【Lansheng Technology News】Silicon Labs, recently announced the launch of a new 8-bit microcontroller series that is optimized for price and performance, further expanding Silicon Labs' powerful MCU development platform.
These new 8-bit MCUs share the same development platform as the PG2x 32-bit MCU product family, Silicon Labs' Simplicity Studio platform, which includes all necessary tools such as compilers, integrated development environments and configuration tools.
“In today’s world, as Internet of Things (IoT) devices continue to expand, MCUs play a vital role in embedded computing,” said Dhiraj Sogani, senior director of wireless product marketing at Silicon Labs. "The new BB5 series of MCUs expands our product portfolio, allowing us to offer the most comprehensive selection of MCU products on the market today."
Cost-optimized BB5 8-bit MCU reduces embedded device complexity
As embedded computing applications continue to expand, developers need to be able to select the right hardware for a variety of tasks. While 32-bit MCUs are ideal for more complex, compute-intensive tasks such as machine learning inference or word recognition, there are many simpler tasks that don't require the additional power and cost that come with a 32-bit MCU. However, what is challenging for developers is that most 8-bit and 32-bit MCUs use different development tools, making it difficult for developers to develop both MCUs simultaneously. So developers often incur additional development costs even though they don't need more computing power.
That's why Silicon Labs designs its 8-bit and 32-bit MCU products to be developed using the Simplicity Studio platform. Silicon Labs' wireless systems on a chip (SoC) also share this development platform, which greatly simplifies and accelerates the process for device manufacturers to bring various devices to market. This eliminates the need for developers to learn two sets of tools and enables them to cost-optimize their devices by selecting the parts that best suit their application needs.
Simplicity Studio is also the development platform for Silicon Labs' wireless SoC portfolio, allowing developers to develop once and then deploy to multiple product variants, regardless of whether some products are connected to the Internet and some are not. For example, many consumer products such as electric toothbrushes now have connected and non-connected versions. The connected version is ideal for those who want to track their brushing habits, while the non-connected version is suitable for those who just want to brush their teeth. For developers, this means they can develop once and deploy two or more times for connected and non-connected products.
Silicon Labs' BB5x family includes the best-performing 8-bit MCUs on the market
The new BB5x series includes the most powerful 8-bit MCUs on the market, as the BB5 series' 50 MHz core frequency can provide 36% more computing power than any other general-purpose 8-bit MCU. Ideal for battery-powered applications such as power tools, handheld kitchen tools (such as immersion blenders), and even children's toys, the BB5 Series supports multiple voltage options from 1.8V to 5.5V, allowing devices to operate on coin-cell batteries. Lasts for many years. The BB5 series is available in a variety of package sizes, with the BB50 MCU being 2mm x 2mm, and the BB51 and BB52 MCUs being 3mm x 3mm, while providing additional general-purpose input and output ports (GPIO) and enhanced analog functionality. In some applications, the 8-bit BB52 MCU can even provide higher cost performance than competing 32-bit MCUs.
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