EFM32

EFM32 Gecko MCUs[1] are a family of mixed-signal 32-bit microcontroller integrated circuits from Energy Micro (now Silicon Labs) based on ARM Cortex-M[2] CPUs, including the Cortex-M0+,[3] Cortex-M3,[4] and Cortex-M4.

Another aspect of the Gecko MCUs is that the peripherals have a direct connection with each other, allowing them to communicate without CPU wake-up and intervention.

The Stop mode includes analog comparators, watchdog timers, pulse counters, I2C links, and external interrupts.

In Shutoff mode, with 20–100 nA current consumption, depending on the product, applications have access to GPIO, reset, a real-time counter (RTC), and retention memory.

Tools within Simplicity Studio IDE include the Advanced Energy Monitor (AEM) and the Network Debugger called “Packet Trace”.

In addition to IoT-critical middleware stacks such as TCP/IP, Micrium provides a RTOS that enables embedded IoT designs to handle task management in real-time.

Each starter kit contains sensors and peripherals that help illustrate device capabilities as well as serve as a starting point for application development.

Other EFM32 starter kits include: The EFM32 is designed to achieve a high degree of autonomous operation in the low-energy modes.

In Active/Run mode, the EFM32 has a base current consumption of 114 μA/MHz while running real-time code with a clock speed of 32 MHz at 3V of power.

This same application could be implemented with LESENSE and preset thresholds, instead of using regular time interval ADC samples.

For example, with a magnetic Hall effect sensor, the EFM32 can convert rotational position to quantified speed or flow rate.