TM4C1292NCPDT: Product status, suitability for industrial applications

Hello Matthew,

Matthew Reich1 said:

Does TI recommend the C2000 line over TM4C12xx for real time industrial applications?

It would depend on the application requirements. There are definitely a number of uses for C2000 where it will heavily outperform TM4C. C2000's can offer any and all of DSP-capabilities, higher precision PWM for motor control, more analog peripherals, and more connectivity options. If you would leverage these advantages, then yes it is better. C2000's shine in applications such as motor control, digital power, and sensing applications which leverage the DSP abilities.

TM4C is more general purpose, offering a fair array of peripherals and the advantage of being a Cortex M4F as well. Typically TM4C will come in cheaper in price point, unless you go for slower/smaller C2000 devices which are a tier below the entry level TM4C123x devices. So if your application requirements would be met using the peripherals provided on TM4C then in most cases I would imagine that would be the preferable choice for you to go with over C2000 unless you need the DSP for your application.

Matthew Reich1 said:

Does Ti recommend the products from the TM4C12xx line for new embedded industrial designs?

Yes. We view the TM4C product line as a strong MCU family, especially for industrial, and will continue to support it actively. This include a new major TivaWare release (2.2.0) that is a few weeks away.

Matthew Reich1 said:

What is the product availability life for  TM4C12xx devices?

All TM4C12xx devices are Active and will remain so for the foreseeable future, you can see details on what this status means here: http://www.ti.com/support-quality/quality-policies-procedures/product-life-cycle.html

If there are specifics you want to know, you may need to reach out to your local field sales team, but what I can say on my end is, we are targeting TM4C12xx heavily to industrial and we know that long life cycles are important for this industry!

Hello Ralph,

Thank you for your informative and timely reply.

Generally, unless there is a reason to do otherwise, we prefer to use Cortex M4F for embedded control.  This application does need precision PWM and a fairly fast control loop, so I may look at the C2000 line.

Two questions:

What can you say about product longevity for members of the C2000 line?

Can you say the TI web site tends to hide the TM45C line relative to the other lines?

Thank you,

M.Reich

Hello Matthew,

Matthew Reich1 said:

What can you say about product longevity for members of the C2000 line?

I can't speak to that as I do not work with those products at all. That would be a question for the C2000 forum.

Matthew Reich1 said:

Can you say the TI web site tends to hide the TM4C line relative to the other lines?

I would not say we are hiding it, but we have gotten feedback that the placement in Other MCU does give a negative impression and that is something we are looking into how we want to address. The exact reason behind the structure is not something that I can really go into specifics about, but I'll say what happened is that the structure made sense to us inside of the company at the time, but is clearly not reflecting positively outside.

I will be personally championing on a couple projects this year designed to better highlight TM4C on TI.com and properly reflect their place in our portfolio as an important product family which we will continue to support and encourage the use of for new designs - especially in industrial.

[Edited for clarity - 1/13 4:48 CST]