ST rolls out semiconductor components kit for Enel

STMicroelectronics (ST) has released of a kit of semiconductor components for Enel's static electricity meters.

"ST is proud to supply the complete kit of products and technologies that are required for this exciting application, from the critical power-line modem function to the microcontrollers (MCUs), embedded memories, real-time clock chips, smart-power supply chips and discrete devices that this application needs," said Enrico Villa, the company's Corporate VP for the European Region.

Enel, one of the world's major electricity companies and the main operator in Italy, launched in 2001 a challenging project in advanced automated meter management (AMM) system solutions and the fully supported ST kit has been produced to address this application.

At the heart of the kit is ST's ST7538, touted by the company as the world's first single-chip power-line communications FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) transceiver, which integrates the FSK modem function that allows the meter to talk to the utility's offices, a power amplifier and a variety of frequency synthesis, core logic, voltage regulation and input/output functions.

Another key component is the ?PSD3200, a member of ST's family of Programmable System Devices that integrates a 40MHz, industry-standard MCU along with up to 288KB of dual-bank flash memory, 32KB of SRAM, a flash-based CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) and a JTAG ISP (In-System Programming) interface to simplify testing. The ?PSD3200 offers the world's largest memory densities for 8051-class MCU, the press release said.

The kit also includes the VIPer (Switched-Mode Power Supply) chip built with ST's proprietary VIPower smart-power technology and the M41T56M6, one of ST's Low Power Consumption Real-Time Clock/Calendar devices.