Microcontrollers unplugged! How to choose an MCU…

Last month, I’d written a post on how MCUs or microcontrollers are shaping the embedded world. Taking this discussion a little further, I got into a conversation with Upendra Patel, CTO, eInfochips, based in Ahmedabad, with the help of my good friend Princy!

MCUs shaping embedded
On being quizzed on how microcontrollers are shaping the embedded world, Patel said that devices are designed by keeping specialized application in mind and not for general purpose usage in the embedded world. As a result, embedded devices need specialized controllers/co-processors, which are designed to execute the typical functionality in real time by offloading work of main processor.

“Microcontroller fits perfectly in this role, which is self-contained and independent in execution and still supplements to the main processor for processing power. MCUs are the integral part of embedded world and depending on the application, they assume the role of a main processor or a co-processor.

Today’s MCU possesses rich features like, ADCs, PWM generator, communication ports like I2C, SPI, UART, USB, CAN etc. reducing the gap between Microprocessors but still maintaining their unique identity by only focusing on controlling and not on number crunching (for which micro-processors are more suitable). The MCUs allow the designers to create head room for future expansion, as they take up some load of main processor.

Embedded devices have been penetrated in all markets where real time performance is vital. Micro-controllers have given significant contribution for this penetration. For example: communication market, surveillance market, biometric devices, micro-finance devices, medical instruments, automotive market and robotics.

Rich feature sets
Rich feature set is an imperative in the MCU market. What should one watch out for?

Even though rich feature set is imperative in MCU market, one should watch out on technical front for following features of MCU:
* Functionality coverage.
* Functionality coverage vs. Bill of Material
* Performance in terms of MIPS
* MIPS Vs. power consumption
* Simplicity in design and board layouts
* Standard compliance for low noise emission and temperature control
* robustness and consistency
* pin multiplexing of interfaces

Other non technical point to watch for is price announcements v/s feature set. The announced low price may be for least feature product and once you choose the MCU with all the features, it may be out of budget for the product

While choosing an MCU
Let us study the key factors that influence choice of MCUs today.

According to Patel, customers looks for following factors of MCUs which influence the choice of MCU.

Price: In small applications, MCU price is a main contributor of BOM and reduced price of the same reduces BOM to a large extent in mass production. For example Built-in peripherals – significantly reduce cost and space. Also, prices of IDE licenses may also affect the decision making of customer.

Performance: Cache memory or internal memory size – significantly impacts performance, similarly Memory width and speed

Availability: Availability is one of the main factor which board designers take care of because slight delay in product launch can result in significant market share erosion for customer. Also Availability in industrial and commercial temperature grades and through distribution channels.

Life span: The life span of the MCU depends on number of years a MCU manufacturer determines to continue support for it as a main stream product. More the number of years, higher the chances of selection. It also includes roadmap for future upgrades

Power consumption: This applies to battery operated devices. Lower the power consumption, longer the recharging/replacement time. There is a trade off between speed vs. power consumption

IDE support: These days products have become more sophisticated, while at the same time the life cycle has become shorter. It is very important to have a equally sophisticated IDE to speed up the development cycle and reduce time-to-market.

Technical support: History has shown that excellent products with not up to the mark technical support has never been successful. It is very essential for MCU provider to provide support at design and development stage of product development.

The other important aspect is about the track record of a semiconductor vendor in deliveries and post silicon bugs/issues reported.

Why are low-power MCUs in demand?
Now, it is time to determine the chief reasons for the demand in low-power MCUs.

According to Patel, in today’s consumer market of electronics and communications, handheld devices like the mobile phones and PDAs are mostly operated with batteries. The battery life is becoming a major concern for most of the portable devices because they run several different types of applications hence a demand for low power MCUs.

Also, designs are becoming smaller, and the weight and size of power supply/batteries is impacting the MCU choice and power consumption. Another trend is toward fanless designs to reduce noise and cost, and at the same manage thermals in smaller form factors.

For example, the MSP430 from Texas Instruments is an ultra-low-power MCU, which is suitable for devices where power saving is crucial. Those MCUs which has capability to handle data with CPU intervention participate in family of low-power MCUs.

