Next AVR® Generation: XMEGA™

ATMEL® introduces the brand new XMEGA™ family

ATMEL®’s AVR® has grown to become one of the preferred MCU for demanding embedded projects. With the new XMEGA family operating from only 1.6 volts with speeds up to 32 MHz, designers now get even more performance and low power capabilities. With an impressive list of features and a drastically increased peripheral throughput, the CPU can spend less time handling peripherals and even more time in sleep mode.

Event System

Like a reflex in the human body, the innovative XMEGA Event System enables inter-peripheral communication without CPU or DMA usage. This ensures 100% predictable and short response time. Up to 8 simultaneous events or interrupt conditions in the peripherals can automatically start actions in other peripherals. 

Real 12-bit ADC and DAC

For high analog accuracy the XMEGA features high-speed 12-bit analog peripherals. Capable of up to 2 Msps, XMEGA's ADCs deliver the fastest sample rate and most accurate result compared to conventional MCUs. Since XMEGA also features two 12-bit digital-to-analog converters (DAC) with up to 1 Msps and four advanced analog comparators, XMEGA microcontrollers have leading analog integration.

DMA Controller

A 4-channel DMA Controller enables fast, CPU independent data transfer that significantly boosts performance. The DMA Controller in XMEGA handles transfers between all combinations of data memories and peripherals.

Compatibility and Tools

XMEGA uses the same instruction set as existing AVR products, and code can easily be reused. All XMEGA family members are pin and 100% code compatible, and designers can easily reuse both source and binary code in all projects. XMEGA is supported by the easy-to-use tool chain already existing for AVR devices, and Compilers and development tools platforms are the same for all AVR microcontrollers.

Programmable Multilevel Interrupt Controller

All peripherals have software selectable interrupts and different interrupt vectors. XMEGA has high, medium and low level interrupt which are user selectable for each interrupts source.

Second Generation picoPower™

Atmel’s picoPower technology have proven to be the industry leader in low power designs. With the 2nd generation picoPower technology, XMEGA MCUs run a Real-Time Counter, Watchdog Timer and Brown-out Detector with only 2 μA current consumption. The XMEGA also incorporates true 1.6 volt operation and elements like dynamic clock switching, and frequency scaling for optimal power management.

XMEGA Linegard the first generation

XMEGA Tools

XMEGA is supported by the easy-to-use tool chain already existing for devices.

AVR Studio®

Download the free AVR Studio® and start writing and debugging code instantly. The Integrated Development Environment provides an easy-to-use human interface for XMEGA development. AVR Studio includes a free simulator and assembler as well as the user front-end for all Atmel AVR tools.

AT90JTAGICE-MK2

The AT90JTAGICE-MK2 is a powerful development tool for On-Chip Debugging of all AVR microcontrollers with PDI, JTAG or debugWire interface.

ATSTK®600

Together with AVR Studio the ATSTK600 starter kit provides a complete programming & development system. All AVRs and future XMEGA parts are supported

XMEGA Third Party Products

IAR Embedded workbench for AVR also supports XMEGA. A free evaluation version is available from www.iar.com. The Micrium uC OS-II real time kernel port for XMEGA is available from www.micrium.com. XMEGA is also supported by the free WinAVR GCC compiler.