Fujitsu Semiconductor FM3 Motor Control Solution Accelerates Product Development

　　Today we are going to talk about motor control. Engineers who are engaged in the development and design of this field hope to have a series of products and solutions to speed up the development process of their products. Recently, some engineers talked about Fujitsu's FM3 microcontroller series.

　　The FM3 series is an expandable platform that integrates the ARM® CortexTM-M3 standard core. Let's talk about the details of the FM3 solution: from low-pin count, low-power microcontrollers (MCUs) to high-performance products with up to 1MB flash memory and rich peripherals, including USB, CAN and Ethernet. The FM3 MCU is based on Fujitsu Semiconductor's high reliability (100,000 erase/write times) and high-speed embedded flash memory technology. Of course, when it comes to reliability, because all MCUs are produced in Fujitsu Semiconductor's own wafer fabs, quality, delivery time and cost can be effectively controlled. It is understood that the target applications of this solution include industrial drives and servo systems.

　　Very rich software and hardware functions

　　Another reason why engineers prefer this model is that it has rich software and hardware. Let's take a look at the hardware functions first. All FM3 microcontrollers belong to the high-performance group, basic group and ultra-low leakage group, and are equipped with advanced motor control resources to drive different types of motors, including simple brushless DC motors, AC induction motors, and permanent magnet synchronous motors and IPM motors. Not only that, this solution also embeds dedicated hardware functions for improving the functional safety of the drive system. Well, it can be said that hearing is worse than seeing!

　　

　　FM3's rich lineup

　　Speaking of hardware, let's take a look at the hardware features of the FM3 motor driver. Hey, there are too many features, let's count them carefully: up to 3 channels, flexible three-phase motor timer; automatic dead time insertion; freely programmable ADC trigger; up to 3 independent 12-bit 1Msps ADC units; up to 32 ADC channels; up to 3-channel ABZ orthogonal decoder units; high-speed operation up to 144MHz (high-performance product line); 3.3V and true 5V single-supply operation; internally adjusted RC oscillator.

　　Many people are concerned about functional safety, and FM3 is well prepared in this regard: two-level watchdog with independent clock sources; clock monitor (clock failure and abnormal frequency detection); two-level (interrupt and reset) programmable LVD (low-voltage detection); CRC hardware module; MPU (memory protection unit); DTTI input for emergency motor shutdown.

　　In terms of software, Fujitsu also seems to provide field-proven software libraries to drive different types of motors. In order to simplify the development of complete drive systems or applications, software libraries designed according to the IEC60730 Class B standard are also more useful. (PS: FM3 software library package and motor control software library functions include: support for brushless DC motors, permanent magnet synchronous motors, IPM and ACIM (under design); field-oriented control; support for encoder feedback; support for Hall sensor feedback; sensorless acquisition; compressor drive application-specific functions; white appliance application-specific functions.)

　　

　　IEC60730 Class B Functional Safety Library

　　Development tools are easy to use

　　Development tools are a headache for many engineers! Being able to use development tools that are easy to use and satisfying really brings a lot of fun and convenience to work. As far as I know, Fujitsu Semiconductor provides additional motor control hardware and software development tools. Starterkits for the FM3 microcontroller series can be combined with a low-voltage inverter stage to start the development of drive systems. The PC GUI (FM3 Inverter Platform) supports the development and debugging of customer drive systems for the FM3 motor control library. It provides real-time motor control and PFC module functions, real-time setting of motor functions and parameters, real-time observation of motor operating status, and use of variables and current waveform shapes.

　　Details: In terms of IDE, compiler, debugger, Fujitsu Semiconductor FM3 series is supported by market-leading tool chain suppliers such as IAR Systems, Keil, Mentor Embedded and others. These companies provide enhanced IDE (Integrated Development Environment), compiler, assembler, linker and debugger, which can be used in a common GUI (Graphical User Interface). Free open source GNU/Eclipse tool chain can also be used. Popular JTAG emulators such as Segger J-Link or Keil ULINK and many low-cost variant adapters can be used for FM3 microcontrollers.

　　FM3 devices are implemented using an embedded trace macrocell, ETM, and are equipped with a trace port interface unit, TPIU, next to the standard serial line JTAG debug port. TPIU implements the trace function and allows the connection of a JTAG adapter with trace function. There are many related tool chains in this regard, such as IAR Embedded Workbench, Keil MDK, Sourcery CodeBench, Atollic TrueSTUDIO, Rowley CrossWorks, Altium TASKING, and the open source GNU tool chain.

　　Finally, I have to mention the middleware components. In many cases, users can choose between commercial and free solutions. Products include real-time operating systems, low-level peripheral function libraries, and protocol stacks. Fujitsu's middleware components include: peripheral driver library, USB library, functional safety self-test library (IEC60730 - class B, IEC61508 SIL2), EEPROM simulation library, motor control platform, capacitive touch library; partner middleware components include USB library, Ethernet TCP/IP protocol stack and application layer, CANopen protocol stack, etc. There are so many!

　　Engineers also need to know that Fujitsu Semiconductor also has monthly free FM3 seminars and motor control seminars, where engineers developing related systems can get support from experienced AEs.