More ARM v8-M with Nuvoton’s new M26x
01
Jun
2019
Nuvoton released more Cortex-M23 based MCUs, the M26x series with 9 part numbers. NXP uncovered the NxH3670, a Cortex-M0 BT4.2 MCU with a proprietary audio streaming extension. Interestingly, it targets the gaming headset. Did not know that what seems a pretty narrow application could drive the creation of a dedicated MCU. Ah, and Renesas is beefing up the RX72T with more RXv3-core based MCU.
No change.
No change.
There was a large contingent of new parts this month, over 200. A third was for the ATSAMD21 getting higher temperature (+125C) versions of existing parts and the majority of the rest focused on new SOIC packages for the PIC16.
No change.
Nuvoton just launched the NuMicro® M26x series with 9 parts, all based on the Cortex-M23 core, 64MHz/512KB Flash supporting Over-The-Air ( OTA ) firmware update and 96 Kbytes embedded SRAM. Power supply is 1.8 ~ 3.6V with a temp range of -40 to +105 ℃.
Nuvonton claims 97 μA / MHz ( LDO mode ) and 45 μA / MHz ( DC-DC mode ) in normal run mode, 2.8 μA in Standby Power-down mode, and less than 2μA in Deep Power-down mode without VBAT. It comes with secure boot and a 4-region programable eXecute-Only-Memory ( XOM ) to secure critical program codes. AES 256/192/128 accelerator and True Random Number Generator are built-in for data encryption. On the peripheral side, the M26x comes with SDHC V2.0, Quad-SPI.
The M262 adds a crystall-less USB 2.0 FS OTG transceiver to the M261
The M263 adds one set of CAN 2.0B controllers, compared to the M262.
The NuMicro® M261 series are suitable for classic IoT node devices, NuMicro® M262 series are suitable for connecting to USB host / device for data transfer, NuMicro® M263 series are suitable for industrial and automotive application that required CAN Bus for data communication.
Packages include QFN33 ( 5 mm x 5 mm ), LQFP64 ( 7 mm x 7 mm) and LQFP128 ( 14 mm x 14 mm ).
NXP launched the NxH3670, a single-chip 2.4 GHz wireless transceiver with a single core Cortex-M0, targeted at wireless audio streaming for gaming headsets at very low latency. It is certified for BTLE 4.2 with a proprietary audio streaming extension. TX output is −10 dBm to +4 dBm with a sensitivity of −90 dBm in BTLE 2 Mbps and −94 dBm@1Mbps. Current is < 4 mA for RX at 1.2V and < 7 mA for TX @0 dBm output power, all at 1.2V. The operating temperature is a weird -20°C +85°C. Well, who would be ga,ing at -20C anyways?
Renesas doubled its portfolio of RX72T, a 32-bit RXv3 based MCU optimized for motor control applications. The RX72T runs at 200 MHz (5.8 CoreMark/MHz) with 2.7 to 5.5 V and -40 to 105 °C operation, Flash/SRAM are up to 1MB/128KB. There is amd Arithmetic unit for trigonometric functions as well as 12-bit A/D Converter x 30 channels for 3 units , 12-bit D/A Converter x 2 channels, 6-channels of Comparators and 6-channels of Pseudo-Differential PGA, 4 channels for 3-phase complementary switching, 2 channels for 5-phase complementary switching, 10 channels for single-phase complementary switching, 4-channel high-resolution PWM enables minimum 195 ps timing adjustment and finally a Trusted Secure IP Lite (AES/TRNG) module.
No change this month after the launch last month of the Gecko 2.
Cypress continues to move its part names to its standard CYxxxx nomenclature.
The STM32H74x is getting a no-graphics acceleration version, the STM32H742. Frequencies were increased for the STM32H7 from 400MHz to 480MHz too.
No significant change this month.
Cortex-M33 rules (redux)
02
May
2019
SiliconLabs continues the celebration of the Cortex-M33 that started last month, this time with a robust portfolio of BTLE and Thread/Zigbee devices doubling the range and the core performance of the previous Gecko generation. NXP on its end pushed voice assistance software on the existing i.MX RT1060 to support the growing trend of home voice assistants.
We are migrating this section this month to Microchip… Bye bye Atmel products.
No change.
No change.
As usual, there were additional VAO (automotive grade) parts added (28) but also a good number of PIC32MZ1064/2025 added, the latter with support for DDR2 SDRAM either embedded or external.
No change.
No change.
NXP launched the i.MX RT106A, an application specific variant of the i.MX RT1060 focused on cloud based embedded voice applications. The Cortex-M7 runs at 600 MHz and embeds NXP’s turnkey voice assistant software solutions, which may include:
- Far-field audio front end softDSP
- Acoustic echo cancellation
- Ambient noise reduction
- Beamforming
- Barge-in
- Playback processing
- Barge-in
- Codecs
- Wake-word inference engine
- Media player/streamer
- MQTT, lwIP, TLS
- Discovery and onboarding
- All drivers, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth™
No change.
It is shaking at SiliconLabs this month with the release of the Gecko 2 incarnated by the Mighty Gecko 2 and the Blue Gecko 2. Essentially the same IC focused on the 2.4GHz band, they use different low level code to support on one hand a pure Bluetooth Low Energy (GFSK) interface and on the other GFSK/O-QPSK, adding Thread and ZigBee.
Both use a 80MHz Cortex-M33 core fitted with the security bells and whistles required to properly secure IoT applications including a true RNG compliant with NIST SP 800-90A/B/C and AIS-31, Secure Debug control and boot that ensures authentic firmware and OTA updates.
Compared to its -1 sibling, performance has more than doubled (40 to 80 MHz and M4 to M33), with 3 more dB of sensitivity, a slightly increased TX power consumption while peripherals remained largely the same except for the DAC that dissapeared on the -2.
Cypress has only minor changes this month.
ST added a few parts across the board and also removed close to 20 parts of the STM32H7 with extended temperature (+105C).
TI has now put a number of wireless devices out of preview and into active status: CC1312R1F3RGZR, CC1312R1F3RGZT, CC1352R1F3RGZR, CC1352R1F3RGZT and CC2642R1FRGZR.
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