New Industry Products

Microchip Technology Offers 16-bit dsPIC30F Digital Signal Controllers

February 05, 2006 by Jeff Shepard

Microchip Technology Inc., a provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, has announced that it continues the production rollout of its 16-bit dsPIC ® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) with two devices that offer designers performance speeds of 30 million instructions per second (MIPS), self-programming capabilities via Flash memory, and industrial and extended temperature ranges.

The dsPIC30F5015 and dsPIC30F5016 DSCs feature an advanced pulse width modulator (PWM) designed for power-conversion, motor-control and lighting applications; an associated 1 MSPS 10-bit analog to digital converter; 66 Kbytes of Flash program memory; and full-speed operation using an internal oscillator (no crystal required). These DSCs are offered in 64-pin (dsPIC30F5015) and 80-pin (dsPIC30F5016) packages, and are ideal for applications that drive power field effect transistors (FETs) and require advanced algorithmic processing, company officials said.

"Our customers are learning that our DSCs are, foremost, world-class embedded controllers — the signal-processing capability is a bonus used to enable new features, reduce system cost or improve performance," said Sumit Mitra, vice president of Microchip's Digital Signal Controller Division. "With the recent announcement of the PIC24 and dsPIC33 16-bit families, designers can select a low-cost PIC24F, a high-performance PIC24H, or add DSP capability with a dsPIC DSC, using the same core instructions and development tools, with pin-out and peripheral compatibility on similar devices."

Microchip's dsPIC DSCs combine the high performance of a 16-bit Flash microcontroller with the computation and throughput capabilities of a digital signal processor (DSP). The DSCs have the "heart" of a 16-bit microcontroller, with robust peripherals and fast interrupt handling capability, and the "mind" of a DSP that manages high-computation activities, Mitra said. This combination creates the optimum single-chip solution for embedded system designs, allowing designers to integrate functions and save board space, he said.

Microchip's Enhanced Flash self-programming capability permits a remote upgrade to the Flash program memory, allowing code revisions in end-users' applications. The dsPIC30F5015 and dsPIC30F5016 operate from 2.5 to 5.5 volts, which is valuable for analog noise immunity or minimizing voltage-translation logic, he said.