The industry’s first ultra low-power deterministic microcontroller, the AT91SAM9261 Smart ARM Microcontroller (SAM) is based on the ARM926EJ-S processor. The microcontroller consumes only 2.5 µA in Standby mode. When operating at 500 Hz, it draws 400 µA. The AT91SAM9261’s throughput and its extended instruction set with DSP extensions allow complex DSP functions (e.g., biometrics, voice recognition, software modems, and encryption/decryption algorithms like RSA) to be executed very quickly in Burst mode, so the system can be shut down most of the time.

The unique combination of the internal multilayer AHB bus architecture and the dedicated peripheral DMA controller maximizes processor throughput and optimizes overall system power consumption.

The AT91SAM9261 has 16 KB of data cache, 16 KB of instruction/write buffer cache, and 160 KB of 200-MHz, single-cycle access SRAM. It also features a built-in LCD controller, a full-speed USB host controller, and an eight-level priority interrupt controller

Peripherals include a periodic interval timer, watchdog timer, real-time timer, three 32-bit parallel I/O controllers, an SD- and multimedia-compliant MultiMedia Card interface (MMC), three synchronous serial controllers, three USARTS, one debug UART, two master/slave SPIs, a three-channel 16-bit timer/counter, Two-Wire Interface (TWI), and IEEE 1149.1 JTAG boundary SCAN on all digital pins.

The AT91SAM9261 costs less than $10 in high volume.

Atmel Corp.
www.atmel.com