Video: ARM interviews Atmel’s Ingar Fredriksen

Earlier this week, Atmel kicked off Embedded World 2014 by expanding its low-power ARM Cortex M0+-based MCU portfolio with three new families: the SAM D21, D10 and D11. The trio of entry-level, low-power MCUs are packed with a number of high-end features including Atmel’s Event System, SERCOM module, peripheral touch controller and a full-speed USB interface.

During the show, ARM’s Andy Frame interviewed Atmel’s MCU Marketing Director Ingar Fredriksen about the company’s ARM-based SAM D family of products.

“The original SAM D20 lineup has been a tremendous success for Atmel,” Fredriksen told Frame. “We see a lot of opportunities for the series over the next five years.”

Commenting on the new additions to the SAM D series, Fredriksen highlighted Atmel’s integrated peripheral touch controller (PTC) which supports buttons, sliders, wheels and proximity with up to 256 channels. This configuration allows developers to migrate from a two-chip (one MCU + one touch) solution to a one-chip platform.

Indeed, the PTC supports mutual and self capacitive touch, while offering optimized sensitivity and noise tolerance as well as self-calibration. Simply put, the PTC eliminates the need for external components and minimizes CPU overhead. More specifically, implementing one button takes one channel, while wheels and sliders occupy three.

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel’s SAM D portfolio is architected beyond the core, leveraging over two decades of MCU experience to create unique, connected peripherals that are easy-to-use, while providing scalability and performance.

To help accelerate the design process and eliminate the need for additional components, Atmel’s new SAM D lineup integrates additional functionality, including full-speed crystal-less USB, DMA, I2S, timers/counters for control applications, along with several other new features. Atmel’s SAM D devices are also code- and pin-compatible, making it easy for designers to migrate up and down the family.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Atmel’s ARM-based solutions here and “Think Beyond the Core,” a free white paper [PDF] about Atmel’s scalable SAM D lineup here.

Atmel expands SAM D Cortex M0+ MCU portfolio

Atmel has expanded its low-power ARM Cortex M0+-based MCU portfolio with three new families: the SAM D21, D10 and D11. These entry-level, low-power MCUs are packed with high-end features including Atmel’s Event System, SERCOM module, peripheral touch controller and a full-speed USB interface.

“As more devices are becoming smarter and connected in this era of the Internet of Things (IoT), designers are looking for MCUs with additional connectivity and communication options to scale their applications in the consumer, industrial and medical markets,” explained Patrick Sullivan, Vice President of Marketing, Microcontroller Business Unit, Atmel Corporation.

“Atmel’s new SAM D21, D10 and  D11 families of Cortex M0+-based MCUs deliver low-power consumption, connectivity and small footprint, providing designers just the right price-to-performance ratio. These new families expand the company’s growing line of Atmel Smart microcontrollers with new pin and memory combinations, along with new features such as DMA and crystal-less USB.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel’s SAM D portfolio is architected beyond the core, leveraging over two decades of MCU experience to create unique, connected peripherals that are easy-to-use, while providing scalability and performance. Indeed, to help simplify the design process and eliminate the need for additional components, Atmel’s new SAM D lineup integrates additional functionality, including full-speed crystal-less USB, DMA, I2S, timers/counters for control applications, along with several other new features. Atmel’s SAM D devices are also code- and pin-compatible making it easy for designers to migrate up and down the family.

“Atmel’s expanded portfolio of low-power SAM D family ARM Cortex-M0+-based devices enables more designers to deliver smart devices in this increasingly connected world,” said Noel Hurley, Deputy General Manager, CPU Group, ARM.

“The ARM Cortex-M0+ processor is a highly area- and energy-efficient core which enables partners, such as Atmel, to provide the right peripheral set, intelligence, communication and memory for their customers’ needs.”

Key  SAM D21 features include:

• 48MHz operation
2.14 Coremark/MHz
• Single-cycle IO access
• 
6- to 12-channel Event System
• 
6- to 12-channel DMA
• Up to six SERCOM modules configurable as UART/USART, SPI, I2C
• 12Mbps USB 2.0 device with an embedded host and device
• 
Two-channel I2S with 96MHz fractional PLL for audio streaming
• Up to five 16-bit timers, up to three 16-bit times optimized for control applications
• Peripheral touch controller supports up to 256 touch channels for capacitive touch buttons, sliders, wheels and proximity sensing
• 
Down to 70uA/MHz in active mode
• 4uA RAM retention
• Real-time clock and calendar
• 
Option to choose between internal and external oscillators, on-the-fly clock switching
• 
Sleepwalking

To help accelerate the design process, the $39 SAM D21 Xplained Pro is equipped with an embedded debugger/programmer and offers support for a wide range of compatible extensions boards. Standalone programmer debugger solutions supporting the SAM D family are also available from both Atmel and third parties, with the Atmel SAM D MCUs fully supported by Atmel Studio and Atmel Software Framework.

The SAM D21 is the first family in this expanded portfolio, and samples and tools are available today with volume production in May 2014. The SAM D21 is offered in 32KB to 256KB of Flash and in 32-, 48- and 64-pin packages. Meanwhile, the SAM D10 and D11 families will be available in 14- and 20-pin SOIC and 24-pin QFN packages with up to 16KB of Flash. Both memory options feature 4KB of SRAM. All package options minimize the number of power pins to maximize the amount of IO available for the application. Engineering samples and tools are slated to go live in Q2 2014.

