In the current industrial world, there are a variety of solutions and architectures for various motor drives, factory automation and high power grid applications. Many of these have reliable performance and connectivity, but are expensive because they can have complex designs, high cost, and often require multiple chips to meet the needs of the system. In an ever-changing marketplace, design differentiation is important, but efficiency and performance are even more critical to a product's life cycle and ultimately the long-term sustainability of a business.

You might be asking yourself, "How do I compete against the competition?" or "What is the ideal option to help me sustain my business and grow into the future?" At the heart of the question lies in integrated capabilities, where real-time control enables real-time connectivity.

The new series of 200 0-ic/" title="C2000 product parameters, documentation and supply information" target="_blank">C2000 8482 ; real-time controller F2838x provides more optimized connection options, improved control performance, and can Demonstrate system-level flexibility in industrial applications and high-power grid applications. As shown in Figure 1, the family is a F2837x device with performance enhancements and a new connection manager, as well as an offload processing-intensive communication and Link-optimized, Arm® Cortex®-M4-based subsystem.

Figure 1: TMS320F28388D block diagram

The F2838x provides a near-infrared capability for connected servo drives, AC drives, factory automation, and industrial power equipment by enabling functions typically performed by FPGAs/complex programmable logic devices, application-specific integrated circuits, and communication microcontrollers (MCUs)/microprocessors A single chip solution.

Real-time communication is achieved through a dedicated Arm® Cortex-M4 based connection manager. Thanks to the integrated EtherCAT functionality, no external ASIC is required. 10/100 Ethernet, CAN FD, USB and various high-speed serial ports are also supported. Additionally, the Fast Serial Interface (FSI) enables communications up to 200 Mbps and a low-cost path across the isolation barrier.

Typical FPGA/CPLD functions are implemented by multiple F2838x functions. Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs) allow:
- Create an absolute value encoder interface
- Dedicated pulse train logic
- Customized timer, serial interface and inverter protection mechanism

Fast Current Loop (FCL) technology handles critical servo drive field-oriented control loops in less than 500ns. Also includes a sigma-delta filter module for connecting to general purpose isolated delta-sigma converters, higher-level high-resolution PWM (up to 32 ePWM channels), and advanced comparisons for inverter protection and flexible timer synchronization device subsystem.

High-performance loop control is achieved by:

- Enhanced leading C28x™ DSP core with Trigonometric Math Unit (TMU) to accelerate key arctan, sin and cos functions;
- Adopt new fast integer division hardware for efficient computation;
64-bit floating point unit is used to improve the precision of servo motion control.

Control Law Accelerators (CLAs) can be used to increase parallel control or signal processing. Four independent 16-bit precision analog-to-digital converters with post-processing hardware feature a new single-ended mode that doubles the available channels. Offloading host and communication tasks to the connection manager frees up the loop to be dedicated to real-time control.

Once in full production, the F2838x family will be available in six configurations (Table 1). Connection Manager and Ethernet are included as standard on all devices. Optional configurations include single (1.0 MB flash) or dual (1.5 MB flash) C28x plus Control Law Accelerator (CLA) subsystems, configurable logic block access and EtherCAT functionality. The F2838x is housed in a 16 mm × 16 mm 337 -ball fine-pitch ball grid array package with a junction temperature of -40°C to 125°C.

Table 1: F2838x configuration

F2838x MCU Connection Manager C28x CPU/Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS) Control Law Accelerator Coprocessor/MIPS Flash Ethernet EtherCAT Configurable Logic Block
TMS320F28388D 1/125 MIPS 2 400 MIPS 2/400 MIPS 1.5 MB Yes Yes Yes
TMS320F28388S 1/125 MIPS 1/200 MIPS 1/200 MIPS 1.0 MB Yes Yes Yes
TMS320F28386D 1/125 MIPS 2/400 MIPS 2/400 MIPS 1.5 MB Yes – Yes
TMS320F28386S 1/125 MIPS 1/200 MIPS 1/200 MIPS 1.0 MB Yes – Yes
TMS320F28384D 1/125 MIPS 2/400 MIPS 2/400 MIPS 1.5 MB Yes – –
TMS320F28384S 1/125 MIPS 1/200 MIPS 1/200 MIPS 1.0 MB Yes – –

As we all know, control, flexibility and performance are the three elements of motor drive, factory automation and high power grid applications. By integrating connectivity on a single chip, you have a real-time control and connectivity MCU that can guide your business forward and enable system-level flexibility for years to come.