Texas Instruments is placing its bets on the 'green' applications market with its Concerto platform, which enables developers to do both real-time control and connectivity within one microcontroller SoC.

"Efficient motor control, renewable energy and smart grid technologies require the performance of a real-time control MCU to execute complex algorithms for precise, efficient power conversion, as well as the connectivity for remote data sharing, diagnostics, monitoring and control," said Keith Ogboenyiya, general manager, C2000 32-bit microcontrollers.

A Concerto 32-bit dual-core microcontroller combines TI's C28x core and

control peripherals with an ARM Cortex-M3 core and connectivity peripherals in a partitioned architecture in a single device.

Concerto MCUs are supported by application and connectivity libraries within TI's controlSuite software, which includes multiple safety and security features and is code compatible across the C2000 platform. "This allows for scalability and code reuse in green applications such as intelligent motor control, renewable energy, smart grid, digital power and electric vehicles," said Ogboenyiya .

The system-on-chip includes a real-time control subsystem based on TI's C28x core with floating point and the Viterbi Complex Math Unit, and a host communication subsystem based on Cortex-M3 and connectivity peripherals such as Ethernet, USB On-The-Go, dual CAN, and multiple serial communication ports.

A complementary Concerto F28M35x Experimenter Kit includes a F28M35x
controlCARD and docking station. The modular controlCARD is hardware
compatible with TI’s C2000 application-specific development kits. The Concerto F28M35x Experimenter Kit is priced at $139. The Concerto F28M35x controlCARD is also available individually for $99.

The chip itself is available in a 144 QFP package at $6.99 in volume of 1000. Samples are available immediately.