Embedded World, NUREMBERG - Wolverine is the moniker chosen by Texas Instruments for an ultra-low-power MSP430 microcontroller platform launched here which provides 360 nA real-time clock mode - more than doubling battery life - and less than 100 μA/MHz active power consumption.
The first devices based on this platform will be the MSP430FR58xx microcontroller series with expected availability in June 2012 and the company is making the bold claim that the platform slashes power by 50 percent versus any other MCU.
The power reduction is partly provided by the use of an ultra low leakage (ULL) process technology which TI says gives 10x improvement in leakage and optimized mixed signal capabilities.
More than 30 power-optimized analog and digital components also help the power reduction but it is the use of FRAM technology as opposed with flash- and EEPROM-based MCUs that provide further power cuts.
FRAM means that that designs are not limited to the specific ratios of program-to-data memory inherent to traditional embedded systems – this ratio can be changed at any time in the design cycle.
Wakeup time is 6.5µs and high precision peripherals such as internal power management and a 12-bit analog digital converter (ADC) at 75uA.
As with all MSP430 microcontrollers, the Wolverine devices are supported by the MSP430Ware software and resource package, as well as low-power code optimization software tools.
Click on image to enlarge.MSP430Ware enables developers to access and filter through all MSP430 microcontroller design resources by device, tool or software library.
MSP430FR58xx MCUs based on the Wolverine technology platform will be available for sampling in June 2012.