FTM / Motor Control / NXP — MCX A Series Microcontrollers

NXP — MCX A Series Microcontrollers

Motor Control

May 9, 2024
Motor Control
Issue 4 2024

New 32-bit MCUs provide ideal platform for control of BLDC, PMSM and other motors

The new NXP Semiconductors MCX A series microcontrollers feature high-performance mixed-signal circuitry and a motor-control sub-system, backed by a rich set of software resources in the NXP App Code Hub.

The MCX A series of 32-bit microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors includes a set of features that support the high-performance operation of electric motors. The performance of the MCX A series can be evaluated easily with the FRDM-MCXA153 development board for MCXA14x and MCXA15x MCUs.

The MCX A series, based on an Arm® Cortex®-M33 core, supports the key functions for a broad range of applications in which cost constraints, advanced analog capabilities such as high-precision data converters, and fast time-to-market are key considerations

The features of the MCX A series that are particularly well suited to motor-control include:

4 Msamples/s ADC
High-speed comparators backed by an 8-bit reference DAC
Motor control sub-system. The FlexPWM peripheral includes motor control PWM pairs, quadrature decoders and a hardware event generation function

These features make the MCX A series ideal for applications such as:

Brushless dc (BLDC) motors
Permanent magnet synchronous (PMSM) motors
AC induction motors (ACIM)
Field-oriented control
Precision servo systems and positioning
Distributed battery management systems

The MCX portfolio is supported by the MCUXpresso Developer Experience. This includes a suite of software, tools and hardware prototyping platforms:

Integrated development environments:
- MCUXpresso for VS Code
- MCUXpresso integrated development environment
- IAR® Embedded Workbench
- Arm KEIL®
MCUXpresso software development kit (SDK)
- Extensive suite of robust peripheral drivers, stacks, and middleware
- Includes software examples demonstrating the use of peripheral drivers and middleware
MCUXpresso config tools
- Includes pins, clocks, and peripheral tools for generation of MCUXpresso SDK code

The NXP GitHub also provides access to application examples including motor control, which can be accessed using the Application Code Hub (ACH) portal. The MCUXpresso IDE from version 11.9.0 and MCUXpresso for VS Code have ACH built-in, so developers can easily browse available examples, and filter by device, application technology or peripheral/feature before loading the project directly for use.

Features

FRDM-MCXA153

MCXA15x with up to 128 kbytes of Flash and up to 32 kbytes of RAM
Connectivity
- Full-Speed USB ports with USB Type-C connector for host or device functionality
- High-Speed USB Type-C connectors
- SPI/I2C/UART connector
- Wi-Fi® connector
On-board MCU-Link debugger
JTAG/SWD connector
P3T1755DPJ temperature sensor
Expansion options
- Arduino header
- FRDM header which connects to NXP’s BLDC or PMSM FRDM driver shield
- Pmod™ header
- mikroBUS™ interface
User interface
- RGB user LED
- Reset, ISP and wake-up buttons

Applications

Industrial
- Factory automation
- Power and energy systems
- Building control
- Medical equipment
Smart home
- Control and security
- Smart appliances
- Home entertainment
- Health and fitness
General embedded
- Industrial/consumer HMIs
- Handheld devices
- Power tools
- General-purpose embedded control

Development Kit

Part Number: FRDM-MCXA153

The FRDM-MCXA153 kit provides a rapid prototyping platform for the MCX A series of Arm® Cortex®-M33 core-based microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors.

Key features include:

Standard form factor and headers
Easy access to MCU I/Os
On-board MCU-Link debugger
Broad range of supported modules
Shield boards come with standard, pre-populated headers
Expansion Board Hub for add-on boards from NXP and partners, with related MCUXpresso SDK-compatible drivers and examples
Application Code Hub for application code examples from NXP experts to help kick-start projects
Development for connectivity, graphics, machine learning, motor control, sensors, touch and voice control