ALISO VIEJO, Calif.–July 04, 2012–Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced the availability of new advanced motor control algorithms optimized for its SmartFusion® customizable system-on-chip (cSoC), allowing design engineers to realize highly reliable multi-motor control in a single IC and reducing system cost and power. The new solution is ideal for safety-critical applications in industrial, avionics, defense and medical markets.
“Many systems require control of multiple motors which results in a dedicated micro-controller for each individual motor,” said Paul Ekas, vice president of marketing for Microsemi’s SoC product group. “By implementing these algorithms on SmartFusion devices that combine high-performance hardware acceleration with the easy-to-program ARM Cortex(TM)-M3 microcontroller, designers can significantly reduce power and system complexity.”
Microsemi’s award-winning SmartFusion cSoC combines three features crucial for successful implementation of advanced motor control algorithms: an embedded ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller, a high reliability flash-based field programmable gate array (FPGA) plus integrated programmable analog circuitry for motor sensing. This extensive system integration further reduces overall system complexity and operational cost.
The advanced motor control algorithms address DC brushless, AC brushless and three phase motor control applications. These algorithms have been implemented as a combination of extremely fast and efficient hardware subroutines in the FPGA fabric and embedded software on the ARM Cortex-M3. This high-performance architecture yields significant power reduction benefits and performance improvements by offloading the heavy software processing into dedicated hardware. The reduced processing load on the ARM Cortex-M3 provides more processing headroom to perform key system and application layer control task management.
The advanced motor control algorithms also include:
- Field-oriented control with hall sensors
- Field-oriented control with encoders
- Trapezoidal commutation
- Sinusoidal commutation
Availability
The new advanced motor control algorithms are available as reference designs for use on Microsemi’s SmartFusion Dual Motor Control Kit and are free for qualified customers. Visit http://www.microsemi.com/soc/motorcontrol for more information or contact a local Microsemi sales representative.
About Microsemi
Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for communications, defense and security, aerospace, as well as industrial and medical markets. Products include mixed-signal integrated circuits, SoCs and ASICS; programmable logic solutions; power management products; timing and voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; and Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and has approximately 3,000 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.
