Atmel AVR XMEGA Microcontrollers

Atmel announced the new addition to its AVR microcontrollers, the AVR XMEGA family. The new microcontrollers bringing the 8/16-bit microcontrollers up to a new level of system performance. AVR XMEGA microcontrollers feature: Innovative Event System for CPU independent inter-peripheral communication, 2nd generation of Atmel’s picoPower technology, 100% predictable timing, Fast Cryptography support for AES and DES, 4-channel DMA Controller and Fast 12-bit ADC and DAC.

AVR XMEGA Microcontrollers - Features/Size

AVR XMEGA combines Atmel’s picoPower technology with extended task-handling capability and advanced peripherals in a large family of devices. 2nd gen picoPower technology makes Atmel’s AVR XMEGA the only family of Flash microcontrollers with true 1.6V operation available in market today. The ultra low power consumption is combined with fast 12-bit analog functions, a DMA controller, an innovative Event System and a crypto engine. All features free CPU resources which minimize power consumption and increase system performance.

Atmel’s AVR XMEGA microcontrollers range from 16 to 384 KB of Flash and 44- to 100-pin packages. They operate from 1.6V to 3.6V and achieve up to 32 MIPS at 32 MHz. The XMEGA devices are general purpose microcontrollers well suited for a variety of applications including audio systems, ZigBee, power tools, medical, board controllers, networking, metering, optical transceivers, motor control, white goods and any battery powered product.

Ultra Low Power – Atmel’s picoPower technology already used in megaAVR products, is recognized as market leader in low power. With XMEGA, using second generation picoPower, battery life is further increased by additional features like true 1.6V operation and a combined Watchdog Timer- and Brown-Out-Detector current consumption of only 1 uA. True 1.6V operation means all functions including Flash reprogramming, EEPROM write, analog conversions and internal oscillators are operative. In battery powered applications like mobile phones, AVR XMEGA devices can be connected to a 1.8V (+/- 10%) regulated power supply to save cost and increase battery life. XMEGA delivers industry leading power consumption numbers. In Power Down mode with RAM retention, current consumption is 100 nA. A Real-Time Clock function using a 32 kHz crystal oscillator has a power consumption of only 650 nA.

Modern CPU Built for Scalability – The 8/16-bit AVR CPU is designed for high-level languages like C. It has 16- and 32-bit arithmetic support and 16- and 24-bit memory pointers. Single cycle operation and 32 working registers connected to the Arithmetic Logic Unit makes AVR more efficient than other CPUs. Based on the solid AVR CPU platform, Atmel now offers one of the largest families of code compatible devices ranging from 1 KB 8-pin tinyAVR to 384 KB 100-pin XMEGA. By standardizing on AVR MCUs, customers save investments and shorten time-to-market by reusing development tools, software and hardware design.

Innovative Event System – Like a reflex in the human body, the innovative XMEGA Event System enables inter-peripheral communication without CPU or DMA usage. This ensures 100% predictable and short response time. Up to 8 simultaneous events or interrupt conditions in the peripherals can automatically start actions in other peripherals. The Event System removes bottlenecks associated with multiple and/or frequently triggering interrupts. There is no software overhead and critical tasks are handled with a guaranteed latency shorter than any interrupt response time.

Leading Analog Performance – The XMEGA Analog-to-Digital Converter has 12-bit resolution and provides up to 2 million samples per second with hardware support for oversampling to increase resolution to 16 bits without extra cost. Programmable gain stage, differential inputs, temperature sensor, and accurate internal voltage references removes external components and saves cost. AVR XMEGA also includes 12-bit Digital-to-Analog Converters and advanced Analog Comparators.

Fast Crypto Engine – XMEGA has a hardware crypto engine that supports Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Data Encryption Standard (DES). The crypto engine increases encrypted communication speed from 10 kbps to 2 Mbps compared to software solutions. AVR XMEGA is the only solution for high bandwidth encrypted data communication in long life battery powered applications, like toll road tags, wireless sensor nodes and ZigBee.

Atmel AVR XMEGA Microcontrollers:

All AVR XMEGA A devices run from 1.6 to 3.6 volt and up to 32 MHz and include:

• 8 Event System channels
• 4 DMA channels
• Crypto engine for AES and DES
• Real-Time Clock
• Internal RC
• Watch-dog Timer
• Brown-out Detector

AVR XMEGA is supported by the easy-to-use development tool chain already existing for AVR devices. The AVR Studio integrated development environment is available free of charge on Atmel’s web site. The STK600 Starter Kit and JTAGICE mkII on-chip debugger supports every microcontroller in Atmel’s AVR and AVR32 UC3 product families.

ATxmega128A1 and ATxmega64A1 are available now in 100-pin TQFP and BGA packages. Price: US$3.75 and US$3.50, respectively for 10K unit qty. Other Atmel AVR XMEGA microcontrollers will be available during 2Q or 3Q this year.

More info: Atmel AVR XMEGA Microcontrollers