TI announces that its Hercules MCU has been certified by TüV SüD

RF cable can be customized for other specifications

Certified by TÜV SüD, these MCUs meet the strict functional safety standards required for automotive, industrial, and general-purpose safety-related applications.

The new LaunchPad Development Kit makes it easier to develop with certified MCUs, offering a streamlined approach for developers working on safety-critical systems.

Beijing, December 15, 2014 – As automotive and industrial systems grow more complex, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) face increasing pressure to ensure system safety. To help address this challenge, Texas Instruments (TI) announced that its Hercules® TMS570LS12x/11x and RM46x microcontrollers (MCUs) have received TÜV SüD certification, meeting the requirements of ISO 26262 (2011 version) and IEC 61508 (2010 version) for ASIL D and SIL 3 safety integrity levels. This certification allows OEMs to reduce the time and effort needed to achieve compliance. In addition, TI has introduced two new LaunchPad development kits, providing an affordable entry point for developers to evaluate the functional safety features of these certified MCUs.

Texas Instruments’ Certified MCUs

Building on the previously completed SafeTI hardware development process certification and successful evaluation of the Hercules MCU platform architecture, the Hercules TMS570LS12x/11x MCUs are certified to meet the requirements of ISO 26262 (2011 version) and IEC 61508 (2010 version) for ASIL D and SIL 3 safety integrity levels. With clock speeds up to 180 MHz, these MCUs enable developers to build functional safety applications in the automotive and transportation sectors. The TMS570LS12x/11x series also offers a wide range of performance, memory, and peripheral options to suit various system requirements.

The high-performance Hercules RM46x MCU is certified for IEC 61508 (2010 version) at the SIL 3 level. Operating at up to 220 MHz, it supports industrial and general-purpose safety-related applications. The RM46x MCU provides multiple performance and memory configurations, along with support for targeted motor control applications.

The Hercules MCU includes advanced diagnostics that detect and respond to runtime errors, creating a "safe island" for safety-critical processing without requiring significant software overhead. Its integrated diagnostic architecture features dual ARM® Cortex®-R4 floating-point CPUs running in lockstep mode, built-in self-test mechanisms for CPU and SRAM, flash and RAM interfaces, and memory error detection with double-bit error correction and single-bit error detection using transaction-based error correction code (ECC).

Hercules LaunchPads Simplify Evaluation

Developers can now evaluate the TÜV SüD-certified Hercules TMS570LS12x/11x and RM46x MCUs using two new LaunchPad development kits. Each kit includes a development board, USB cable, and quick start guide, enabling a fast and easy setup for out-of-the-box evaluation. On-board emulation and functional safety demonstrations allow developers to explore the advanced safety features embedded in the Hercules MCUs. The LaunchPad suite also includes HALCoGen software, a GUI-based tool for accelerating code development for Hercules MCUs. This software is compatible with TI’s latest Eclipse-based Code Composer Studio™ IDE, allowing for seamless integration and development.

SafeTI Design Pack

The TMS570LS12x/11x and RM46x MCUs are part of the SafeTI functional safety software package, which offers documentation, support forums, tools, and software to help OEMs implement functional safety in their critical systems. This package streamlines the certification process and accelerates product launch timelines.

Availability

The Hercules TMS570LS12x/11x and RM46x MCUs are TÜV SüD-certified and ready for use in your next functional safety application. These MCUs are currently available for purchase. The Hercules TMS570LS12x/11x LaunchPad (LAUNCHXL-TMS57012) and RM46x LaunchPad (LAUNCHXL-RM46) are available through TI’s online store (eStore). Once developers gain familiarity with the Hercules TMS570LS12x/11x and RM46x MCUs using the new LaunchPad, they can further advance their designs with a variety of additional Hercules MCU tools and resources.