Designing low voltage microcontrollers into portable products

From the equipment provider' perspective, high volume is required to achieve cost competitiveness, and providing a variety of features is necessary to reach the high volume. In the wireless communications market, many different standards and competing technologies are being used. Flexibility and power control are the essential requirements to compete in this market. This paper will show that low voltage microcontrollers (MCUs) can be exploited to provide the required flexibility and power control. Specifically, the 68HC16 and 68300 microcontrollers will be discussed to show their advantages in low-power applications such as portable cellular systems.