Atmel’s ATxmega256A3BU is a low power, high performance 8/16-bit AVR microcontroller featuring 256KB self-programming flash program memory, 8KB boot code section, 16KB SRAM, 4096-byte EEPROM, four-channel DMA controller and an 8-channel event system.
It is also equipped with dual 12-bit ADC, two 12-bit DAC channels, four analog comparators, AES and DES crypto engines, 7 16-bit timer/counters, 6 USART, two SPI, two TWIs and an RTC battery backup system.
“The ATxmega256A3BU can be used to power a wide range of applications,” an Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces. “Specific examples include building, industrial, motor, board, and climate control, hand-held battery applications, factory automation, power tools, HVAC, networking, metering, large home appliances and optical/medical devices.”
To accelerate development with the ATxmega256A3BU microcontroller (MCU), Atmel offers the XMEGA-A3BU Xplained, a hardware-based platform that helps engineers evaluate the device and seamlessly integrate AVR XMEGA architecture into a wide range of designs.
In addition to the ATxmega256A3BU microcontroller (MCU), key XMEGA-A3BU Xplained features and capabilities include:
- Keep RTC running in the backup system while main power is absent
- Display data on the 128×32 pixels of the FSTN LCD display
- Read temperature sensor with the ADC
- Read light sensor with the ADC
- Use the Atmel QTouch library to detect touches on the touch button
- Read/write data to the 64Mbit Atmel DataFlash
- 3 push buttons to interact with the microcontroller
- 4 LEDs to show status information
- Program the kit via USB bootloader or an Atmel programmer
- Expand the board with Xplained top modules
The XMEGA-A3BU Xplained can be purchased from Atmel’s official store here.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 