Driven by intelligence, wireless connectivity has become an essential feature of many electronic products. To implement this additional functionality tends to increase the cost and complexity of the system design.
PIC32CX-BZ2 Microchip MCU
The PIC32CX-BZ2 microcontroller family is based on the Arm Cortex®-M4F with built-in Bluetooth Low Energy to address the challenges of wireless connectivity designs.
"Our PIC32CX-BZ2 microcontroller family removes barriers to market entry for wireless applications, including usability issues and complexity challenges, regulatory certification barriers and long-term support issues," said Steve Caldwell, vice president of Microchip's Wireless Solutions business unit. Wireless connectivity is tightly coupled with microcontrollers, rooted in our decades of expertise and supported by a vertical manufacturing approach that includes ICs, Microchip's highly integrated software stack, in-house module manufacturing and customer-driven product discontinuation mechanisms. "
Source: Microchip
The new product family includes system-on-chip devices and RF-enabled modules certified to global regulations. In addition to Bluetooth low energy capabilities, the PIC32CX-BZ2 family also features a Zigbee® protocol stack and over-the-air (OTA) updates. Hardware features include a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), multiple timer/counter (TCC) channels for control, an on-board cryptographic engine, and an extensive set of set interface.
The family's 1MB flash memory supports large application code, multi-protocol wireless stacks and OTA updates. The AEC-Q100 Grade 1 (125°C) qualified package further simplifies the integration of wireless connectivity requiring a highly robust solution.
This PIC microcontroller family simplifies development with Microchip's MPLAB® Harmony 32-bit embedded software development framework. The integrated MPLAB Code Configurator enables developers to quickly start prototyping the PIC32CX-BZ2 family with drag-and-drop automatic code generation. Extensive application code examples are hosted on GitHub and linked through the MPLAB Code Configurator and MPLAB Discover. RF design with the PIC32CX-BZ2 SoC is simplified with the ecosystem's chip-down reference design package and wireless design check service. Microchip's WBZ451 module has been pre-certified to multiple global standards and is equipped with an optimized on-board RF design, making it easy for customers with little or no RF expertise to get started.
Development Tools
In addition to the MPLAB Code Configurator, the MPLAB Harmony v3 framework includes many other tools and an ecosystem of debuggers, programmers, virtual sniffers and compilers. Additional support includes GitHub demo applications and documentation, a wireless design check service, and building blocks that guide developers through all steps of the application development process. The PIC32CX-BZ2 family is supported by the PIC32CX-BZ2 (Part Number: EV96B94A).