The MPC5xx family of processors such as the MPC555 and MPC565 are

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

embedded

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

s that operate between 40 and 66

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

and are frequently used in automotive applications including engine and transmission controllers.

Delphi Corporation Aptiv PLC is an Irish- American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Moto ...

use either the MPC561 or MPC565 in the engine controllers they supply to

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

, with nearly all 2009 model GM North America vehicles now using an MPC5xx in the engine controller. Bosch also used the MPC5xx throughout the ME(D)-9 series of Gasoline Engine Controllers, EDC-16 series of Diesel Engine Controllers as did the Cummins B series diesel engine ECU. They are generally considered

microcontroller A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...

s because of their integrated peripheral set and their unusual architecture: no MMU, large on-chip SRAM and very large (as much as 1 MB) low latency access on-chip flash memories, which means their

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

is tailored to control applications. Instead of a block-address translation and a hardware-driven, fixed-page address translation prescribed by the first PowerPC specification, the 5xx cores provided a software-driven translation mechanism that supported variable page sizes. This model is the basis for the embedded MMU model in the current

Power ISA Power ISA is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) currently developed by the OpenPOWER Foundation, led by IBM. It was originally developed by IBM and the now-defunct Power.org industry group. Power IS ...

specification. MPC5xx – All PowerPC 5xx family processors share this common naming scheme. The development of the PowerPC 5xx family is discontinued in favour for the more flexible and powerful PowerPC 55xx family.

Characteristics

The peripherals on each model vary, but frequently include

analog-to-digital converter In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a Digital signal (signal processing), digi ...

s (ADC), Time Processor Units (TPU), GPIO, and UARTS/serial (QSMCM). The MPC5xx family descends from the MPC8xx PowerQUICC family core, which means it uses a

Harvard architecture The Harvard architecture is a computer architecture with separate computer storage, storage and signal pathways for Machine code, instructions and data. It is often contrasted with the von Neumann architecture, where program instructions and d ...

, single issue core. Unlike the 8xx family, the 5xx variants have a floating point unit. While some of the earlier chips like the MPC509 had an

instruction cache A CPU cache is a hardware cache used by the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer to reduce the average cost (time or energy) to access data from the main memory. A cache is a smaller, faster memory, located closer to a processor core, which ...

, the recent chips have the capability to contain large amounts of NOR flash memory on-board which is capable of bursting instructions to the processor. Some low-cost chips omit the flash memory because it adds a lot of die area, driving up the price of the chip. Many controller applications run very long control loops where there is not a large dataset and low latency, deterministic access to both data and instruction routines is more important. If most of the data can be stored in the on-chip SRAM available to the datapath of the processor in a single cycle, performance can be quite good. If data must be accessed off-chip frequently, performance can be reduced because the chip cannot burst data accesses from external RAM and has a very slow bus access protocol. Because of the simple memory interface that can be programmed by setting a default memory location and writing a few base registers, the chips are quite popular with hobbyists as well as with automotive and industrial developers.

References

External links

Freescale's MPC5xx page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mpc5xx PowerPC microprocessors Freescale Semiconductor microcontrollers