Texas Instruments AM261x/AM261x-Q1 Arm®-Based Microcontrollers

Texas Instruments AM261x/AM261x-Q1 Arm®-Based Microcontrollers are designed to meet the complex real-time processing needs of next-generation industrial and automotive embedded products. With scalable Arm Cortex®-R5F performance and an extensive set of peripherals, the Texas Instruments AM261x/AM261x-Q1 device is designed for a broad range of applications while offering safety features and optimized peripherals for real-time control. The AM261x-Q1 device is AEC-Q100 qualified for automotive applications.

Features

  • Processor cores
    • Single and dual Arm Cortex-R5F CPU with each core running up to 500MHz
      • 16KB I-cache with 64-bit ECC per CPU core
      • 16KB D-cache with 32-bit ECC per CPU core
      • 256KB Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM) with 32-bit ECC per core
      • Lockstep or dual-core operation supported
    • Trigonometric Math Unit (TMU) for accelerating trigonometric functions with up to 2x, one per R5F MCU core
  • Memory
    • 1.5MB of On-Chip Shared RAM (OCSRAM)
      • Three banks × 512KB
      • ECC error protection for full 1.5MB OCSRAM
      • Remote L2 Cache (RL2) for external memory, software programmable up to 256KB per CPU core
    • 2x Octal Serial Peripheral Interface (OSPI) up to 133MHz SDR and DDR
      • 1x with eXecute In Place (XIP) support
      • RAM expansion/Flash over the Air (FOTA)
    • General-Purpose Memory Controller (GPMC)
      • 16-bit parallel data bus with 22-bit address bus and four chip selects
      • Up to 4MB addressable memory space
      • Integrated Error Location Module (ELM) support for error checking
  • System on Chip (SoC) services and architecture
    • 1x EDMA to support data movement functions
    • The following interfaces support Device Boot
      • UART (primary/backup)
      • OSPI NOR and NAND Flash (50MHz SDR and 25MHz DDR) (primary)
      • USB peripheral boot
    • Interprocessor communication modules
      • SPINLOCK module for synchronizing processes running on multiple cores
      • MAILBOX functionality implemented through the CTRLMMR registers
    • Central Platform Time Sync (CPTS) support with time-sync and compare-event interrupt routers
    • Timer modules
      • 2x Windowed Watchdog Timer (WWDT)
      • 4x Real-Time Interrupt (RTI) timer
  • USB 2.0
    • Port configurable as USB host, USB device, or USB dual-role device
    • USB 2.0 host mode
      • High-Speed (HS, 480Mbps)
      • Full-Speed (FS, 12Mbps)
      • Low-Speed (LS, 1.5Mbps)
    • USB 2.0 device mode
      • High-Speed (HS, 480Mbps)
      • Full-Speed (FS, 12Mbps)
  • Industrial connectivity
    • 2x Programmable Real-time Unit – Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSS)
      • Dual-core Programmable Realtime Unit Subsystem (PRU0 / PRU1) per PRU-ICSS for 4 cores total
        • Deterministic hardware
        • Dynamic firmware
      • 20-channel enhanced input (eGPI) per PRU
      • 20-channel enhanced output (eGPO) per PRU
      • Embedded Peripherals and Memory
        • 1x UART, 1x ECAP, 1x MDIO, 1x IEP
        • 1x 32KB Shared General Purpose RAM
        • 2x 8KB Shared Data RAM
        • 1x 12KB IRAM per PRU
        • ScratchPad (SPAD), MAC/CRC
      • Digital encoder and sigma-delta control loops
      • The PRU-ICSS enables advanced industrial protocols, including:
        • EtherCAT®, Ethernet/IP™
        • PROFINET®, IO-Link®
      • Dedicated Interrupt Controller (INTC)
      • Dynamic CONTROLSS XBAR integration
  • High-speed interfaces
    • Integrated 3-port gigabit Ethernet switch (CPSW) supporting up to two external ports
      • Selectable MII (10/100), RMII (10/100), or RGMII (10/100/1000)
      • IEEE 1588 (2008 Annex D, Annex E, Annex F) with 802.1AS PTP
      • Clause 45 MDIO PHY management
      • 512x ALE engine-based packet classifiers
      • Priority flow control with up to 2KB packet size
      • Four CPU hardware interrupt pacing
      • IP/ UDP/ TCP checksum offload in hardware
      • Time Sensitive Network (TSN) support
      • Cut-thru switching and Interexpress Traffic (IET) support
  • General connectivity
    • 6x Universal Asynchronous RX-TX (UART)
    • 4x Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) controllers
    • 3x Local Interconnect Network (LIN) ports
    • 3x Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) ports
    • 2x Modular Controller Area Network (MCAN) modules with CAN-FD support
    • 1x Fast Serial Interface Transmitter (FSITX)
