The level of competition in the microcontroller market has never been higher. Suppliers are relying more than ever on the strength of the distribution channel to secure design wins in this key market sector.
"Competition is very strong in the MCU embedded market," says Armando Banon, Europe distribution manager at Renesas Technology. "We are applying greater market intelligence. On aspect of this is looking at applications for specific market segments and this we are doing in partnership with our distributors and third party design houses."
The key to making a microcontroller design suitable for a particular application, such as motor control, is not simply about having the best chip for the job. Designers are looking for technology which can be realised quickly, even off-the-shelf.
This means the creating of reference designs which combine the MCUs and support chips with application software and design tools.
"Success comes from having developed the right tools and firmware around the hardware," says Banon.
For example, a 32-bit MCU with a real-time operating system and comms interface support can be used to run energy-saving algorithms which can improve the efficiency of the motor.
Renesas, like other suppliers, is working with third party design houses to create reference design which can be sold through the distribution channel.
Cost-effective design is an important factor for many companies, and increasingly design teams are looking for new types of supplier support to help them source and implement new technologies which will differentiate their products.
An example of this was Wolfson Microelectronics’ decision to sign up Acal Technology as a design-in distributor covering the UK, Ireland and Benelux.
"With the growth in telematics and automotive infotainment systems, as well as higher expectations for audio quality in consumer products, more designers are facing the challenge of combining the disciplines of digital and analogue design and we will provide the appropriate design expertise and experience to complement each customers’ own area of specialisation," says Acal Technology’s sales and marketing director, Steve Carr.
The focus of the relationship will be Wolfson’s ranges of high performance audio analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) and coder/decoders.
"With the integration of multi media experiences into a broadening range of consumer electronics, the pressure is on designers to excel in the crucial differentiators of Hi-Fi audio performance and extended battery life. Our technology is a key enabler in meeting those expectations and the addition of Acal as distributor will enable us to bring these product differentiators to even more customers," says Wolfson Microelectronics’ senior v-p worldwide sales, Alistair Banham.
More typically a reference design will contain all the hardware and software components necessary to build market-ready systems based on a silicon platform such as microcontroller, FPGA or DSP.
The result can be a fully functional system including signal path, power and memory functions provided by specific semiconductor products form the distributor’s linecard.
For example, choices have to be made regarding the power supply and memory requirements. "You can take a design from an application note and then lift elements of it into your design," says Stephen Morris, regional applications manager at EBV Elektronik. "Generally, it is easier to start with something which you know works than starting from the ground up."
For example, if a developer in a small design team wanted to move to a 16-bit platform running Linux, but their experience was typically in 8-bit MCU based systems what options are available to them?
"We can provide board support packages and offer support with the Linux OS. So we talk to a 3rd party to develop the software or board support package. This would reduce development time," says Morris.
"Effectively we plug the 3rd party developer into the customer," says Morris. "The commercial relationship is between the 3rd party developer and the customer. We sit in the middle as a hub."
The benefits of the reference design approach to an MCU supplier such as Renesas are clear. "As long as the MCU is ours it is a win-win situation for us and for the distributor is it a good way to pull together their suppliers in the same market segment," says Banon.