嵌入式世界2012突出微控制器發展的當前趨勢

　　嵌入式世界通常是許多重要產品發布的背景，而今年，嵌入式世界會議和展覽的第十周年也不例外。在紐倫堡德國展覽中心舉行了三天，吸引了900多名參展商和超過20000的貿易游客。在本文中，我們將討論微控制器領域中最重要的聲明。

　　雖然每年都會在微控制器（MCU）設計和支持方面帶來新的創新，但這些創新通常是由深遠的趨勢驅動的。不久前，這些趨勢將被總結為“更小、更快、更便宜”，但今天最好的描述（雖然不那么簡潔）是對低功耗的需求、軟件開發復雜性的增加以及智能外設的更大集成。每一個新的和創新的MCU，和許多在嵌入式世界今年宣布的進化發展，在這些趨勢的一些基礎。

　　Specifically， battery powered applications are now a significant driver for MCU manufacturers， which means ultra-low power in both standby and active modes is essential. This trend has shaped the developments of new companies， such as Energy Micro， and those more established， including Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics. The demand from their customers for better software development support is also showing up in the support for both new MCUs and existing product lines， such as Cypress Semiconductors’PSoC family. Finally， the market’s thirst for greater integration has enabled some companies — Silicon Labs and Infineon to name just two — to make ‘late’ entrances in to the already crowded ARM Cortex-M arena. Here we present a round-up of all these trends and developments， as announced at this year’s Embedded World Conference & Exhibition.