Digital Signal Controllers for Smart Sensor Applications - dsPIC33FJ12GP - Microchip

Microchip announced the dsPIC33FJ12GP family of Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). The new signal controllers are suited for Smart Sensor applications. The small size (as small as 6×6 mm) 40 MIPS dsPIC33FJ12GP Digital Signal Controllers family enables a new class of sensor processing, dubbed Smart Sensors, which can enhance sensor performance and extend product life. The processor can be moved closer to the sensor-eliminating lead noise and offloading this workload from a central processor-creating a Smart Sensor scenario.

Sumit Mitra, Microchip’s Digital Signal Controller Division, said:

As digital signal controllers achieve new low price points and package sizes, we see new worlds of opportunity waiting for just such a solution…

Embedded applications work no better than the quality of their input, which is usually some sort of sensor… Now sensor processing can be handled in an entirely new way, whether it be analyzing signals in the frequency domain, improving signal-to-noise, or simply making an inexpensive sensor act like an expensive sensor…

The dsPIC33FJ12GP's on-chip Analog-Digital-Converters (ADCs), with up to 1.1 Msps, permit signal over-sampling to improve signal-to-noise ratios. Spectral analysis can be conducted adjacent to the sensor, permitting more robust application performance and a digital connection to upstream processors.

Key features of dsPIC33FJ12GP Digital Signal Controllers include:

• 40 MIPS performance in 6×6 mm packages
• 12 Kbytes of Flash and 1 Kbyte of RAM
• ADC w/ up to 10 channels, and user-selectable 10-bit or 12-bit mode (10-bit mode enables simultaneous sampling, eliminating lag time between samples)
• 1 UART, 1 SPI and 1 I2C(TM) Port

The dsPIC33FJ12GP family also features Peripheral Pin Select, which allows designers to remap digital I/O to optimize board layout-enabling smaller boards, less noise and the use of a lower pin-count DSC.

Development Tools
Within Microchip's MPLAB IDE, high-level resources are added in a microcontroller-friendly way to allow the utilization of DSC features with minimal effort. These features include Microchip's Visual Device Initializer, which can generate initialization code in a few clicks. The low-cost Digital Filter Design tool and the free dsPICworks software can help users easily define filters to their specifications, simulate performance and generate code.

The dsPIC33FJ12GP201 is available in 18-pin SOIC and SDIP packages. The dsPIC33FJ12GP202 is available in 28-pin QFN, SOIC and SDIP packages. Prices: starting at $1.99 each in 10K qty.

More info: Microchip dsPIC33FJ12GP Digital Signal Controllers for Smart Sensor