DESIGN and APPLICATIONS OF A UNIVERSAL POWER MANAGEMENT MIXED-SIGNAL SoC CONTROLLER (UPMC) PLATFORM by Eytan Rabinovitz, Arie Lev Systel Development & Industries Ltd. Sam Ben-Yaakov Power Electronics Laboratory Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ben-Gurion University of the Negev I. INTRODUCTION This paper presents engineering application examples of a Universal Power Management mixed- signal SoC Controller (UPMC) for digital control and management. The UPMC controller platform was designed with the vision of allowing the complete migration path from analog to digital control in applications in which the advantages of the digital technology prevail. To this end, the UPMC includes in the design the blocks that are crucial for the implementation of universal digital power control and management systems. The UPMC is suitable for a broad range of applications common to the power conversion industry, including: Power Supplies for Telecom, Computers and Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Merchant switch-mode power systems (SMPS) and charges, Lighting, Motor Control, Building & Home Automation, Automotive, etc. The first part of the paper describes the design concept of the UPMC and the tools for parameter configuration and storage while the second part describes 4 UPMC applications: a networked electronic ballast for lighting including a digital PFC (Power Factor Correction) control function, a single chip for power control and management of a mobile PC, full control and management of a Line Interactive Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and a multiphase DC/DC converter. Traditionally, digital control of SMPS was accomplished by applying a general purpose Digital Signal Processor (DSP). Attempts were made to use DSPs to carry out the digital control algorithm, housekeeping, supervisory tasks and communication. Apart from some limited applications, this approach is unsuitable in most industrial instances due to its many drawbacks and limitations. These include: the single arithmetic unit that limits the speed of computation resulting in a limited control bandwidth, excessive delays in a multi converter case, limited capabilities to generate non-sequential pulse as might be needed in non linear control, limited capabilities to achieve high resolution of the output driving signal and its degrading as the number of control channels increases, as well as other shortcomings. Another approach to modern digital power management is a closed, dedicated controller for a specific application such as Voltage Regulator Module (VRM). The drawback of this approach is the fact that it is limited to the specific application for which it was developed. Hence, application of the unit to solve other power management problems is impossible since a new Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) design cycle needs to be initiated for every case.