Embedded world 2022: Processors, MCUs, and motor control

The 20th annual embedded world 2022 Exhibition & Conference in Nuremberg, June 21–23, plays host to 724 exhibitors from 39 countries and dozens of innovations in embedded system development. Key themes at this year’s show include IoT, edge AI, wireless connectivity, autonomous systems, safety and security, system-on-chip (SoC) design, and embedded vision or human-machine interface (HMI).

Day one coverage focuses on new processors, SoCs, microcontrollers (MCUs), and motor control with high integration and boosted performance. Many of the innovative solutions also promise greater flexibility, higher scalability, and ease of design.

One of the biggest trends is delivering processing solutions that meet the higher performance and safety requirements for industrial applications. Companies like AMD, NXP, and TI are placing a lot of focus on meeting both industrial and automotive requirements and applications.

Also, watch for more coverage on system-on-modules, services, and design tools as well as the latest RISC-V announcements, ranging from CPUs and boards to integrated design environments.

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Here is a sampling of those new product launches.

Processors, MCUs, and SoCs

First up is AMD’s second-generation Ryzen Embedded R-series processors with double the core count and enhanced Radeon graphics, higher memory bandwidth, and expanded I/O connectivity. The Ryzen Embedded R2000 Series is a family of mid-range SoC processors for a range of industrial and robotics systems, machine vision, IoT, and thin-client equipment.

These SoCs provide up to four CPU cores and deliver improvements over the previous generation, with the new R2514 model offering up to 81% higher CPU and graphics performance than the Embedded R1000 series processor.

The Embedded R2000 Series processors are scalable up to four “Zen+” CPU cores with eight threads, 2 MB of L2 cache, and 4 MB of shared L3 cache. The series also supports up to 3,200 MT/s DDR4 dual-channel memory and expanded I/O connectivity, delivering 33% higher memory bandwidth and up to 2× greater I/O connectivity compared with the R1000 processors.

AMD will showcase the AMD Ryzen Embedded R2000 Series at its booth in Hall 3A, Stand 239. Click here for a full list of AMD demos at the show. Click here for more product details.

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Also targeting industrial as well as IoT edge computing is NXP Semiconductors’ new MCX MCU series. Developed for greater design flexibility and scalability, NXP has unveiled its MCX portfolio of MCUs, targeting applications such as smart homes, smart factories, and smart cities. The four new series of 32-bit MCUs, built on a common platform, focus on different features and functionality from ultra-lower power to advanced performance, enabling developers to select the best device for their applications.

The MCX portfolio is developed around the foundation of meeting key challenges in IoT edge design: advanced security, lower power requirements, real-time performance, and connectivity in combination with keeping up with fast-changing technology. It’s also built on a common platform for easy migration and faster development.

The MCX families are based on high-performance Arm Cortex-M cores and integrate a full set of peripherals for design flexibility. The devices feature up to 4 MB of on-chip flash memory, low power cache, and advanced memory management controllers, as well as up to 1 MB of on-chip SRAM to enhance real-time performance of edge applications.

Built using NXP’s security-by-design approach, the MCX devices offer secure boot with an immutable root of trust, hardware-accelerated cryptography, and, on select families, a built-in EdgeLock secure subsystem.

NXP’s MCX portfolio of MCUs includes the high-performance MCX N series, analog-focused MCX A series, MCS W series for low-power wireless connectivity, and the ultra-low–power MCX L series. The MCX N features the first instantiation of NXP’s new neural processing unit for accelerating inference at the edge, delivering up to 30× faster machine-learning throughput compared with a CPU core alone.

The offering is supported by the MCUXpresso suite of development tools and software and enables developers to reuse software across the portfolio for faster product development. It also enables easy migration and the ability to scale up or down with software reuse. The developer-focused software also includes both RTOS and middleware options.

NXP will offer samples of the MCX N and MCX W series devices by the end of 2022, followed by evaluation kits in the first quarter of 2023. Launch dates are still being planned for the MCX A and MCX L series. The MCX MCUs will be available in several package options, from TSSOP to BGA with 16 to 200 pins.

The company will demo the MCX W series in Booth 4A-222. The MCX N chip also will be showcased. Click here for more details.

Another highly integrated device in the area of wireless connectivity is the SmartBond DA1470x family of Bluetooth low energy (LE) solutions from Renesas Electronics Corp. Claimed as the most advanced integrated wireless SoC family, the DA1470x is touted as the only solution in the Bluetooth LE space to integrate a power management unit, a hardware voice activity detector (VAD), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and Bluetooth LE connectivity in a single chip.

Providing advanced sensor and graphical capabilities and ultra-low–power, always-on audio processing, the wireless SoCs are suited for wearables like smartwatches and fitness trackers; glucose monitor readers and other consumer medical and health-care devices; home appliances with displays; industrial automation and security systems; and Bluetooth consoles such as e-bikes and gaming equipment.

