Active-Semi has debuted a number of reference design solutions for Atmel’s ARM Cortex A5 and ARM9-based eMPUs (Embedded Micro Processor Units) using Active-Semi’s ACT8865 and ACT8945A PMICs (Power Management Integrated Circuits).
According to Jacko Wilbrink, Senior Product Marketing Director of ARM eMPU & Secure at Atmel, the above-mentioned embedded solutions offer high differentiation, specifically for low-power applications such as smartwatches, wearables, POS (Point-of-Sale) and HMI (Human Machine Interface).
“These turnkey, highly integrated power IC solutions from Active-Semi fit well with Atmel’s eMPU platform approach by reducing design cycle-time up to 80% and enabling the lowest standby power (under 2mW), critical in conserving battery life in portable applications,” Wilbrink explained. “Working with Active-Semi to develop the ACT8865 and ACT8945A Family of PMICs has helped to further simplify our customer’s system design and reduce the number of power components by as much as 80 percent.”
As Mark Cieri, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Active-Semi notes, the ACT8865 and ACT8945A PMICs integrate the complete voltage regulator requirements of Atmel eMPU-based systems, including three step-down DC-DC converters and two low-dropout (LDO) linear regulators – all while leaving free two additional LDO for auxiliary customer-specific functions.
The devices also include pre-configured power rail sequencing that removes the associated design complexity of discrete solution alternatives. In addition, the ACT8945A offers an integrated battery charger and ActivePath power path management to efficiently regulate battery charging. Both products offer serial communication interfaces to configure and control the operation of the PMICs.
“We see tremendous market opportunity for high density and energy efficient microprocessors such as Atmel’s SAMA5 and SAM9 that are enabling a new class of consumer and industrial embedded applications,” Cieri added. “Our ACT8865 and ACT8945A devices have proven valuable, as they enable up to a 50% reduction in both size and total cost of the power solution but at higher performance than the discrete alternatives.”
The ACT8865 and ACT8945A are in production today. For more information and to order samples, evaluation kits or Atmel reference design information, readers can visit www.active-semi.com/AtmelPMU.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 