Atmel has expanded its ARM Cortex-M4 Flash lineup with the entry-point SAM4N series. The new microcontrollers – which feature a 100MHz operating frequency – boast up to 1MB of Flash memory, multiple serial communication peripherals and analog capability.
“This combination of features, coupled with low power consumption, makes the SAM4N series ideal for a wide range of applications, including the industrial automation, consumer appliance and energy metering markets,” an Atmel engineer told Bits and Pieces.
“In addition, the SAM4N series offers pin-to-pin compatibility with the Atmel SAM4S, SAM3S, SAM3N and SAM7S devices – facilitating easy migration within the SAM lineup.”
As noted above, the SAM4N is built around a low power sipping design, achieving real-world consumption levels down to 170µA/MHz in active mode; down to 20µA in sleep mode with full RAM retention & wake-up time down to 10µs; and down to 1µA in backup mode with the RTC running.
Key hardware specs include fast serial communication with 7 UARTs, four SPIs and three I2Cs; 12-bit ADC, 10-bit DAC, integrated voltage reference, multiple timers and PWM.
On the software side, there is full IDE support for Atmel Studio 6, IAR and Keil, while a Modbus Demo (RTOS + Modbus RTU) will go live later this month. In addition, Atmel’s SAM4N Xplained Pro is available as a starter or evaluation kit – and is probably the most ideal platform for evaluating and prototyping with the SAM4N. Of course, extension boards can also be purchased individually. Additional information about Atmel’s new SAM4N lineup can be found here.
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