MSP430™ MCUs smart analog combo training

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Hello. My name is Mitch. And I'm a member of the MSP430 Industrial Sensing Applications team at Texas Instruments. Today, we're going to dive into the configurable analog peripheral we call the smart analog combo. Let's get started.

The smart analog combo is a peripheral integrated within the MCU that allows you to configure op-amps, and 12-bit DACs in many different ways. There are four op-amps, each with programmable gain, and four DACs embedded in the FR235x device family. Designers will immediately benefit from the flexibility of the peripheral, and also the cost savings it provides. Let's take a deeper look at the flexibility of the peripheral.

There are two device families that offer SAC configuration. THE FR231x and the previously mentioned FR235x families. The level one, or L1 configuration is available on FR231x devices, and comes with an integrated op-amp that supports rail-to-rail inputs and outputs, and has multiple input signal selections.

The L3 configuration is available on FR235x devices, and comes with four op amps with programmable gain, and four 12-bit DACs.

The L3 op amps also support rail-to-rail inputs and outputs with multiple input selections. The PGA can be configured to provide gains of up to 33x, and the 12-bit DAC also has multiple configuration options that can be configured by the user. The box outlines one of the four smart analog combo blocks embedded within the FR235x microcontrollers.

You can configure each of the four blocks in any configuration of your choosing, including general purpose mode, buffer mode, non-inverting or inverting configurations, or DAC mode. You can also cascade the blocks into each other if you wish. The flexibility of this peripheral will benefit any application, or analog signal conditioning, or analog output as needed. Some specific applications that require this analog signal chain are smoke detectors, gas, or PM2.5 detectors, current loop transmitters, and many more.