Freescale’s latest Kinetis microcontrollers set new standard for measurement and monitoring

The K50 MCU family offers multiple connectivity options for continuous monitoring and an integrated measurement engine for reliable processing of analog signals for applications such as portable medical devices, signal instrumentation and industrial test and measurement equipment.

“We’re breaking new ground for measurement and monitoring with our Kinetis K50 MCU family,” said Jeff Bock, director of marketing for Freescale’s Industrial and Multi-Market business. “This new family offers a best-in-class combination of multiple connectivity options, accurate analog signal processing and extensive scalability for a number of industrial and medical applications.”

The K50 family’s enhanced monitoring and measurement capabilities are particularly important for the medical market, as medical devices increasingly transition to portable formats. With the K50 family’s ability to reduce development time and increase functionality, all while operating with extremely low power, medical designers can quickly adapt to market trends and provide the portable, connected devices end users expect.

Scalable and easy to use
The K50 family delivers exceptional design freedom with the scalability of the Kinetis portfolio, easy-to-use software and modular hardware development tools. The K50 family, consisting of four subfamilies (K50, K51, K52, K53) with a total of 40 devices, is compatible with more than 200 other MCUs in the Kinetis portfolio. And, an extensive software ecosystem provides the freedom to choose a preferred IDE/software compiler.

The K50 family also can be leveraged as part of Freescale’s modular Tower Development System, which can save months of development time through rapid prototyping and tool reuse. Additionally, Freescale enables its customers by bundling complimentary MQX™ RTOS and communications stacks with the K50 product to reduce development time.

Integrated measurement
The integrated measurement engine, unique to the K50 family, allows reliable processing of external analog signals and eliminates the need for costly additional components, reducing developmental costs. On-chip signal processing is made possible with the integration of operational and transimpedance amplifiers, as well as a high-speed 16-bit analog-to-digital converter that converts and acquires the signal for accurate and timely results.

Multiple monitoring options
The K50 family offers multiple monitoring interfaces on chip, including Ethernet, an integrated low-power LCD controller, a capacitive touch-sensing module, as well as support for numerous communication protocols (USB, UART, SPI, I2C, I2S and/or external bus), providing multiple connectivity options for constant monitoring. The connectivity capability enables industrial and medical applications to constantly monitor, evaluate and control system variables. Medical device communication can also be achieved with the USB personal healthcare device class and Continua® connectivity libraries.