Microsemi releases high-performance SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA dual-axis motor control suite

     Microsemi Corporation has announced the availability of the SmartFusion2™ SoC FPGA dual-axis motor control Suite with a modular motor control IP set and reference design. Using a single SoC FPGA device to simplify motor control design, the suite accelerates time to market and can be scaled for use in multiple industries, including industrial, aerospace and defense, with typical applications including factory and process automation, robotics, transportation, avionics and defense motor control platforms. This SoC device integrates multiple system functions to help reduce overall operating costs.

     The SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA dual-axis Motor control Kit is ready to use out of the box with a compact review board (hardware), Microsemi encrypted motor control IP access, and Libero Gold Edition (software) license for fast motor control design. The suite uses a modular SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA subcard that allows customers to easily differentiate their motor control solutions into hardware-only or hardware/software implementations using the modular motor control IP set and the ARM Cortex M3 MCU in the SmartFusion2 device.

     For customers requiring scalable multi-axis motor control, Microsemi's new starter kit delivers superior MCU/DSP suite based performance and integrates additional system capabilities on FPGA devices for lower operating costs. This suite provides customers with a flexible design platform for regulating motor/motion control solutions covering compact, standard and premium AC drive and custom stepper/servo motor applications.

     Shakeel Peera, Senior Director of FPGA/SoC Marketing at Microsemi, said: "The SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA dual-axis motor control suite takes a modular approach to help customers customize their solutions, and its scalability allows different motor combinations to be implemented. Customers using this design kit will be able to reduce the time it takes to evaluate new device qualifications, freeing up more time to expand their business."

     SmartFusion2 devices with Microsemi motor control IP allow customers to offload CPU/DSP processing to FPgas for faster parallel processing. Using the motor control suite, the modular IP set running on an FPGA device is capable of driving two BLDC/ stepper motor channels (at the same time, the IP is capable of scaling for 6-axis applications) or pushing motor performance beyond 30,000 RPM. In addition, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that electric motors consume more than 45 percent of total electricity consumption, and SmartFusion2 SoC FPgas can reduce overall device power consumption by more than 50 percent and static power by up to 10 times compared to competing SRAM-based FPgas. SmartFusion2 devices also feature best-in-class security to protect connected motors from malicious hackers and IP theft.

     According to a report by The Freedonia Group, the U.S. electric motor market is expected to grow 5.4% annually to reach $16.2 billion in 2018, growing faster than between 2008 and 2013. Electric motors are a major component of many durable goods, so suppliers will benefit from steady growth in the production of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, machine tools and automobiles.