Atmel ATPL100A [Summary datasheet]

43002A-ATPL-03/12

2

Description

The ATPL100A is a Power Line Communications System on Chip. It implements a

full PLC node using FSK modulations and includes a hardwired Medium Access

Controller (ADD1210). It has been developed to reduce the CPU computational load

in PLC systems. Thus, the microcontroller is free to be used in the applications tasks.

MAC functional capabilities of ATPL100A (performed in ADD1210 Medium Access

Controller) involve the construction of message packets, adding convolutional or FEC

(Forward Error Correction) codes to bytes and FCS (Frame Check Sequence) to

packets. In reception, the MAC provides frame detection and Viterbi decoding or FCS

and FEC correction.

ATPL100A MAC design is versatile and allows users to create a wide range of

datagram structures. The MAC can be set in a bypass mode allowing direct

connection between the microcontroller and the modem to support old FSK software

that doesn’t include the MAC.

ATPL100A PLC modem (ADD1310) can use a single power supply of 3.3V and a few

external components. It supports several Analog Front End (AFE) configurations

suitable for Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) or Home Automation. It can replace the

traditional analog PLC modem and can use the same software libraries or a simplified

version if the hardwired MAC is used.

ATPL100A core (ADD8051C3A) includes all features of the standard 8051, with an

average speed up x5 and some additional features.

The microcontroller includes some specific peripherals as a 4 input / 4 output dimmer

for power regulation (phase angle control), also being able to generate a PWM

(Pulse-Width Modulation) control.

A flash program loader allows to store the microcontroller program in a standard SPI

serial flash memory and to execute it from internal SRAM. In the start-up process the

program is uploaded from serial flash to the internal 128Kbytes of SRAM before start

execution, after start-up the free space in the serial flash can be used to store

application data. ATPL100A includes an encryption engine for code protection. Using

a larger flash, several programs can be stored at the same time and the

microcontroller can switch from one program to another, this feature could be used to

reprogram the SoC using PLC downloading.