So, with these advanced capabilities, in conjunction with the increased integration possibilities and higher levels of on-chip functionality, the return on investment can be very fast with the inclusion of a small and powerful digital processor core.
The corroboration of all this is that analogue and mixed-signal devices that embed digital-processing capabilities are now coming on to the market. One example is a mixed-signal processor from Analog Devices: the ADSP-CMX40X includes a Cortex-M4 processor and enables motor drive developers to add more features into the silicon.
The device specifically targets energy-efficient applications in industrial markets and is designed to deliver more precise motor control in motor drives, photovoltaic inverters and closed-loop servo control. A second instance is Infineon’s XMC4000 family, which also embeds a Cortex-M4 processor; this device is also aimed at improving energy efficiency in industrial applications. And a third is the recent licencing by Dialog Semiconductor of the Cortex-M0 processor, which the company plans to use as the controller in a range of power management ICs for power control and battery management functions in smartphones or tablets.
The future
In a few years’ time, or even sooner, it could be that the vast majority, or at least a high percentage, of analogue and mixed-signal chip designs will integrate a high-performance digital processing subsystem to control and manage it, and also enable developers to add their own software code on top.
The key applications are likely to be in motor control and power electronics, and today, the vast majority of these applications are essentially ‘dumb.’ Endowing them with digital intelligence, in the case of motors, could potentially save enormous amounts of energy. One estimate made recently is that electric motors consume 40 per cent of the world’s electrical energy and much of that is in industrial motor drives. So, a little digital treatment of analogue could slash this footprint enabling significant environmental and cost benefits.
In the coming years, as the Internet of Things becomes a larger reality and the demand for reduced power consumption heightens, the model for the next generation of sophisticated analogue and mixed-signal circuits, is likely to combine ‘analogue on the edge’—to sense and actuate—with ‘digital at the heart’—to control, make decisions and communicate.
A highly integrated and digitally controlled analogue system-on-chip that has the potential to save 40 per cent of the energy consumption of an industrial motor, whether its from an analogue or a digital semiconductor vendor, is an extremely compelling technology that has every reason to be in much demand in the very near future.
Richard York, director of embedded processor products, is responsible for the team marketing ARM’s embedded and microcontroller CPU products including the Cortex-M and Cortex-R processor series. He joined ARM in 1994 and has been closely involved in the design of early ARM processors before moving into marketing in 2000
