Venkat Anant
Freescale Semiconductor

In real-time control applications, the application software continually samples various system parameters, processes them digitally with appropriate algorithms and controls the system based on some design specifications. Such applications operate in two domains: the microcontroller domain that performs supervisory tasks and the DSP domain that processes signals. In the past, separate processors were used to control such a system leading to inefficiencies in implementation. There has been a trend in the industry to incorporate control functionality and DSP capability within a single chip. This has led to the evolution of Hybrid Controllers. This paper will review the features of a Hybrid Controller and compare it with traditional microcontrollers and DSPs. Furthermore, the uniqueness of Hybrid Controllers over other solutions will be explored.