Don Dingee
Moderator
Ti has decided to fill the hole between their popular 16-bit low-power MSP430 family and higher performance MCUs with various ARM and DSP cores for real-time tasks. The new MSP432 family brings a 48 MHz ARM Cortex-M4F core with a complement of digital and analog peripherals familiar from the MSP430 family - in many cases, the peripherals are register-level compatible which helps with code migration.
View attachment 13716
The MSP432 has reclaimed the lead in EEMBC ULPBench scores, achieving a mark of 167.4. Its overall power consumption is 95uA/MHz active, and 850nA in standby. One of the many power saving features is a new selectable RAM retention scheme, dividing RAM into eight banks that can be individually powered down. Parts and development kits are sampling now. The lowest cost MSP432 family member starts at $2.15 in 1K quantities.
My observation: TI has done everything possible to create a migration plan from the MSP430 to the MSP432. That indicates two things: the 16-bit MCU core may have finally run its course, and ARM code compatibility is a strong factor in many applications. It seems there is still a healthy niche for 8-bit platforms (such as the 8051) in ultra-low-power applications, but 32-bit cores are winning where a blend of ultra-low-power and performance is needed.
Press release:
Texas Instruments introduces 32-bit MSP432 microcontrollers (MCUs): Ultra-low-power at its best, performance at its core
View attachment 13716
The MSP432 has reclaimed the lead in EEMBC ULPBench scores, achieving a mark of 167.4. Its overall power consumption is 95uA/MHz active, and 850nA in standby. One of the many power saving features is a new selectable RAM retention scheme, dividing RAM into eight banks that can be individually powered down. Parts and development kits are sampling now. The lowest cost MSP432 family member starts at $2.15 in 1K quantities.
My observation: TI has done everything possible to create a migration plan from the MSP430 to the MSP432. That indicates two things: the 16-bit MCU core may have finally run its course, and ARM code compatibility is a strong factor in many applications. It seems there is still a healthy niche for 8-bit platforms (such as the 8051) in ultra-low-power applications, but 32-bit cores are winning where a blend of ultra-low-power and performance is needed.
Press release:
Texas Instruments introduces 32-bit MSP432 microcontrollers (MCUs): Ultra-low-power at its best, performance at its core