In order to support low power functionality, MCUs support several power down modes for battery consumption. For example,
* Turning off CPU leaving every thing else functional.
* Running only low frequency clock oscillator and the peripherals running on it.
* To individually and automatically turning on and off peripherals when needed thus saving power being consumed by peripheral.

Applications
MSP430 ultra-low power MCU from Texas Instruments: used in wireless, medical and low power industrial applications.
Atmel’s ultra-low per MCU: used in Zigbee, security and keyless entry applications which spend significant amount of their time in sleep mode.

8- vs. 16-bit MCUs
Affordable prices are among the reasons that the Asian region is witnessing a migration to 16-bit architectures. Then, why still have 8-bit MCUs?

Patel advised that although 16 bit MCUs are available at low prices in Asian market, the primary reason for selecting 8-bit MCUs are as follows:
* Design simplicity
* Easy up-gradation to 16 or 32 bit architecture
* Cost effectiveness
* Development tools
* Easy to adopt

Finally, let us have a look at eInfochips’ roadmap in the embedded domain. Patel said that eInfochips is more focused on RISC based higher end MCU based products in streaming media, industrial, avionics, security and surveillance domains.

“The primary focus is on 32-bit MCUs, but 8- and 16-bit MCUs are used for specific applications like medical, automotive, micro finance handheld devices, health monitors, and home automation functions in the overall product. With more than 250 engineers in eInfochips embedded divisions, we work on most semiconductor vendor’s MCUs.”

Semicon special: Global and Indian scenarios, design trends

I’ve been blogging on semicon for some time now, and it is also going to be a year since the CIOL Semicon site was launched.

This special edition looks at the global semiconductor scenario — how is the industry dealing with the ‘deep trauma’ it finds itself in, along with certain forecasts. Will the recession bring the industry down, or is there light at the end of the tunnel? We also look at some predictions made in the past and evaluate where the semiconductor industry stands today.

In the Indian context, the special analyzes India’s growing might in the global semiconductor market, the emergence of India as an embedded superstar, the growing strength of the Indian design services segment, and a quick look at how planners need to take the semicon policy forward.

The special also addresses some leading design trends, such as the use of graphical system design for embedded control systems, trends in video compression, and why designers and developers need to go parallel. It also touches on some recent developments in 22nm.

All articles can be found on the CIOL Semicon site. Some of the posts are available on my blog as well. Enjoy!

Global Semiconductor Market Scenario

1. Top 10 global semicon predictions: where are we today
While the chip industry is equipped to take on the challenges ahead, do watch out for weaker DRAM and NAND markets.

2. Semicon likely to grow 12pc in 2008
If there will be an economic recession, the chip industry (but not all firms) is in the best shape possible to weather the ensuing storm.

3. Semi trends 2008: Fab spend lower, ASPs stabilizing
The call on global fab spend was for a 10 percent reduction, and this is now getting to be closer to 20 percent.

4. Global semicon to grow 4.9pc
These forecasts are based on April’s WSTS sales numbers, as per the Cowan LRA (Linear Regression Analysis) model.

Indian Semiconductor Market Scenario

1. India’s growing might in global semicon
India is fast becoming the world’s destination, and increasingly the source too, for semiconductors.

2. Indian design services to touch $10.96bn by 2010
Total design services market in India is said to have grown at 21 percent year on year.

3. Indian semicon industry creating its niche
The Indian semiconductor industry has established itself as a leading provider for design services outsourcing.

4. Indian semicon needs concrete planning
India should produce a good plan to take semiconductors forward and be realistic about what can be done.

5. India the emerging embedded superstar
We are witnessing a strong trend from companies slowly moving from ‘Service Only’ model to ‘Service + Product/IP’ model.

6. Emerging trends in embedded market
High-performance, low-power embedded systems are moving to platforms based on multicore and mobile processors with low thermals.

7. IBM-Telelogic to extend embedded offerings
Acquisition of Telelogic fortifies Rational development at India Software Lab, opens door for company to gain foothold in embedded.

