TI's SafeTI design packages aimed at safety-critical apps

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) has announced its SafeTI design packages for safety-critical medical, industrial and energy motor control applications. According to the company, the design packages include 15 new Hercules RM4x ARM Cortex-R4 safety MCUs and TI's complementary TPS65381-Q1 multi-rail power supply (PMIC).

The Hercules RM4x MCU and PMIC "safety chipset" maximise failure detection and mitigation while minimising software overhead. The MCUs and PMIC adhere to the SafeTI-61508 design package, helping customers more easily achieve IEC 61508 certification and accelerate time to market with safety-critical products, added the company.

The addition of these Hercules RM4x safety MCUs expand the Hercules MCU product line, offering 35 configurations from which customers can choose to meet application-specific needs. The new Hercules RM46x floating-point safety MCUs provide additional memory and performance configurations with expanded motor control capabilities and pin-compatibility with Hercules RM48x safety MCUs, introduced last year, noted TI. The Hercules RM42x safety MCUs provide a smaller package, lower cost, entry-line solution with integrated motor control interfaces while also meeting safety standards. The compatible PMIC combines multiple power supplies and safety features such as voltage monitoring in a single device to reduce design time and board space.

The TPS65381-Q1 will be available in a HTSSOP-32 (DAP) PowerPad package in December 2012 at $2.60 in 1,000-unit quantities. Hercules RM4x MCUs range from $3 to $26 and are immediately available for order.