TI Rolls Industry’s First On-Chip Solution for Analog, Digital Position Sensors

A new system-on-chip (SoC) solution enables developers to more easily incorporate digital and analog position sensors, thereby simplifying the development of industrial robots, elevators, CNC machines, material conveyance systems, and servo applications of virtually all types.

Texas Instruments, which makes the new SoC solution, says the technology eliminates the need for engineers to add special hardware for the purpose of interfacing with multiple types of sensors. By eliminating the need for those extra parts, engineers could cut test and development time of their new systems by months. “It saves them time and money,” Brian Fortman, industrial drives and automation marketing manager for TI, told Design News. “Why should they worry about adding those extra parts when it can all be done for them?”

Two new TI MCUs will support DesignDrive Position Manager technology. The technology will enable developers to more easily incorporate analog and digital position sensors.
(Source: Texas Instruments)

TI’s new solution is made up of two parts: Two new microcontrollers (MCUs), combined with the company’s new DesignDrive Position Manager technology. The Position Manager technology enables developers to interface to both digital and analog position sensors. The two new MCUs –- TMS320F28379D and TMS320F28379S -– are the first to support it.

TI’s SoC solution could become an important tool for industrial machinery developers because it eliminates the need for them to add hardware -- such as analog-to-digital (A/D) converters, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and extra microcontrollers -- for the purpose of interfacing with multiple types of sensors. By doing so, it enables them to cut cost and development time, while freeing up board space, TI says.

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”The key is that we can reduce their need for external components,” Fortman told us. “People like that. It means they don’t have to buy as many components.”

Today, Fortman said, the interfacing process can be tortuously long and complex. Development time can take up to two weeks, while system-level test can drain another one to two months. In contrast, MCUs employing Position Manager would handle those tasks up front because the MCUs incorporate the functionality to interface with EnDat2.2, BISS-C, resolver-type, and SIN/COS sensors.

”Today, engineers have to do most of that interfacing on their own,” Fortman said.

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TI is targeting the new technology at a wide variety of industrial development applications, including CNC machinery, AC inverter drives, material conveyance, and precision manufacturing. Printed circuit board construction and wafer handling systems are examples of two applications well-suited to the new technology, Fortman added.

By employing the new solution, developers can spend their time on more important jobs, TI said. “Now, you can put your engineers on tasks that really differentiate your product,” Fortman said.

Senior technical editor Chuck Murray has been writing about technology for 31 years. He joined Design News in 1987, and has covered electronics, automation, fluid power, and autos.

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