Nuvoton unveils MCU for industrial HMI applications

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Nuvoton has unveiled the NuMicro MA35H0 microcontroller series, a high-performance microprocessor for industrial HMI (Human Machine Interface) applications.

As well as general control and user interface applications, the device is intended for tasks across a wide range of industrial and commercial applications – in fields as diverse as industrial HMI, factory automation, smart buildings, smart homes, smart appliances, smart medical services, and new energy.

The MA35H0 is built around dual power-efficient 64/32-bit Cortex-A35 cores based on the Armv8-A architecture, running at up to 650 MHz, with 32KB of L1 cache for each core, and 512KB of shared L2 cache. There’s no need for external memory as 128 MB of DDR SDRAM is stacked inside the 24 mm2 LQFP216 package, saving space and reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI).

The MPU supports Arm TrustZone secure boot and other security features to safeguard valuable code and data. It also features high-performance hardware floating-point units (FPU) that enhance its digital signal processing (DSP) capabilities.

The MA35H0 MPUs are suitable for harsh environments due to their industrial-grade internal operating temperature range (Tj) of -40 °C to 125°C.

With the strong visual nature of modern user interfaces, the MPU includes the Arm NEON Advanced Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) engine, so improving media encoding/decoding, UI, and 2D graphics performance. It has built-in 2D graphics and video decoder providing 60fps 1280x800 LCD output support.

With powerful on-chip security support and a wide choice of high-speed connectivity option the MA35H0 series is seen as providing a responsive and secure user interface for almost any device.

The MA35H0 comes with a number of practical security features including the root of trust and secure boot via the internal boot ROM with an OTP key. Hardware cryptographic acceleration functions (AES, SHA, ECC, RSA, SM2/3/4, and TRNG) are built-in, supporting the secure key store and OTP memory, which are walled off from direct CPU access for additional security.

The MA35H0 series can establish fast encrypted communications, keep sensitive user data safe, and offer a secure environment for critical applications.

The built-in LCD controller provides a sharp and responsive user interface at up to 1280x800, aided by 2D graphics hardware acceleration and fast on-chip JPEG and H.264 video decoding – capable of providing full-screen video at 60fps.

The MA35H0 is ready to fit into any application environment, according to Nuvoton, due to its vast variety of built-in high-speed connectivity and I/O features. These include megabit Ethernet with IEEE 1588v2, USB 2.0 High-Speed Host and Device, SDIO3.0, QSPI, CAN FD, UARTs, and I2S. The chip also supports 4/5-wire resistive touchscreens without external IC decoders.

A full-featured evaluation board (NuMaker-HMI-MA35H0-A1) and HMI application demos include an EV charging station, industrial control, coffee machine, and vehicular speed and data display. OS support includes Linux, RTOS, and Bare Metal.