    • 1x Fast Serial Interface Receiver (FSIRX)
    • Up to 141x General Purpose I/O (GPIO) pins
  • Sensing and actuation
    • Real-time Control Subsystem (CONTROLSS)
    • Flexible Input/Output Crossbars (XBAR)
    • 3x 12-bit Analog to Digital Converters (ADC) with 3 MSPS maximum sampling rate
      • Each ADC module with
        • 7x single-ended channels OR
        • 3x differential channels
      • Highly configurable ADC digital logic
        • With selectable internal or external reference
        • 4x post-processing blocks for each ADC module
    • 9x analog comparators with internal 12-bit DAC reference (CMPSSA)
    • 1x 12-bit Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)
    • 10x Enhanced High-Resolution Pulse Width Modulation (eHRPWM) modules
      • Single or dual PWM channels
      • Advanced PWM configurations
      • Enhanced HRPWM time resolution
    • 8x Enhanced Capture (ECAP) modules
    • 2x Enhanced Quadrature Encoder Pulse (EQEP) modules
    • 2x Sigma-Delta Filter Modules (SDFM)
  • Data storage of 1 × 4-bit Multi-Media Card/Secure Digital (MMC/SD) interface
  • Security
    • Hardware Security Module (HSM) with support for Auto SHE 1.1/EVITA
    • Targeted for ISO 21434 compliance
    • Secure boot support
      • Device takeover protection
      • Hardware-enforced root-of-trust
      • Authenticated boot
      • SW anti-rollback protection
    • Debug security
      • Secure device debug only after proper authentication
      • Ability to disable device debug functionality
    • Device ID and key management
      • Support for OTP memory (FUSEROM)
        • Store root keys and other security fields
      • Separate EFUSE controllers and FUSE ROMs
      • Unique device public identifiers
    • Memory Protection Units (MPU)
      • Dedicated Arm MPU per Cortex-R5F core
      • System MPU - present at various interfaces in the SoC (MPU or firewall)
      • 8 to 16 programmable regions
        • Enable/privilege ID
        • Start/end address
        • Read/write/cacheable
        • Secure/non-secure
    • Cryptographic acceleration
      • Cryptographic cores with DMA support
      • AES-128/192/256-bit key sizes
      • SHA2-256/384/512-bit support
      • DRBG with pseudo and true random number generator
  • Functional safety
    • Enables the design of systems with functional safety requirements
      • Error Signaling Module (ESM)
      • ECC or parity in the calculation of critical memories
      • Built-In Self-Test (BIST) on-chip RAM
      • Runtime internal diagnostic modules, including voltage, temperature, and clock monitoring, windowed watchdog timers, and CRC engines for memory integrity checks
    • Functional safety-compliant targeted [industrial]
      • Developed for functional safety applications
      • Documentation to be made available to aid the IEC 61508 functional safety system design
      • Systematic capability up to SIL-3 targeted
      • Hardware integrity up to SIL-3 targeted
      • Safety-related certification - IEC 61508 planned
    • Functional safety-compliant targeted [automotive]
      • Developed for functional safety applications
      • Documentation to be made available to aid ISO 26262 functional safety system design
      • Systematic capability up to ASIL-D targeted
      • Hardware integrity up to ASIL-D targeted
      • Safety-related certification - ISO 26262 planned
  • Technology / Package
    • AEC-Q100 qualified for automotive applications
    • ZCZ package
      • 324-pin NFBGAs
      • 15.00mm × 15.00mm
      • 0.8mm pitch
    • ZFG package
      • 304-pin NFBGA
      • 13.25mm × 13.25mm
      • 0.65mm pitch
    • ZEJ package
      • 256-pin NFBGA
      • 13.00mm × 13.00mm
      • 0.8mm pitch
    • ZNC package
      • 293-pin NFBGA
      • 10.00mm × 10.00mm
      • 0.5mm pitch

Applications

  • AC inverter
  • Automotive digital power conversion/control
    • Battery Management Systems (BMS)
    • On-board chargers, DC/DC converters
  • Humanoid robot
  • Industrial and collaborative robots
  • Industrial digital power control
    • Energy storage systems
    • EV charging
    • String inverters
  • Mobile robot
  • PLC, DCS, and PAC
    • Communication module
    • Digital input module
    • Digital output module
    • Stand-alone remote IO
  • Remote I/O
  • Single and multi-axis servo drives
  • Telematics control unit

Functional Block Diagram

Block Diagram - Texas Instruments AM261x/AM261x-Q1 Arm®-Based Microcontrollers
Published: 2025-06-27 | Updated: 2026-01-21