Thanks to the integration of more functions, the devices also deliver a cost savings on the bill of materials, resulting in smaller-form–factor designs and/or freeing up space for additional components or larger batteries.

The DA1470x wireless SoCs are built on a multi-core system, an Arm Cortex-M33 processor as the main application core, and Cortex-M0+ as the sensor node controller. It includes an integrated 2D GPU and display controller supporting DPI, JDI parallel, DBI, and single/dual/quad SPI interfaces. Other features include a configurable MAC supporting Bluetooth LE 5.2 and proprietary 2.4-GHz protocols, an integrated 720-mA JEITA-compliant USB charger that supports rechargeable Li-ion/Li-Po batteries, an integrated low-quiescent–current SIMO DC/DC converter of the PMU, and ultra-low–power hardware VAD for always-on audio processing.

The company will demo the DA1470x family in Hall 1, Booth 1-234. Click here for more product details.

Targeting edge AI processing is the highly integrated Sitara AM62 processors from Texas Instruments Inc. Claiming to cut power consumption in half, the low-power design of the new processors enables support for dual-screen displays and small HMI applications.

The AM62 processors bring analytics to edge devices at low power, including suspend states as low as 7 mW. TI said there is “no need to design for thermal considerations, which can give engineers flexibility to deploy these capabilities in size-constrained applications or industrial environments.”

The AM62 processor enables basic camera-based image processing and edge AI functions, such as detecting and recognizing objects. They also enable dual-screen, full high-definition displays and support multiple operating systems, including Mainline Linux and Android operating systems, as well as wired and wireless connectivity interfaces.

AM62 processors can reduce power consumption in industrial applications by as much as 50% compared with competing devices, said TI. This means applications powered by AA batteries can remain on for over 1,000 hours.

TI said this is possible through a simplified power architecture. The device features only two dedicated power rails and five power modes. The deep-sleep mode at <5 mW enables longer battery life, while an active power of <1.5 W is made possible by a core voltage of 0.75 V. Additional power optimization is achieved with the new TPS65219, a companion power management IC specifically designed to meet the power supply requirements of the AM62.

 The AM625 and AM623 processors are now available through TI and authorized distributors in a 13 × 13-mm, 425-pin ALW package. Prices start at less than $5 in quantities of 1,000. The AM62 evaluation module is available on TI.com for $149.

TI is showcasing the AM62 processors and demonstrating system-level solutions for edge AI and electric-vehicle–charging HMI applications in Hall 3A, Booth 215. (Watch for more product details.)

NXP also extended its S32 automotive platform with two new processor families. The S32Z and S32E processors help enable the integration of diverse real-time applications for domain and zonal control, safety processing, and vehicle electrification. The S32Z processors are suited for safety processing and domain and zonal control, while the S32E processors target electric-vehicle control and smart actuation.

The software-compatible S32Z and S32E processors also help enable software-defined vehicles, reduce software integration complexity, and enhance security and safety, said NXP.

S32Z and S32E processors feature eight Arm Cortex-R52 processors cores with split-lock support that operate at up to 1 GHz to address the challenges of safely integrating deterministic real-time applications. They are available with up to 64 MB of integrated flash memory for large, zero-downtime over-the-air updates and support LPDDR4 DRAM and flash expansion memory with execute-in-place mode for large applications and AUTOSAR Adaptive applications.

Other features include a communications accelerator (FlexLLCE) supporting 24 CAN interfaces; a Gigabit Ethernet switch supporting time-sensitive networking that provides vehicle data seamlessly to “virtual ECUs” to improve efficiency and streamline software development; and a hardware security engine that supports secure boot, accelerated security services, and key management.

The S32Z and S32E processors are certified to ISO/SAE 21434 for cybersecurity and ISO 26262 for ASIL-D functional safety. The S32Z280 and S32E288 are the first two devices sampling now to lead customers. Silicon evaluation, software development, and rapid prototyping can be accelerated using the GreenVIP Vehicle Integration Platform software with the GreenBox 3 development platform.

NXP is exhibiting in Hall 4A, Booth 222. NXP’s S32Z and S32E real-time processors won the embedded award in the hardware category. (Watch for more product details.)

Automotive HMI

For automotive touchscreens, TouchNetix has expanded its HMI aXiom family with the introduction of the AX54A-Force force-sensing chip. Applications include smart touch surfaces and touch-button clusters in automotive and industrial applications.

TouchNetix’s patented Force-Sensing technology used in the aXiom HMI chips are said to provide accurate and highly sensitive force-sensing data to the user interface. The technology enables accurate measurements of force on the touchscreen or surface from 0.1 Newton (10 g) to 20 Newton (2,000 g). The aXiom technology also offers multi-force position sensing down to a spatial separation of 1.5 cm.

