On Wednesday, June 25, 2014 Alexis Alcott, Senior Product Manager at Microchip Technology Inc., sat down with Mat Dirjish, Executive Editor of Sensors Magazine at Sensors Expo 2014 in Rosemont, IL, to demonstrate and discuss an expansion of the company’s eXtreme Low Power (XLP) PIC microcontrollers (MCUs) with the PIC24F “GB2” family. The new family includes an integrated hardware crypto engine, random number generator (RNG), and one-time-programmable (OTP) key storage for protecting data in embedded applications.
To view the Sensors Expo 2014 video CLICK HERE
The PIC24F “GB2” devices offer up to 128 KB Flash and 8 KB RAM in small 28- or 44-pin packages, for battery-operated or portable applications such as “Internet of Things” (IoT) sensor nodes, access control systems and door locks.
In terms of security features, the hardware crypto engine supports AES, DES, and 3DES standards while the RNG creates random keys for data encryption, decryption, and authentication. For additional protection, the OTP key storage prevents the encryption key from being read or overwritten. Notable, the security features increase the integrity without raising power consumption. XLP technology enables the “GB2” family to achieve 180 µA/MHz run currents and 18 nA Sleep currents.
For connectivity, the family integrates USB for device or host connections and a UART with ISO7816 support. Additionally, the devices come in packages as small as 28-pin QFN.
Pricing & Availability
Product variants are available with USB (PIC24FJXXXGB2XX) and without USB (PIC24FJXXXGA2XX). The PIC24FJ128GB204, PIC24FJ64GB204, PIC24FJ128GA204 and PIC24FJ64GA204 are offered in 44-pin TQFP and QFN packages. The PIC24FJ128GB202, PIC24FJ64GB202, PIC24FJ128GA202 and PIC24FJ64GA202 are available in 28-pin SOIC, SSOP, SPDIP and QFN packages. All of these new MCUs are available today for sampling and volume production, starting at $1.30 each in volume.
Development Tools
The PIC24F “GB2” family is supported by Microchip’s standard suite of development tools including the Explorer 16 Development Board (part # DM240002, $129.99), PIC24FJ128GB204 Plug In Module for USB (part # MA240037, $25.00), PIC24FJ128GA204 Plug In Module for non-USB (part # MA240036, $25.00), and USB PICtail™ Plus Daughter Board (part # AC164131, $60.00). Wireless connections can also be added using one of Microchip’s Wireless PICtail Daughter Boards including the Wi-Fi PICtail Development Board (part # RN-171-PICtail $39.95), and Bluetooth LE PICtail/PICtail Plus (part # RN-4020-PICtail, $49.00).
For additional information, visit Microchip’s websites at:
http://www.microchip.com/get/GNUT
http://www.microchip.com/get/FM3N
Microchip
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