Newly-Launched 32-Bit MCU Helps IoT Functional Leap Forward

IoT applications are increasingly complex, driving the need for multiple sensors, complex user interface displays, advanced algorithms, and wireless protocol stacks. As the power budget shrinks, the MCU must also be as energy efficient as possible in sleep mode to maximize battery life. Giant Gecko MCUs address these challenges by increasing integration, performance, and energy efficiency.

Tom Pannell, senior marketing director of Silicon Labs’ Internet of Things products, said: “Giant Gecko MCUs provide a user experience that previously only existed on high-power MCUs. Based on Gecko's decade of evolution, the Giant Gecko family of products provides developers with A huge leap in performance, functionality, and design capabilities."

The Giant Gecko series offers the following features:

· ARM® Cortex®-M4 processor core for performance-intensive applications.
· The largest on-chip memory capacity (up to 2MB of flash and 512KB of RAM) in the same MCU to support more code size, debug capabilities, over-the-air (OTA) updates, data logging, and a rich graphical interface.
· SD/MMC and Octal/Quad-SPI memory interfaces to support additional storage expansion capabilities for storage-intensive applications.
· Fast wake-up/sleep transitions and low-power architecture allow autonomous access to sensor inputs and support autonomous operation of low-power peripherals.

The Giant Gecko MCU integrates a rich communication interface and controller:

· 10/100 Ethernet Media Access Control (MAC) for IP-based industrial control.
· WiFi module that can connect to SDIO interface for IP-based wireless cloud connection.
Single or dual CAN bus controllers for industrial control applications
· Crystal-free USB controller for cost-effective, ultra-low power USB connection.
· TFT LCD display driver and ultra-low power segment LCD driver supporting pixel mixing and overlay (Alphablending) accelerator for a richer user interface.
The current-based capacitive sensing engine provides powerful touch inputs and ultra-low power touch wake-ups to simplify the development of capacitive sensing applications.

Relevant EFM32 series products

Author：Brittany Antonia （The author of article owns the copyright.）