The new development platform helps software designers to optimize the use of the motor control specific features of NEC Electronics' highly integrated 78K0R/Ix3 16-bit microcontroller family. For example, the 78K0R - Spin it!, built on a single board, supports functions such as start/stop, direction of rotation and speed of rotation (rpm).
In addition to a 78K0R/Ix3 MCU, other component parts of the toolkit include a four digit 7 segment LED display, uPA2792 complementary power MOSFETs for control of a brushless DC motor with DC voltages between 12V and 15V as well as an uPD78F0730 8-bit microcontroller with USB functionality. Thanks to this additional 8-bit MCU, no additional hardware is necessary for source code debugging, flash memory programming and operation with the host computer.
The MINICUBE2 interface, which is integrated on-board, enables low-cost source code debugging based on an IAR environment. Furthermore, for wireless remote control operation an on-board ZigBee(TM) stack interface, which works together with NEC Electronics' ZigBee(TM) based HF products, was also integrated on-board.
The application specific standard products (ASSPs) of the 78K0R/Ix3 family distinguish themselves with a number of functions and features specifically for motor control and regulation. These include an internal high speed oscillator, which provides the clock frequency for the CPU and the motor control timer block (40MHz) with better than 2 percent accuracy. At the same time, all analog elements including a programmable op-amp together with diverse comparators, high speed A/D converters and a flexible timer block, are designed to especially efficiently support typical requirements such as A/D triggering from PWM timer or dead time generation. Furthermore, an internal DMA controller for simultaneous data transfer and separate function units for multiplication and division guarantee the user, if required, DSP processing performance.
A further particular feature of the 78K0R/Ix3 family is the many safety features, which meet the most challenging safety requirements. In addition to a power on clear (POC) function and low voltage detection, these also include an independent watchdog timer (WDT), a wide operating voltage range from 2.7V to 5.5V as well as a direct hardware shutoff of the timer outputs for motor protection and power stage protection.
The 78K0R - Spin it! kit for the 78K0R/Ix3 16-bit microcontroller family is scheduled to be available from stock at the beginning of April 2009.