Powerful 32-bit MCU designed for advanced closed-loop control applications

The Texas Instruments (TI) Delfino TMS320F2837xD is a powerful 32-bit floating-point microcontroller unit (MCU) designed for advanced closed-loop control applications such as industrial drives and servo motor control; solar inverters and converters; digital power; transportation; and power line communications. Complete development packages for digital power and industrial drives are available as part of the powerSUITE and DesignDRIVE initiatives. While the Delfino product line is not new to the TMS320C2000 portfolio, the F2837xD supports a new dual-core C28x architecture that significantly boosts system performance while integrated analog and control peripherals allow designers to consolidate control architectures and eliminate multiprocessor use in high-end systems. The dual real-time control subsystems are based on TI's 32-bit C28x floating-point CPUs, which provide 200 MHz of signal processing performance in each core. The C28x CPUs are further boosted by the new TMU accelerator, which enables fast execution of algorithms with trigonometric operations common in transforms and torque loop calculations; and the VCU accelerator, which reduces the time for complex math operations common in encoded applications. The F2837xD microcontroller family features two CLA real-time control co-processors. The CLA is an independent 32-bit floating-point processor that runs at the same speed as the main CPU. The CLA responds to peripheral triggers and executes code concurrently with the main C28x CPU. This parallel processing capability can effectively double the computational performance of a real-time control system. By using the CLA to service time-critical functions, the main C28x CPU is free to perform other tasks, such as communications and diagnostics. The dual C28x+CLA architecture enables intelligent partitioning between various system tasks. For example, one C28x+CLA core can be used to track speed and position, while the other C28x+CLA core can be used to control torque and current loops. The TMS320F2837xD supports up to 1MB (512KW) of onboard flash memory with error correction code (ECC) and up to 204KB (102KW) of SRAM. Two 128-bit secure zones are also available on each CPU for code protection. Performance analog and control peripherals are also integrated on the F2837xD MCU to further enable system consolidation. Four independent 16-bit ADCs provide precise and efficient management of multiple analog signals, which ultimately boosts system throughput. The new sigma-delta filter module (SDFM) works in conjunction with the sigma-delta modulator to enable isolated current shunt measurements. The Comparator Subsystem (CMPSS) with windowed comparators allows for protection of power stages when current limit conditions are exceeded or not met. Other analog and control peripherals include DACs, PWMs, eCAPs, eQEPs, and other peripherals. The Configurable Logic Block (CLB) lets TI offer additional interfacing and control features for select C2000 devices. Peripherals such as EMIFs, CAN modules (ISO11898-1/CAN 2.0B-compliant), and a new uPP interface extend the connectivity of the F2837xD. The uPP interface is a new feature of the C2000 MCUs and supports high-speed parallel connection to FPGAs or other processors with similar uPP interfaces. Lastly, a USB 2.0 port with MAC and PHY lets users easily add universal serial bus (USB) connectivity to their application, says the company.