TI's new Sitara™ AM2x family redefines MCUs with 10x more processing power than existing devices

TI Sitara™ AM2x MCUs combine processor-class computing performance with the simplicity of MCU design to help engineers achieve real-time control, intelligent analytics and networking applications

July 13, 2021, Texas Instruments (TI) (Nasdaq: TXN) today introduced a new family of high-performance microcontrollers (MCUs) that drive real-time control, network connectivity and intelligent analytics at the edge. With the new Sitara AM2x family of MCUs, engineers can use 10 times the computing power of previous flash-based MCUs. The high-performance AM2x family closes the growing performance gap between MCUs and processors, enabling designers to break through performance limitations in applications such as factory automation, robotics, automotive systems and sustainable energy management.

"The demand for industrial automation, next-generation vehicles, intelligent analytics and the Internet of Everything is pushing up the performance requirements for edge-side microcontrollers - faster and more accurate. Providing more advanced and efficient processing power for distributed systems is one of the key steps toward Industry 4.0," said Chris Morris, senior research analyst at Omdia.

The Sitara™ AM2x MCU product family is based on high-performance Arm® MCU cores and includes single-core and multi-core devices running up to 1 GHz with integrated dedicated peripherals and gas pedals. Easy-to-use tools and software simplify customers' evaluation process, reduce overall system design complexity and cost, and provide easy access to high-performance processing power. 

"Designers increasingly need higher performance at a lower system cost to meet the demand for precise control, fast communication and complex analysis. In our new Sitara MCU product family, TI seamlessly combines industry-advanced processing performance, real-time control and advanced networking capabilities to enable engineers to break performance barriers in emerging applications," said Mike Pienovi, general manager of TI's Sitara MCU product line.

Low-power MCUs deliver processor-level performance

The AM243x MCU is the first available AM2x family device with up to four Arm Cortex®-R5F cores, each running at up to 800 MHz. this high real-time processing speed is critical in factory equipment such as robots, where fast computing power and high-speed access to the MCU's internal memory can simultaneously help improve robot motion accuracy and speed of movement and thus increase productivity. The additional processing power allows designers to further analyze functions such as predictive maintenance, thereby reducing downtime on the factory floor. In typical applications, AM243x devices can achieve this level of performance while consuming less than 1W of effective power, enabling plant operators to extend power life and reduce operating costs and energy consumption.

Integrated design enables real-time control and networking capabilities at the edge

Sitara AM243x MCUs integrate sensing and drive peripherals to enable factory automation for low-latency real-time processing and control, and simplify the implementation of industrial networks with communication acceleration modules. AM243x devices extend TI's support for multiple Gigabit industrial Ethernet protocols and time-sensitive networks (TSN) to enable next-generation factory networks. With AM243x, engineers can use certified, TI directly provided protocol stack support EtherNet/IP™, EtherCAT®, PROFINET® and IO-Link master, etc., so as to meet the evolving industrial communication standards. AM243x MCU's on-chip security features support new encryption requirements, integrated functional security mechanism, the diagnostics and auxiliary functions help system integrators achieve Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 requirements of the IEC 61508 standard in their industrial designs.

Simplify high-performance designs with easy-to-use tools and software

To reduce design and development complexity, TI created the Sitara AM243x LaunchPad™ development kit to quickly evaluate high-performance MCUs. with the help of evaluation tools and the Sitara MCU+ software framework, developers can immediately begin to experience the precise real-time control and industrial networking capabilities of AM243x MCUs out of the box. Developers also have access to application-specific reference examples, a robust ecosystem of tools and software, and the MCU+ Academy training site to simplify designs and speed time to market.

Packaging, availability

Pre-production versions of the AM2431, AM2432 and AM2434 are available from TI in 17mm × 17mm or 11mm × 11mm packages, and the AM243x LaunchPad development kit is also available for purchase.