Next-Generation V850E2M Dual Core Architecture For 32-Bit V850 Microcontrollers

The new V850E2M dual core architecture provides two 32-bit V850 CPU cores, each delivering high performance levels of 2.563 Dhrystone MIPS per MHz, while enabling low power consumption of 1.5mW per MIPS (NOTE 1). The V850E2M core is also available as redundant core architecture, offering high reliability and development efficiency. The redundant cores monitor each other at each instruction by executing the same program code and using the same data. Critical faults can therefore be detected at a very early stage by hardware, reducing the workload of the software designers to implement functional safety.

Since the introduction of the company’s first V850 based MCU in April 1996, NEC Electronics has been promoting the V850 family products and has extended the product portfolio to ASSPs and IP cores for ASICs. NEC Electronics has become the number one supplier of 32-bit MCUs worldwide based on revenue in 2007 and 2008 for the second consecutive year, as ranked by Gartner in its April 2009 report (Note 2).

As consumers become more eco-conscious, eco-friendliness is an area of focus especially in the industrial, consumer electronics, and automotive markets. In order to allow designers to develop more ‘eco-friendly’ product, NEC Electronics launched its first lineup of low-power MCUs in October 2007. To provide manufactures with further energy saving options and added value, NEC Electronics developed the V850E2M dual core architecture.