XMOS Launches xCORE-Analog Industrial Multicore Microcontrollers

XMOS Ltd. has launched the xCORE-Analog™, a range of 6, 8, 10, 12 and 16-core multicore microcontrollers optimized specifically for designers of industrial products. Equipped with an integrated analog-to-digital converter, power management circuitry and a range of timers, the new xCORE-Analog (or 'A-Series') devices will be used in a range of industrial products, including smart interfaces, high-level sensors and actuators, PLCs, communications devices and motor controllers. Developers can use the new multicore microcontrollers to quickly develop their products, with a level of multicore compute scaled to their exact requirements.

The introduction of the A-Series follows several recent significant announcements from XMOS within the industrial arena, including the addition of industrial Fieldbus capabilities; the launch of an industrial serial bus (IS-BUS) I/O card for the modular sliceKIT development system; and the announcement of a collaboration with Synapticon enabling smart motor control and service robotics applications. The A-Series is supplemented by the company's expanding xSOFTip range of soft peripherals, which includes real-time Ethernet, USB and human-machine interface (HMI) functions.

"The integration of analog functionality alongside the deterministic xCORE architecture opens up multicore microcontrollers to a whole new range of developers and application types," commented Nigel Toon, CEO, XMOS. "xCORE-Analog combines the best of hardware integration and software configurability, offering a degree of intelligence and flexibility that is well beyond traditional MCU solutions."

The A-Series brings the timing predictability, extremely low latency and hardware-level responsiveness of xCORE multicore microcontrollers to developers working on any type of system that needs to interface with analog signals. Like the existing xCORE-General Purpose (L-Series) and xCORE-USB (U-Series) product ranges, the A-Series is configured and programmed via the xTIMEcomposer Studioâ„¢ development toolset, an easy-to-use C-based design environment that is timing-aware, allowing developers to quickly interface with hundreds of different types of sensors at the front end.

The xCORE A-Series devices include up to eight channels of 12-bit, 1 MSPS analog-to-digital conversion; power-on reset, brown-out protection and watchdog facilities; integrated oscillator; deep sleep memory; and integrated DC/DC converter. These features combine to reduce the number of external components required and to allow designs to be implemented using simple two-layer printed circuit boards. The devices' power management features enable low sleep-mode power consumption of 100 µA.

xCORE A-Series devices will be sampling in Q2 2013, with volume production expected in Q4. Pricing is from $4.60 for volumes of over 25k.