“The superior sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio of the aXiom chips enables detection of the smallest force signals, with extremely fine precision,” and “the technology also allows a wide range of forces to be detected to cater for all requirements,” said the company. The Force-Sensing technology is said to be mechanically easy to integrate. It absorbs any mechanical stack tolerances to provide enhanced mechanical and manufacturing reliability.

The aXiom chips, including the force-sensing offering, also integrate dial-on-display features, which are either passive or active rotary knobs in various sizes and materials. They can incorporate force-sensing dial-on-display, non-force-sensing dial-on-display, or a combination of both.

TouchNetix is exhibiting in Hall 4A, Stand 124. Click here for more product details.

Motor control

Delivering flexible motor control in combination with high integration is Infineon Technologies AG’s two programmable motor controllers — the MOTIX IMD700A and IMD701A — for brushless DC (BLDC) motors, targeting battery-operated motor products such as cordless power tools, gardening products, drones, e-bikes, and automated guided vehicles. The MOTIX IMD70xA controllers combine the MOTIX 6EDL7141 three-phase gate driver IC features with an additional XMC1404 MCU, optimized for motor control, and drive in a 9 × 9-mm², 64-pin VQFN package.

The XMC1404 MCU includes a MATH coprocessor clocked at 96 MHz to enhance calculations commonly used in sensorless field-oriented control (FOC) algorithms for higher system performance. The MCU also inherits most of the high-end peripherals found in the XMC4000 family, said Infineon, including PWM timers, position interface, and serial communication modules (including CAN).

The IMD70xA controllers support adjustable gate drive supply voltage even at low battery voltage levels thanks to built-in high- and low-side charge pumps, as well as other adjustable gate driver parameters. They also feature controllability of the gate drive slew rate to minimize electromagnetic interference. Both controllers offer motor-drive–specific system protection features, including OCP, UVLO, overtemperature, and locked rotor detection.

The MOTIX IMD700A and IMD701A three-phase motor controller ICs can be ordered now. Infineon is showcasing its products in Hall 4A, Booth 138. Click here for more details.

Also targeting motor control is Power Integrations’ new control software for three-phase BLDC motor drives for use with its BridgeSwitch integrated half-bridge motor driver and Motor-Expert configuration and diagnostics tool. This complete hardware-software solution delivers several benefits, including 98.2% efficiency and a 70% reduction in board space. It cuts the component count for current feedback circuitry from 30 components in a discrete solution to just three components, according to the company.

The updated Motor-Expert 2.0 design tool provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables manipulation of input parameters, as well as a terminal emulator for interacting with the motor controller in serial mode. The interface enables users to visualize system operation, displaying the status of data, including current, speed, status, current error, and speed error.

The new control software adds three-phase FOC to the existing library of single-phase code and allows the real-time adjustment of motor speed and torque via the Motor-Expert GUI. The code runs on any Arm Cortex-M0 at 48 MHz and does not require a hardware accelerator block, said Power Integrations, and it can also be ported to other equivalent MCUs.

Power Integrations also offers a new three-phase inverter reference design, DER-964, that uses three BridgeSwitch integrated half-bridge ICs and provides up to 300-W output power without requiring a heatsink. It is suitable for a range of applications, such as compressors, range hoods, and residential and commercial fans and pumps.

Power Integrations is exhibiting at Embedded World in Hall 1, Booth 1-411. Click here for more product details.

Industrial communications

In other industrial applications, onsemi has launched a new multi-port Ethernet controller. The 10BASE-T1S Ethernet controller is designed for multi-point communication in industrial environments. The NCN26010 enables more than 40 nodes on a single twisted pair, which exceeds 5× the number of nodes requested by the IEEE 802.3cg standard.

This reduces setup complexity and cuts installation cost by 80%, according to onsemi. In addition, for in-cabinet wiring, the NCN26010 is said to reduce wiring by up to 70% while significantly increasing bandwidth, which helps simplify the layout and power distribution in backplanes without impacting data rates or latencies.

The new industrial Ethernet controller implements multi-drop 10BASE-T1S (802.3cg) Ethernet, which is a replacement for legacy point-to-point and multi-point industrial communication standards, said onsemi, and can replace RS-485, CAN, RS-232, HART, and other interfaces. This allows for greater data throughput over existing wiring, “eliminating the need to re-pull wires, which is often the greatest expense in a networking installation.”

A key feature of the NCN26010 is a proprietary enhanced noise immunity, which benefits installations in electrically noisy industrial environments. The device also offers lower capacitance on the line pins than existing T1S solutions, which allows for more nodes to be implemented on a single network.

Onsemi claims the NCN26010 is the industry’s first PHY + MAC controller for 10BASE-T1S and can connect to controllers, sensors, and other devices without the need for an external MAC. In addition, because the NCN26010 can communicate over SPI, the pin count is lower and the package size is smaller.

The NCN26010 and development hardware are available now through onsemi sales support and authorized distributors. Onsemi is exhibiting in Hall 4A, Booth 260. Click here for more product details.