8. EDA healthy and growing in India
Consumption of EDA technologies is growing in regions outside of the US and Europe.

Semiconductor Design Trends

1. Graphical system design for embedded control systems
Graphical system design (GSD) is a revolutionary approach to embedded design that blends intuitive graphical programming and flexible commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware.

2. Video compression: trends in encoding/decoding chips
High-quality video transmission is creating challenges for designers, and this article seeks to address these challenges.

3. Be parallel, or perish!
Parallelism offers new doors, and creativity is required to open these new doors, says Intel.

4. Fascinating developments in 22nm!
These augur well for the global semiconductor industry, even though the field could get much narrower.

Top 10 Indian semicon companies

I’ve been looking at a lot of surveys on the Indian IT and telecom industries. In all or a majority of those, the Indian arms of various MNCs seem to be leading. There is hardly any presence of solid, home-grown Indian companies in any of those lists. Of course, I won’t argue on this point for software, as India is a clear global leader.

Recently, a friend asked me on my opinion on these surveys. My answer was simple: it does not reflect India’s strength at all! We are praising MNCs sky high! We’ve always done that and continue doing so! If a global CEO visits India, we in the media go crazy, trying to cover them! However, when a head from say, Ittiam or Quasar or L&T EmSys goes overseas, there’s no such media frenzy! Hurts, right?

Two instances. First, CommunicAsia in Singapore, some years ago. No one knew Jataayu! It was the only company from India at that time! Second, couple of years back, in Hong Kong. Again, Jataayu!! Its Europe head was there, but the company hardly attracted the media! Of course, a few foreign journalist friends did meet them, or so, they said.

A third one, and the best one — this is fairly recent! I interviewed the CEO of one of India’s prominent semiconductor companies in the lobby of a prominent hotel in a major city! Hardly anyone turned their head!! And I believe, some press folks were there to attend some press conferences organized by some MNCs!

I’ve spent a considerable time in the Greater China region and am used to seeing surveys and reports that ONLY feature home-grown companies. So, maybe, it’s that bias that I suffer from. However, not only I, but anyone really, really concerned about the well being of the Indian IT and telecom industry would love to see more home grown and bred companies.

Sure, we do not manufacture much! Or is it really the Indian mindset that goes with everything services and against manufacturing!! I recall the early-to-mid 1990s, when I used to cover electronic components for some foreign publications. It was a time when we were, I feel now, quite good in that area. Well, today, I don’t see anyone reporting on components, and I include myself in that list. Hope I can change that.

Well, a friend, Sayan, also asked me my opinion regarding the top 10 Indian companies as far as semiconductors are concerned. He probably read the blog or saw the list of the top global semicon companies.

My top 10 Indian semicon companies
Given from what I’ve seen happen over the last four years or so, I am inclined to put the top 10 Indian companies as follows (in no particular order, though, and irrespective of their current status),

1. Sasken
2. Mindtree
3. Ittiam Systems
4. eInfochips
5. Softjin
6. MosChip/Jataayu
7. Infosys/TCS
8. HCL Technologies
9. Wipro
10. Quasar/L&T EmSys

I know many would not agree with this list, and so be it! Also, some of the companies are heavily into the design services domain, and should not even be in this list, but are there, as I don’t see many other Indian semiconductor companies about. At least, not yet! Or, I missed them, and if so, my apologies.

SemIndia does not make my list, yet, nor Spel! Indrion is going to be a company to watch, as also IndusEdge. There, I said it! We lack product companies, especially in semiconductors. We are poor in electronics and we have always been weak in hardware. And, we have a problem accepting that!

We can talk a lot about having chip design automation and embedded design, etc. We can talk a lot about being strong in the semiconductor design space. We can also discuss talent shortage and all that! However, the truth is unless Indian companies really get innovative and enter high-end designs, well and truly, we will continue to be an also-ran in the high-tech world. And, we, as a country need to back our own people first!

Sure, the software industry is strongest in the world, and employs a whole lot of people. However, it would be wise for India to not rest on these laurels, if it wishes to move up the semicon value chain! And, for once, let us all support Indian product companies! The Ittiams, eInfochips, SoftJins, MosChips, etc., matter too!