2-byte write and 32-byte erase, the need for an external EEPROM device is eliminated.

Developers are provided with a wide variety of hardware and software tools for design-in of the new RX631 MCUs. For example, the popular High-Performance Embedded Workshop (HEW) integrated development environment (IDE) from Renesas Electronics, which supports the low-cost E1 JTAG on-chip debugging tool as well as the comprehensive E20 high-speed trace on-chip debugging tool. The HEW IDE and Renesas Electronics’ C/C++ compiler come with unlimited use for 60 days, and then the compiler size is limited to 128 KB thereafter.

Over the last few years, the Eclipse C/C++ Development Toolkit (CDT) has become increasingly popular. Therefore, MSC also offers its customers the Eclipse Embedded studio (e2studio), an Eclipse environment supported by Renesas Electronics. The e2studio is available as a packet together with the RX compiler from Renesas Electronics.

Samples of the new RX631 MCUs, which are pin-to-pin and software compatible with others in the RX631 MCU Group, are available now.

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Newly available from Rapid Electronics is the Arduino microcontroller system – the open source prototyping platform which created a revolution in electronics design when it was launched in 2005. Because Arduino software is freely available under an open source license, the Arduino system gives designers, engineers, students and hobbyists the chance to build, program and test their electronic projects and inventions.

From beginners activating an LED in response to an environmental trigger to experienced programmers creating complex sound and light installations, the Arduino system caters for all levels of ability and applications. Even the most inexperienced programmer and circuit builder can exploit Arduino’s unique combination of usability, open source software, online resources and community support.

Rapid can supply an extensive range of Arduino products, accessories and components – including the Arduino Uno, Nano and Mega boards, Arduino Ethernet shields, Motor shields, servo modules and enclosures. Individual microcontrollers such as the ATmega328 will be added to the range soon.

Richard Philpot, product manager of Integrated Circuits at Rapid, said: ‘Rapid has long wanted to become an Arduino distributor, because it is just the kind of product that would be popular with a wide cross-section of our customers. The Arduino system is an excellent tool for any budding designer, ICT teacher, student or hobbyist. We are delighted to be supplying the Uno, Nano and Mega boards and look forward to building the range.’

Datasheets, schematics and reference designs are accessible from the Rapid website.

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Solid State Supplies announces availability of a new family of ARM Cortex-M3 based microcontrollers from Energy Micro. The EFM32 Gecko product range has been expanded to include 100 new low power devices. Memory configurations up to 1MB are available, package choice has been expanded and there are connectivity, display driving and energy saving options. Some devices also have 3 on-chip op-amps to reduce external component count.

New package options include QFN64, QFP100, BGA112, QFP64 and 7 x 7mm small form factor BGA120.

Connectivity now includes a full speed USB 2.0 port on Leopard and Giant devices, with an integral 3.3V regulator to facilitate powering the microcontroller over USB. Communications interfaces include Energy Micro’s Low Energy UART, which consumes just 150nA at 9600 baud.

The LESENSE function from the Tiny Gecko family is added to Leopard Gecko and Giant Gecko families to enable monitoring of up to 16 capacitive, inductive or resistive sensors. Monitoring is independent of the processor core when the MCU is in sub-microamp deep sleep mode.

EFM32 Gecko microcontrollers are capable of active mode current consumption of 160µA/MHz, a deep sleep mode with RTC running at 400nA, a shut-off mode with GPIO wake-up consuming 20nA, and wake-up time from sleep modes down to 2 µs.

A range of development kits is also available from Solid State Supplies.

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Mouser Electronics, Inc. has announced it is stocking the Freescale Semiconductor 32-bit Kinetis Cortex™-M4 microcontroller family. Freescale is one of the first companies to introduce production M4 products.

The ARM® Cortex™-M4 processor is the latest embedded processor by ARM specifically developed to address digital signal control markets that demand an efficient, easy-to-use blend of control and signal processing capabilities. Combined high-performance, low-power and low-cost, the Cortex-M4 family is ideal for motor control, automotive, power management, embedded audio, and industrial automation markets.

Freescale Semiconductor 32-bit Kinetis microcontrollers represent the most scalable portfolio of ARM® Cortex™-M4 MCUs in the industry. The Kinetis product line consists of five MCU families with more than 200 pin-, peripheral-, and software-compatible devices with outstanding performance and feature scalability. Also available is a suite of development tools, including controller boards for Freescale’s Tower System and evaluation kits, as well as software tools from Keil and Micrium to enable rapid development of new Cortex M4-based systems.
To learn more, visit http://www.mouser.com/freescalekinetis/.

With its broad product line and unsurpassed customer service, Mouser caters to design engineers and buyers by delivering What’s Next in advanced technologies. Mouser offers customers 19 global support locations and stocks the world’s widest selection of the latest semiconductors and electronic components for the newest design projects. Mouser Electronics’ website is updated daily and searches more than 8 million products to locate over 2 million orderable part numbers available for easy online purchase. Mouser.com also houses an industry-first interactive catalog, data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information, and engineering tools.

