嵌入式世界2012突出微控制器发展的当前趋势

　　嵌入式世界2012突出微控制器发展的当前趋势

　　嵌入式世界通常是许多重要产品发布的背景，而今年，嵌入式世界会议和展览的第十周年也不例外。在纽伦堡德国展览中心举行了三天，吸引了900多名参展商和超过20000的贸易游客。在本文中，我们将讨论微控制器领域中最重要的声明。

　　虽然每年都会在微控制器（MCU）设计和支持方面带来新的创新，但这些创新通常是由深远的趋势驱动的。不久前，这些趋势将被总结为“更小、更快、更便宜”，但今天最好的描述（虽然不那么简洁）是对低功耗的需求、软件开发复杂性的增加以及智能外设的更大集成。每一个新的和创新的MCU，和许多在嵌入式世界今年宣布的进化发展，在这些趋势的一些基础。

　　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.