Microchip has expanded its 80 MHz 32-bit PIC32 microcontroller (MCU) portfolio with three new families. The new PIC32MX5/6/7 families are designed specifically for data-intensive applications running several software stacks simultaneously and are complemented by Microchip’s free software stacks.

The new families couple the PIC32’s performance with up to 128 KB of RAM and extensive connectivity options, including 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, two CAN2.0b controllers, USB Host, Device and OTG, and six UART, five I²C and four SPI ports. The integrated 100 Mbps Ethernet MAC uses an industry-standard RMII/MIII interface to low-cost, commodity physical interface chips (PHYs), while the CAN and USB modules have a built-in DMA interface to maximise data throughput.

Microchip offers free TCP/IP and USB software stacks, including full source code, to ease software development. Available software includes two TCP/IP software stacks, along with libraries for USB Host and Device, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), multiple file systems, advanced graphics, audio and many other software products.