Motorola Offers 32-bit MCUs for Extreme Temperature Environments

The award-winning MPC555* and the MPC566 are designed to beat the previous temperature range of -40 to +125 degrees Celsius. Offering customers these devices designed to perform at extreme temperatures (down to -55 degrees Celsius) can help simplify the development of high-performance applications. Previously, many customers would have hired independent test firms to test and screen for devices in extreme temperature ranges to meet the rigid environmental requirements. Now these devices have been engineered to function in conditions where most others are unable to work.

Prior to the availability of these extreme temperature devices, a heater may have been placed near the electronics module to ensure operation at high altitudes where temperature is often colder than -40 degrees Celsius. With these latest devices -- the first available at this temperature range - the electronics module may now be able to be placed at the end of a wing, for instance, without a heater and still be expected to perform. Both devices incorporate embedded flash memory, a dual precision floating point unit and highly sophisticated on-chip peripherals, making them well-suited for a variety of high-velocity, fast acceleration aerospace and avionics applications, including helicopter controls, fuel and altimeter control and global positioning systems.

"We're pleased to be able to meet the special requirements of customers in the avionics and aerospace industries by offering products that operate in extreme environments," said Dr. Franz Fink, vice president and general manager of Motorola's 32-bit Embedded Controller Division. "Motorola continues to find ways to enable the unique demands of designers of sophisticated control systems."

  MPC555 and MPC566 Features

   -- 40 MHz or 56 MHz PowerPC core

   -- 26 to 56 Kbytes of static RAM (SRAM)

   -- Rigorous environmental testing, making these MCUs ideally suited for
      harsh environments with wide temperature ranges from -55 degrees C to
      +125 degrees C, high humidity and sudden changes in environmental
      conditions

   -- Queued Serial Multi-Channel Modules (QSMCM) for universal asynchronous
      receiver and transmitter (UART) and serial peripheral interface (SPI)
      functionality to support off-chip serial communications

   -- Two A-to-D converter modules with up to 40 analog input channels

   -- Two to three controller area network (CAN) modules, enabling the MCUs
      to service multiple CAN networks

   -- Modular I/O system including 22 timing channels with additional
      functionality for applications including pulse width modulation (PWM)

   -- Support for real-time operating systems

   -- JTAG and Background Debug(TM) Module (BDM)

   -- Pin-compatible with existing versions

   -- 272 (MPC555) or 388 (MPC566) PBGA package

  Tools and Support

Motorola is committed to making its products easy for customers to use. As with other Motorola microcontroller products, a comprehensive suite of hardware and software development tools is available for the MPC555 and MPC566 devices to help simplify and shorten customers' development cycles. Development support is available from Motorola through Metrowerks as well as from leading independent tool developers providing processor probes, logic analyzers, debuggers, simulation development environments, and C and C++ compilers.

Motorola offers a variety of resources to customers to help ease design efforts, shorten time-to-market and lower overall development costs including: a large library of MCU application notes; searchable technical MCU frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers online; and downloadable software examples from Motorola's Web site.

Price and Availability

Both devices are available for production orders through Motorola and authorized distributors. Contact your local distributor or Motorola sales representative for pricing information.

About Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector

As the world's #1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector creates DigitalDNA(TM) system-on-chip solutions for a connected world. Our strong focus on wireless communications and networking enables customers to develop smarter, simpler, safer and synchronized products for the person, work team, home and automobile. Motorola's worldwide semiconductor sales were $4.8 billion (USD) in 2002. For more information please visit http://www.motorola.com/semiconductors

About Motorola, Inc.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2002 were $26.7 billion. Motorola is a global corporate citizen dedicated to ethical business practices and pioneering important technologies that make things smarter and life better for people, honored traditions that began when the company was founded 75 years ago this year. For more information, please visit: www.motorola.com

*In 1998, Motorola was the first semiconductor supplier to be recognized for quality, cost-efficiency and innovative technology when it won the PACE(TM) award for the MPC555.

  The MPC555 and MPC566 contain PowerPC processor cores.

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