Increase Performance And Slash Power By 50 Percent With TI's MSP430FR59xx Microcontrollers, Based On Leading "Wolverine" Technology

DALLAS, Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today announces samples of the first of the world's lowest power microcontrollers based on its revolutionary "Wolverine" technology platform. TI's new FRAM-based MSP430FR59xx microcontrollers enable developers to add flexibility, performance and battery life to a variety of applications, including wireless sensing, energy harvesting, Smart Grid, industrial, consumer, building automation and security. MSP430FR59xx microcontrollers offer a rich feature set in support of these applications:  Up to 64kB embedded FRAM, direct memory access (DMA) engine, 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), analog comparator, capacitive touch IOs and UART, SPI and I2C serial interfaces. Developers can also add hardware, AES encryption, memory protection and hardware accelerated random number generator (DRNG) to their designs without the need for more central processing unit (CPU) performance, memory or power.

Power is more than just one number

Typical battery-powered applications operate in a variety of modes to extend battery life. Most of these applications spend a majority of their life in standby modes, leveraging analog-to-digital converters (ADC) to measure real-world signals, recording data to non-volatile memory for later use and active CPU processing for communications, decision making and simple math. Having ultra-low power in each of these modes is critical to enable maximum battery life, as power is more than just one number. MSP430FR59xx microcontrollers offer the "Wolverine" platform's ultra-low-power features in each of these modes, including 360 nA in real-time clock mode, less than 100 uA/MHz in active power consumption, fast wakeup time of 6.5us and high precision peripherals such as internal power management and 12-bit ADC at 75uA. The new devices also feature  embedded FRAM, the world's first integrated unified memory technology and industry's lowest power non-volatile memory architecture, consuming 250x less energy per bit and writing more than 100 times faster compared to Flash- and EEPROM-based microcontrollers.

Jumpstart development with software, support, tools and technical documents

MSP430FR59xx samples and development kits are available today at www.ti.com/fr59-pr-lp and are fully compatible with all code and software resources developed for the MSP microcontroller platform. Resources include 1,000+ code examples, ULP Advisor™ software code analysis tool, Grace™ graphical initialization software and MSP430Ware™ with MSP430™ microcontroller peripheral libraries. The MSP-TS430RGZ48C target board is available from TI's eStore for easy programming. Additionally, developers can access a new security whitepaper, a migration guide from MSP430F5xx and MSP430F2xx series as well as datasheet and user's guide to help both experienced and novice users take advantage of the industry's lowest power microcontroller. TI also offers real-time support around the clock with more than a dozen different FRAM training videos, online workshops, wiki pages and forums in the E2E™ Community.

Features and benefits of the MSP430FR59xx series

• Based on "Wolverine" technology, the industry's lowest power microcontroller platform with a unique ultra-low-leakage process technology for the lowest total power consumption, enabling longer battery life and taking us one step closer to a battery-free world.
• Unified, non-volatile FRAM provides lowest power memory and flexible development space for simple and fast memory writes and the ability to treat any part of memory as data or program space.
• Intelligent, integrated analog and digital peripherals such as 12-bit ADC, enhanced serial interface supporting UART, I2C, and full-featured SPI simplify software writes, save memory size, increase battery life with the help of a flexible clocking system and reduce the need for external components to decrease development costs.
• Advanced security features such as AES256 hardware encryption accelerator, hardware DRNG, flexible firmware update options and memory protection with functional encapsulation offer a simple method for adding secure functions to applications, especially wireless networks.
• Supporting tools, free software resources and technical documentation to ensure developers get started quickly.

Pricing and availability

MSP430FR59xx microcontrollers based on the "Wolverine" technology platform are now available for sampling. Customers can contact local sales representatives or visit www.ti.com for TI's free sampling program. The MSP-TS430RGZ48C target board is available for $75 USD as well as the XMS430FR5969 developer's kit for $149 USD from TI's eStore.  

Find out more about TI's MSP430FR59xx microcontrollers by visiting the links below:

• MSP430 FRAM microcontrollers: www.ti.com/fr59-pr-lp
• MSP430FR59xx security video: www.ti.com/fr59-pr-v
• Security with MCUs whitepaper: www.ti.com/fr59-security-pr-mc   
• MSP430F2xx to FR59xx migration guide: www.ti.com/fr59-2xx-guide-pr-td
• MSP430F5xx to FR59xx migration guide: www.ti.com/fr59-5xx-guide-pr-td
• MSP430 tools page: www.ti.com/fr59-msp-tools-pr-lp
• MSP430 software page: www.ti.com/fr59-msp-sw-pr-lp

TI's broad portfolio of MCUs and software

From ultra-low-power and Value Line MSP430™ MCUs, to Stellaris® Cortex™-M MCUs to real-time control C2000™ MCUs, and Hercules™ safety MCUs, TI offers the broadest range of microcontroller solutions. Designers can accelerate time to market by tapping into TI's complete software and hardware tools, extensive third-party offerings and technical support.

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