The microcontroller (MCU) in embedded systems is like the air traffic control system at a busy airport. The MCU can sense its working environment, take appropriate action based on the sensed results, and communicate with related systems. The MCU can manage and control signals in almost all electronic devices, from digital thermometers to smoke detectors to HVAC motors.

To ensure the economic efficiency and lifespan of the system, embedded designers need greater flexibility during the design process. If current MCU product lines on the market are used, the amount of reusable hardware and code for current and future designs will be very limited, and the options for computing, integrated analog, and packaging will also be limited. This limited flexibility often means that designers must procure MCUs from multiple manufacturers and spend additional time reprogramming to meet the unique needs of each design, thereby increasing development costs as well as the overall system cost and complexity.

The MSPM0 Arm^® Cortex^®-M0+ MCU provides designers with more choices, greater design flexibility, and more intuitive software and tools to help solve these challenges. This article will explore the true meaning of “more” in this context, and the potential applications where these MCUs, with more integrated analog options and processing power, may be applicable.

With the integrated building blocks and flexible programmable on-chip connections of the MSPM0 MCU, including successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADC), comparators, and digital-to-analog converters, the accuracy of sensing circuits can be improved. These building blocks also include zero-drift, chopper-stabilized, programmable gain operational amplifiers with zero-crossing distortion. The integrated transimpedance amplifier features ultra-low input bias current (150pA) for photodiode circuit implementation.

In low-cost sensing applications, higher sensor signal gain can be achieved by reducing input offset voltage, which serves as a source of error, while maintaining low residual input offset voltage error across the entire temperature range (as shown in Figure 2), thereby improving accuracy in the following applications:

• Power delivery applications such as battery charging and power monitoring.

• Monitoring and real-time control applications, such as brushed and brushless DC motor drivers in appliances, electric, and gardening tools.

• Medical monitoring signal chains, including blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, and thermometers.

• Building automation applications, including smoke detectors and passive infrared sensors.

The integrated SAR ADC supports up to 4MSPS for monotonic 12-bit operations and up to 250kSPS for 14-bit operations, and supports synchronous sampling to measure two signals in sync. This feature allows for energy monitoring in residential and commercial applications, performing 14-bit synchronous sampling of power voltage and current, as well as high-speed low-latency sampling (250ns) in motor drivers such as compressors, pumps, and fans.

Adding and improving features in cost-sensitive embedded systems depends on the sensing accuracy and computing capabilities of MCUs that fit the designers’ budgets. As more and more designers adopt platform software development approaches and use the same software framework across multiple applications, it is more important than ever to develop based on MCU product lines with scalable capabilities, ensuring that each product uses an MCU with the necessary detection and processing features that are cost-optimized. By adopting modern MCU product lines, designers can add new features without increasing costs or reduce costs while retaining the existing feature set, while also developing scalable software that can be reused in future designs.

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