Fitting in with Atmel’s SAM D20 family

Atmel’s recently launched SAM D20 lineup is based on the ARM Cortex- M0+ core, setting a new benchmark for flexibility and ease-of-use.

The MCU series is ideal for a number of low-power, cost-sensitive industrial and consumer devices, such as GPS trackers, appliance controllers, intelligent remotes and optical transceivers.

As William Wong of Electronic Design notes, the SAM D20 specifically targets the entire low-end space currently handled by 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers, while also hitting the low-end 32-bit space.

“The SAM D20 incorporates high-end support like the high-speed bus matrix linked to three AHB/APB bridges. System and power controllers can be found off one bridge. Memory controllers are found off another,” Wong wrote in an article posted on Electronic Design.

“The third bridge handles the convention interfaces that include up to six programmable serial ports, eight timers, a 20-channel, 350-ksample/s analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a pair of comparators, and a 10-bit, 350-ksample/s digital-to-analog converter (DAC). There is also Atmel’s touch interface controller.”

In addition, Wong described Atmel’s advanced Event System which allows peripheral events to trigger actions – without processor intervention (the core can actually be sleeping), while pointing out that the SAM D20 family supports up to 32 kbytes for RAM and 256 kbytes of flash memory.

“Atmel is already known for its microcontroller families, including the 8-bit AVR,” Wong continued. “The SAM D20 will follow in the pin steps of these chips with 32-, 48-, and 64-pin versions that match the SAM4L family.”

The full text of “Cortex-M0+ Family Supports The Low-End Space,” written by William Wong, can be read here on Electronic Design.

Atmel’s AVR XMEGA MCU: High integration and ultra-low power

Earlier this week, Bits & Pieces took a close look at Atmel’s AVR UC3 which is built around high-performance 32-bit AVR architecture and optimized for highly integrated applications. Today, we are getting up close and personal with Atmel’s AVR XMEGA, an MCU designed for real-time performance, high integration and ultra-low power.

Powered by an Atmel AVR CPU, the AVR XMEGA is tuned to minimize code size and maximize execution speed. Indeed, its true single-cycle execution of arithmetic and logic operations allows AVR XMEGA microcontrollers to perform close to 1 MIPS per MHz. The fast-access register file with 32 x 8-bit general-purpose working registers is directly connected to the arithmetic logic unit (ALU). During a single clock cycle, the ALU can be fed two arbitrary registers, do a requested operation and write back the result. It provides efficient support for 8-, 16-, and 32-bit arithmetic. Plus, 12-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with gain stage offer a combined throughput of 4MSPS, while fast 12-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with high drive strength, as well as other functions, reduce the need for external components.

As noted above, the AVR XMEGA boasts real-time performance, with an Event System that facilitates inter-peripheral signaling with 100% predictable response time. To help offload the CPU, all peripherals can use direct memory access (DMA) for data transfer. Meanwhile, Atmel’s stalwart picoPower technology enables true 1.6V operation, down to 100nA RTC operation with full SRAM retention for fastest possible wake-up time.

“In terms of integration, AVR XMEGA devices include Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Data Encryption Standard (DES) crypto modules, up to 32 pulse-width modulation (PWM) outputs, 8 UARTs, 4 TWI (I2C) and 4 serial peripheral interface (SPI) channels, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generator module and more,” an Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces.

“On the USB connectivity side, the AVR XMEGA delivers full-speed operation without the need for external crystals, 31 endpoints, along with a special multi-packet function that maximizes data transfer rates while minimizing CPU load.”

AVR XMEGA devices also feature an innovative XMEGA  consisting of two independent 8-bit timers/counters and two lookup tables used for defining glue logic. It is designed to reduce bill of material (BOM) and PCB size as the XCL can replace external circuitry such as delay elements, RS-latches, D-latches, D-flip-flops chip-select logic, AND, NAND, OR, NOR, XOR, XNOR, NOT, MUX AND/OR/XOR logic gates. In addition, it can, in conjunction with the USART, enable customized communication protocols.

And last, but certainly not least, Atmel’s AVR Software Library include a plethora of device drivers and communication stacks that save time and development effort, allowing engineers to focus on more important design tasks. Similarly, Atmel’s QTouch Sensing Library helps devs to easily integrate robust capacitive touch sensing interfaces for buttons, sliders and wheels.

Interested in learning more? Additional Atmel AVR XMEGA technical details are available here.

The Peripheral Event System in Atmel’s SAM4L ARM Cortex-M4 based Microcontroller

Atmel’s SAM4L ARM Cortex-M4 based MCU has inherently low current consumption for such a powerful chip. But it also has a Peripheral Event System that allows you to service interrupts or external conditions without waking up the core processor.

Periphereal Event-System for Atmel’s SAM4L Cortex-M4

Keeping your microcontroller unit in sleep mode will reduce system power consumption. Increasing the throughput will reduce the time spent in active mode. Atmel’s Peripheral Event System allows peripherals to communicate directly with each other without involving the CPU (central processing unit). It is a routing network independent of traditional data paths such as system buses. Peripherals can trigger events such as data transfer to another peripheral or the copying of a message directly to the MCU internal memory. All this can happen while the processor is asleep. You spare the CPU from the time-consuming handling of interrupts since the Peripheral Event System is doing these repetitive tasks. This will free up more time for the MCU to handle other tasks in the application, or allow the MCU to remain in sleep mode for a longer time. The Peripheral Event System lowers power consumption and increases performance.

You can read more about conserving power in an Atmel white paper: Redefining the power benchmark.