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NEW VIDEO: This tutorial, provided by Digi-Key and Atmel, provides a brief overview of the different Atmel touch solutions and applications. This will be followed by an introduction to capacitive touch technology.

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MSC now offers four new 32-bit All Flash microcontrollers (MCUs), the uPD70F3515, uPD70F3514, uPD70F3512 and the uPD70F3510 from Renesas Electronics. They feature a processing performance of up to 1024 Dhrystone MIPS.

The latest members in the V850E2M/MN4 embedded flash microcontroller family with a clock speed of up to 200 MHz have up to two built-in CPU cores and up to 2 MB of flash memory. Single-core versions have 64 KB of RAM and dual-core versions have 128 KB of RAM.

Detailed information and samples of the four new MCUs in the V850E2M/MN4 family of high-performance MCUs, which are available in a 304-pin fine pitch ball grid array (FBGA) package.

Renesas Electronics Europe offers two compatible microcontroller (MCU) families designed to provide flexible and scalable solutions for the next generation of smart meters. Both RX210 and RX630 MCUs are based on Renesas’ powerful 32-bit RX CPU core. They are available at distributor Rutronik as of now.

The new RX210 and RX630 families of MCUs use two advanced MONOS flash processors to provide compatible devices with a range of different features optimised for smart metering applications. This allows the system designers to choose the optimum MCUs with particular characteristics required for a new design, while allowing the reuse of much of the same software for each application.
The RX210 provides up to 50MHz flash operation at 3.3V, while offering up to 20MHz performance down to 1.62V, including flash programming and erasure at this low voltage. This facilitates the design of applications that require both battery backup and read while power off. The RX210 currently integrates up to 512Kb of on chip Flash, 8Kb of on-chip data flash supporting 100k w/e cycles and programming and erasing in the background. With up to 64Kb of on-chip SRAM, future versions will integrate up to 1Mb of on-chip flash memory. The MCU integrates a wide range of features designed for metering including a full Real Time Clock Calendar (RTCC), with automatic calibration, alarm and tamper logging features. It also has a 1µs 12-bit ADC with triple sample and holds, with automatic control by timer available.

The RX630 offers 100MHz flash performance with an integrated floating point unit and is available in a wide range of package and memory options. It supports from 64- to 176-pin packages and up to 2Mb of flash, 32Kb of dataflash and 128Kb of on-chip SRAM. Some members of the RX630 family provide pin compatibility with the RX210 family. The RX630 offers several of the same features as the RX210, plus many more. It includes up to 13 serial interfaces, 4 additional I2C interfaces and 3 SPI interfaces, as well as a 21 channel 12-bit ADC, and an 8 channel 10-bit ADC. A key feature for metering is the addition support for a battery domain, Vbat, and a full RTC with alarm, calibration and tamper logging. Versions of the RX630 are also available with the option of CAN and USB interfaces, making them ideal for many industrial metering applications.

Both the RX210 and RX630 are supported by the same range of tools, including a full C compiler package, low-cost evaluation boards and the E1 in-circuit debugger. The RX630 is also supported by the E20 high-performance in-circuit debugger.

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Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, is now the exclusive North American distributor of Low Power 8-bit, Flash MCUs from Lapis, a Rohm Semiconductor company.

Lapis Low Power Microcontrollers can be used in a wide array of hand-held and power-conscious applications. Because these MCUs are low power consuming, the series has traditional successive approximation ADC as well RC-type ADC, which are optimized for accurate and low cost temperature and humidity monitoring, and can drive a wide array of LCD panels.

Applications for these MCUs include battery operated devices, test and measurement products, environmental monitoring, home health, and beauty appliances.

Lapis Low Power MCUs are available for purchase now on Digi-Key’s global websites.

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Mouser Electronics, Inc., regarded as a top design engineering resource and global distributor for semiconductors and electronic components, today announced it is stocking new product from Arduino.

The Arduino Fio is a microcontroller board based on the Atmel ATmega328P MCU and is intended for wireless applications.

The Arduino Fio runs at 3.3V operating voltage and 8MHz clock speed. It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 8 analog inputs, an on-board resonator, a reset button, and holes for mounting pin headers. The on-board ATmega328P MCU has 32KB of Flash memory for storing code. It also has 2KB SRAM and 1KB EEPROM.

This Arduino microcontroller board has connections for a Li-Polymer battery and includes a charge circuit over USB. An XBee socket is available on the bottom of the board. The Arduino Fio comes without pre-mounted headers, allowing the use of various types of connectors or direct soldering of wires. The user can upload sketches with an FTDI cable or Sparkfun breakout board. A user can also upload sketches wirelessly by using a modified USB-to-XBee adapter.

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