Retaining the most commonly used peripheral blocks of the versatile eCOG1X; the eCOG1XE01A6 is an entry-level subset device to Cyan Technology's latest MCU family. Announced on the 26th February this year, the eCOG1XE01A6 MCU is aimed at high volume, cost sensitive markets such as automatic meter reading & intelligent sensors.

The 16-bit RISC core is based on the internal Harvard architecture utilised in the eCOG1X family. However, many of the features of the eCOG1XE01A6 device (such as clock speed, Flash size, RAM size, etc) have been scaled down in order to tailor the device for specific markets & importantly offer cost savings to the customer.

On-board there is a 64KB Flash memory, 8KB RAM, 7 16-bit timers (inc. 2x PWM), 2 DUARTs, I2C, SPI, 2x 12-bit ADC & a 2x2 channel analogue MUX.

In order to address a key concern of the eCOG1XE01A6's target market, power consumption, Cyan has ensured the MCU incorporates a number of power saving features, these include the ability to run the Flash memory in three different operating modes, a flexible peripheral clock setup & sleep mode.

Interestingly in addition to the power saving & versatile clock control qualities of the device, is the inclusion of a temperature sensor peripheral - A novel & valuable feature to find on a device of this size & cost. Increasingly in embedded measurement applications, especially in the medical sector, the temperature at the time of a reading being taken can be critical to the overall accuracy & performance of the end product. Having an onboard temperature peripheral built into the MCU that can carry out this functionality offers benefits to the developer in the sense of ease-of-integration & also in valuable cost saving in component count on the PCB.

The eCOG1XE01A6 is available in a 68-pin QFN package & is fully supported by Cyan's Integrated Development Environment CyanIDE® in addition to complementing Cyan's existing products (e.g. Cy-Solved™ - a series of complete solutions available from Cyan using their eCOX1 MCUs for a range of applications: RF, USB, Ethernet & Motor Control).

An evaluation kit supporting the MCU is available direct from Cyan Technology's recently launched eStore Cy-Shop, which also features a raft of their other development tools & resources.

In a 'sea' of capable 16-bit devices if you are looking for a low-cost micro that offers flexible power saving features combined with a versatile peripheral mix the eCOG1XE01A6 really does stand out from its more expensive counterparts.

For more information please visit Cyan Technology [www.cyantechnology.com]