Silicon Labs introduced the industry’s most energy-friendly USB-enabled microcontrollers (MCUs). The latest addition to Silicon Labs’ award-winning EFM32® 32-bit MCU portfolio, the new Happy Gecko MCUs are designed to deliver the lowest USB power drain in the industry, enabling longer battery life and energy harvesting applications. Based on the ARM® Cortex®-M0+ core and low-energy peripherals, the Happy Gecko family simplifies USB connectivity for a wide range of IoT applications including smart metering, home and building automation, alarm and security systems, smart accessories and wearable devices.
A leading supplier of USB bridge chips and smart interface ICs, Silicon Labs developed the Happy Gecko family to address the rising demand for cost-effective, low-power USB connectivity solutions. With more than three billion USB-enabled devices shipping each year, USB is the fastest growing interface for consumer applications and is also gaining significant traction in industrial automation. In today’s IoT world, developers have discovered that adding USB interfaces to portable, battery-powered connected devices can double the application current consumption. Silicon Labs’ Happy Gecko MCUs provide an ideal energy-friendly USB connectivity solution for these power-sensitive IoT applications.
Happy Gecko USB MCUs feature an advanced energy management system with five energy modes enabling applications to remain in an energy-optimal state by spending as little time as possible in active mode. In deep-sleep mode, Happy Gecko MCUs have an industry-leading 0.9 μA standby current consumption (with a 32.768 kHz RTC, RAM/CPU state retention, brown-out detector and power-on-reset circuitry active). Active-mode power consumption drops down to 130 µA/MHz at 24 MHz with real-world code (prime number algorithm). The USB MCUs further reduce power consumption with a 2-microsecond wakeup time from standby mode.
Like all EFM32 MCUs, the Happy Gecko family includes the Peripheral Reflex System (PRS) feature, which greatly enhances overall energy efficiency.
Silicon Labs
www.silabs.com