Digital signal controllers offer high control and have optimised performance - 20 April 2005 - Avnet South Africa

Digital signal controllers offer high control and have optimised performance
20 April 2005, DSP, Micros & Memory

Texas Instruments is sampling new digital signal controllers. Combining the realtime performance of its leading DSPs with the peripheral integration, C-language efficiency and ease of use of a microcontroller, the TMS320F2801, TMS320F2806 and TMS320F2808 devices are optimised for motor control, digital power conversion, and intelligent sensor control in industrial, appliance, automotive, medical, and consumer applications.

An ideal mix of peripherals, including a unique high resolution pulse width modulator (PWM), reduces external component count to provide a complete embedded control system with 100 MIPS of 32-bit DSP performance for less than US$5 in volume, says Texas Instruments.

Unique peripherals

The TMS320F2801/6/8 controllers' PWM technology provides 16 bits of accuracy in a 100 kHz control loop and 12 bits at 1 MHz. Industry standard processors limit accuracy to less than 10 bits at 100 kHz, says TI. In digital power applications, higher resolution PWM results in a faster transient response with a smaller ripple amplitude. F28x controllers' unique accuracy eliminates 'limit cycle' issues, enabling power supply designers to employ digital control in high switching frequency supplies, resulting in cleaner power output, higher power density, smaller magnetics, and more compact, cooler supplies than is possible using analog technology.

The F2808 controller also provides a highly accurate, 16-channel, 12-bit ADC, delivering the conversion speed (up to 6,25 MSamples/s) needed for very high performance embedded control applications. This provides a cost-effective single-chip blend of 32-bit DSP and high-performance analog peripherals. The F28x DSP core architecture features a 32-bit wide data path and mixed 16/32 bit instruction set for improved code density.

Flexible architecture

Customer requests for system flexibility and development ease were a priority in designing the new F28x controllers. Developers can operate each of the PWM channels, timers, QEPs, and captures, either independently or synchronised together. Modular design of F28x peripherals reduces overall system cost through enhanced scalability and re-use, increases ease of development, and accelerates time to market by allowing developers to, for example, leverage a single software driver across an entire peripheral set. In addition, scalable peripheral integration and memory in footprint compatible packages allow OEMs to easily re-use their hardware and software designs across their product portfolio.

Each device will be qualified to the Q100 automotive standard and TI will offer them in both a 100-pin LQFP and 100-ball BGA package. A starter kit (TMDXEZS2808) is available.