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Product category: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Texas Instruments (April 2001-March 2006) | Subject: MSP430FE42x
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 8 August 2003

MCU and front end provide
a meter on a chip

Texas Instruments has released the industry's first system-on-chip microcontroller unit (MCU) for electronic energy meters (e-meters)

By combining an industry-standard ultra-low-power Flash MCU with an integrated high-performance analogue front-end (AFE) on a single-chip, the mixed-signal integration of the new MSP430FE42x family of products reduces the total system chip count by 80%, improving performance and reliability, while reducing cost and time to market when compared to first generation electronic solutions.

With fully programmable communication capabilities, the MSP430FE42x family of application-specific MCUs is ideally suited for manufacturers developing electronic energy meters with sophisticated features such as automated meter reading (AMR), smart card prepayment and multiple rate billing.

Systems using the MSP430FE42x family do not require multiple crystals, an EEPROM, LCD driver, external real time clock or 5V power supplies.

The reduced component count and the devices' inherent failsafe features increase overall reliability.

'Using the MSP430FE42x, designers can quickly develop hassle-free, high-performance energy meters', said Mark Buccini, MSP430 product line marketing manager for TI.

'While performance is clearly increased, the automatic metrology function can cut critical time-to-market and cost in half'.

In addition, this family of single-chip MCUs eliminates the need for expensive long-lead-time custom multi-chip AFEs.

As a Flash memory MCU-based system, the same hardware can be used for many platforms with feature or country-specific changes made only in software.

Because the Flash is in-system programmable, it is even possible to update a deployed meter remotely.

To provide the highest possible performance and simplify system design, the device integrates an embedded signal processor (ESP), ideal for single phase e-meters, plus the following key features to perform the energy metrology functions: three independent 16bit sigma-delta analogue-to-digital convertors operating at an oversampled rate of 1MHz; three programmable gain amplifiers; a temperature sensor and a precision voltage reference.

The converted line voltage and current signals are digitally processed, providing: energy and line period measurement; negative power flow indication; peak voltage and current; and phase and line-to-neutral current comparisons for tamper detection.

With precise phase matching between current and voltage channels, the ESP performs the necessary calculations to supply accurate active energy, apparent energy, RMS voltage, current and waveform samples.

The ESP provides a 0.1% accurate energy measurement over a dynamic current range of 1000 to 1, greatly surpassing the 1% accuracy common in typical mechanical meters.

Having the ESP completely manage critical energy calculations enables the designer to use the freed-up central processor unit (CPU) functions for differentiated meter features such as display and AMR.

A flexible clock system with five low-power modes enables unmatched ultra-low-power performance and complete operation using only a single 32kHz watch crystal.

The low-frequency watch crystal, in combination with the integrated user-programmable, digitally-controlled oscillator, precisely meets system power and performance requirements.

Supporting ultra-low power, the MSP430FE42x operates at 3V with the CPU and ESP active at only 2.5mA.

In a power outage the device can operate in a standby mode with a typical current consumption of 1.1uA with a real-time-clock function active.

The family also includes standard MSP430 peripherals such as: an enhanced watchdog timer; integrated LCD driver for up to 128 segments; brownout protection; supply voltage supervisor; three-channel pulsewidth modulation timer; serial communication interface (asynchronous UART or synchronous SPI); and serial onboard programming, which requires no external programming voltage.

The MSP430FE42x family is fully compatible with the existing $99 MSP-FET430P410 JTAG emulation toolkit.

The tool supports real-time in-system application development, accessing the Flash device's embedded emulation capability.

The tool comes complete with a JTAG interface, target board and a complete integrated development environment (IDE) including a debugger, assembler/linker and 4Kbyte C-compiler.

The MSP430FE42x family offers 8, 16 or 32Kbyte on-chip Flash memory options and 256byte to 1Kbyte RAM.

The family is offered in a 64-pin quad flat pad (QFP) package and is available for preproduction and engineering evaluation now with full production planned for late 2003.

The 8Kbyte MSP430FE423 is priced at $2.95 per unit in 100,000-piece quantities.

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