TI helps developers make the world safer with its new Hercules™ safety microcontroller platform for medical, industrial & transportation applications

New MCUs ease IEC 61508 SIL 3 and ISO 26262 ASIL-D system certification with dual floating-point ARM® Cortex™-R4F cores in lockstep, integrated diagnostics and safety documentation

Bangalore (September 7, 2011) – Designed to help developers obtain safety certifications, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) today announced its new Hercules safety microcontroller platform for medical, industrial and transportation applications. The platform consists of three ARM Cortex-based microcontroller families that deliver scalable performance, connectivity, memory and safety features for applications that require a high level of reliability. Unlike many microcontrollers that rely heavily on software for safety capabilities, Hercules microcontrollers implement safeguards in hardware to maximize performance and reduce software overhead. Coupled with robust tools, software and safety documentation, this functionality gives developers the headroom to differentiate their end products and speed time to market. For more information, visit www.ti.com/hercules-pr-lp.

Hercules safety microcontrollers are rooted in TI’s 20+ years of safety-critical system expertise, industry collaboration and proven hardware for the automotive market. The new Hercules RM4x family provides the highest levels of performance for broad applications, including medical and industrial. The Hercules TMS570 family addresses transportation applications and the Hercules TMS470M family cost-efficiently meets the needs of applications that require less performance.

Advanced safety features of the high-performance Hercules RM4x and TMS570 families:

The Hercules RM4x and TMS570 microcontroller families provide safety features in hardware to detect random faults and protect against systematic faults.

• Dual ARM Cortex-R4F floating-point cores in lockstep provide the highest level of on line diagnostics
• CPU and all bus masters include memory protection
• Error correction code (ECC) for flash and RAM with Single Bit Error Correction and Double Bit Error Detection (SECDED) evaluated in the lockstep CPUs without performance impact
• CPU and RAM include built-in-self-test (BIST) for detection of potential latent faults without software overhead
• Parity on peripheral RAMs, dual analog-to-digital-converters (ADCs) and timers, as well as voltage and clock monitoring for additional diagnostic coverage
• Intelligent Error Signaling Module allows the end application to take appropriate action based on the type of error
• Safety manual details how to implement Hercules MCUs into safety-critical applications
• Failure Modes, Effects and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA) provides the failure rate information needed to meet safety standards

Features and benefits of the Hercules RM4x MCU family

Features and benefits of the Hercules TMS570 MCU family:

• Up to 180 MHz based on dual ARM Cortex-R4F floating-point cores in lockstep, providing performance for transportation applications, such as railway, aerospace and automotive
• Supports single and double precision floating-point math to execute complex math
• Capable of achieving ISO 26262 ASIL-D and IEC 61508 SIL-3 safety standards and is AEC-Q100 qualified to satisfy automotive requirements
• Operation up to 125 degrees Celsius to address transportation temperature ranges
• Ethernet, CAN, and FlexRay™ connectivity for higher-bandwidth networking required for existing and evolving transportation applications
• Up to 3MB flash and 256KB RAM for feature-rich applications

Features and benefits of the Hercules TMS470M MCU family: