June 26, 2018 — Microchip Technology released a Digital Signal Controller (DSC) with two dsPIC DSC cores in a single chip. The dsPIC33CH has one core that is designed to function as a master while the other is designed as a slave. The slave core is useful for executing dedicated, time-critical control code while the master core is busy running the user interface, system monitoring and communications functions, customised for the end application. The dsPIC33CH is designed specifically to facilitate independent code development for each core by separate design teams and allows integration when they are brought together in one chip.
The dsPIC33CH family is optimised for digital power, motor control and other applications requiring sophisticated algorithms. This includes applications such as wireless power, server power supplies, drones and automotive sensors. For example, in a digital power supply, the slave core manages the math-intensive algorithms, while the master core independently manages the PMBus protocol stack and provides system monitoring functions. Distributing the overall workload across two DSC cores in a single device enables power density through higher switching frequencies. The dsPIC33CH family was designed for live updating of the system, for power supplies where firmware updates must be made with zero downtime.
The dsPIC33CH family delivers integration in a small 5 x 5 mm package and includes features such as CAN-FD communications. To reduce board size, advanced peripherals are available to each core including ADCs, DACs with waveform generation, analog comparators, analog programmable gain amplifiers and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) hardware. Having two cores, with dedicated peripherals, allows the cores to be programmed to monitor each other for functional safety reasons.
