June 26, 2004

By: Lawrence Bosh
Website: http://www.booming-car-audio.com

Latest 32-bit microcontroller introduced by NEC Electronics, for high-end auto safety applications

NEC Electronics Corporation and its subsidiaries in Europe and the United States, NEC Electronics .GmbH and NEC Electronics America, Inc., today announced the availability of their latest 32-bit microcontroller for the automotive market, the V850E/RS1.

With a high-performance 40-megahertz (MHz) V850E controller core and dedicated on-board safety features, including a 10-bit 16-channel analog/digital converter with auto discharge and diagnostic functionality, a buffered clocked serial interface, and flash memory with hardware in-circuit error correction coding, the V850E/RS1 controller is ideally suited for real-time, safety-critical automotive applications such as restraint control modules.

NEC Electronics is a leading provider of restraint-control microcontrollers for automotive original equipment manufacturers due to the extensive application-specific features that we integrate into our products, said Yoshiyuki Idogawa, general manager, 1st Solutions Division, NEC Electronics Corporation. By supporting these features in hardware, not just software, NEC Electronics is providing its automotive customers with higher-performing, highly reliable products.

Automotive applications such as restraint control modules require fast processing performance to deliver the real-time response needed when deploying an airbag at the instant of impact. The V850E/RS1 controller core can operate at 40 MHz and deliver 54 million instructions per second, providing the required real-time performance. The controller's use of flash memory with hardware ECC greatly reduces the possibility of system error.

Two versions of the MCU will be available, one with 256 kilobytes of flash memory and 16K of random access memory, and the second with 128K of flash memory and 10K of RAM. Additionally, the V850E/RS1 MCU's buffered CSI enhances communication with ASICs in the restraint control module to further ensure error-free operation.

About The Author:

Lawrence Bosh is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.booming-car-audio.com.  Get the car audio system you want plus accessories and valuable advice.