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Atmel's New 200 MIPS ARM9 MCU Draws Only 2.5 uA Standby, and 350 uA/MHz at Maximum Performance

Rousset, France, November 15 (ots/PRNewswire)

- On-chip LCD, USB Host/Device, 160kByte SRAM and Peripheral DMA
Controller Target Wireless Handheld Terminals Like Point-of-Sale
Applications
Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) today announced the industry's
first ultra low-power, deterministic microcontroller, the AT91SAM9261
Smart ARM Microcontroller (SAM), based on the ARM926EJ-S processor.
Targeted at low power, high throughput wireless handheld
applications, such as wireless PoS devices, the AT91SAM9261 consumes
only 2.5 uA in standby mode. Operating at 500Hz it draws 400 uA. In
industrial temperature range, its current consumption at 200 MIPS
with all peripherals turned on is just 65 mA. The AT91SAM9261's
throughput and its extended instruction set with DSP extensions allow
complex DSP functions, such as biometrics, voice recognition,
software modems, or encryption/decryption algorithms like RSA, to be
executed very quickly in burst mode, so the system can be shut down
much of the time.
In a typical PoS application with a four-hour battery life, such
as a rental car-return processing module, these new MCUs can extend
battery life by as much as a factor of 4 to 16 hours.
Multi-Layer AHB Internal bus architecture and dedicated peripheral
DMA -- Data throughput is significantly increased by the parallelism
provided by the multi-layer bus matrix. The bus matrix connects five
Advanced High-Performance Bus (AHB) masters (processor instruction
and data busses, peripheral DMA controller (PDC), and two dedicated
DMA's for the USB Host and LCD Controller), to the on-chip
peripherals and internal or external memories. Atmel has extended the
peripheral DMA controller used on its ARM7-based MCUs to include
nineteen PDC channels on the AT91SAM9261. The PDC off-loads data
transfer operations between the peripheral and memories from the CPU,
dramatically increasing data rates and freeing the ARM9 CPU for
compute intensive tasks.
This unique combination of the internal multi-layer AHB bus
architecture and the dedicated peripheral DMA controller maximizes
processor throughput and optimizes overall system power consumption.
For example, the Peripheral DMA controller can facilitate data
transfers between the on-chip SRAM and peripherals while the
processor simultaneously executes code out of its cache or does a
cache line fill. Alternatively, the processor can execute code out of
on chip SRAM deterministically in parallel to the peripheral DMA
controller streaming data from peripherals to external memory.
Generous On-chip SRAM and Flexible TCM Implementation Support
Determinism, -- Atmel's AT91SAM9261 has 16 Kbytes of data cache, 16
Kbytes of instruction/write buffer cache, 160 Kbytes of 200 MHz,
single cycle access SRAM, and 2 Kbytes of internal DPRAM dedicated to
the USB Device. Atmel has exploited the ARM926EJ-S's Tightly Coupled
Memory (TCM) architecture that allows traditional (non-cache) SRAM to
be connected directly to the ARM processor, with no latency.
Separate, transparent, easy to use instruction and data caches
support WinCE and Linux operating systems, while the TCM SRAM blocks
are ideally suited for deterministic real-time operating systems. The
on-chip 160 Kbytes of SRAM can be partitioned in multiples of 16
Kbytes blocks as Instruction TCM, Data TCM, or a buffer for the
on-chip peripherals. It gives the programmer maximum flexibility to
optimize system performance and power consumption.
Built-in LCD Controller -- The majority of PoS or other data input
devices have graphical interfaces that utilize small LCD screens with
menus. The AT91SAM9261's on-chip LCD controller supports
black-and-white and up to 16M colors, driving active TFT and passive
STN LCD displays with a resolution of up to 2048x2048. The on-chip
160 Kbytes of SRAM can be configured as a frame buffer, thereby
minimizing the Bill of Material costs associated with an external
frame buffer and increasing the battery life.
Full-speed USB Host Controller -- A USB host controller provides a
seamless interface to any USB device, including mouse, keyboard, bar
code reader, wireless LAN, DECT or Bluetooth modem. Its dedicated DMA
controller and the multi-layer AHB internal bus architecture minimize
the processor intervention during data transfers. The USB device port
handles connectivity to a PC for system updates and maintenance.
8-level Priority Interrupt Controller -- The ARM9 interrupt
control scheme is insufficient to meet the demands of
interrupt-driven real time systems. Atmel has enhanced this scheme
with an 8- level priority, individually maskable, vectored interrupt
controller that can handle up to 32 internal or external interrupt
sources. Interrupt response time is reduced to a minimum.
System Controller Supports Real-time Applications -- The
AT91SAM9261 has a system controller with a full complement of
supervisory functions including the advanced interrupt controller,
timing sources (oscillator, PLLs), real-time periodic interval and
watchdog timers, reset and shutdown controllers, backup registers and
real-time timer, a power management controller, a debug unit, and PIO
controllers that multiplex the I/O lines. The system controller also
provides configurable clocks to the processor core and each of the
individual peripherals at the appropriate rates. It also sources four
programmable output clocks and enables the core and selected
peripherals to be placed in idle mode to minimize power consumption.
Peripherals -- AT91SAM9261 peripherals include periodic interval
timer, watchdog timer, real time timer, three 32-bit parallel I/O
controllers, SD- and Multimedia-compliant Multimedia Card interface
(MMC), three synchronous serial controllers, three USARTS, one debug
UART, two master/slave Serial Peripheral Interfaces (SPI), a
three-channel 16-bit timer/counter, Two-Wire Interface (TWI) and IEEE
1149.1 JTAG Boundary SCAN on all digital pins.
Application Development Tools -- The AT91SAM9261-EK low-cost
evaluation kit supports the AT91SAM9261 and its industry-standard ARM
architecture gives it compatibility with a wide range of development
tools, compilers and debuggers from industry-leading third-party
suppliers.
Packaging and Availability -- The AT91SAM9261 is available now in
a 217-ball LFBGA RoHS-compliant package and is priced at sub US$10 in
high volume.
Footnotes:
    DECT= Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
About Atmel
Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory
and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's
broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is
able to provide the electronics industry with complete system
solutions. Focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications,
computing and automotive markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere
You Are(R).
NOTE: Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, Everywhere You
Are(R) and others, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel
Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM and combinations thereof are
registered trademarks and trademarks of ARM Limited. Other terms and
product names in this document may be the trademarks of others.
Information
Atmel's AT91SAM9261 product information is available at
http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91/ or by Email from 
at91support@atmel.com.
Press Contacts
    Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset,
    Tel:  +33-0-4-42-53-61-50, Email:   peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com
    Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe,
    Tel:  +33-0-1-30-60-70-68, Email:   veronique.sablereau@atmel.com
    Clive Over, Director of Press Relations - USA and Asia,
    Tel:  +1-408-451-2855, Email:   cliveover@atmel.com
Web site: http://www.atmel.com

Contact:

Peter Bishop, Communications Manager of Atmel Rousset,
+33-0-4-42-53-61-50, or peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com, or Veronique
Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager, Europe,
+33-0-1-30-60-70-68, or veronique.sablereau@atmel.com, or Clive Over,
Director of Press Relations, USA and Asia, +1-408-451-2855, or
cliveover@atmel.com, both of Atmel

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