TIDUFF7A October   2025  – March 2026

 

  1.   1
  2.   Description
  3.   Resources
  4.   Features
  5.   Applications
  6.   6
  7. 1System Description
    1. 1.1 Terminology
    2. 1.2 Key System Specifications
  8. 2System Overview
    1. 2.1 Block Diagram
    2. 2.2 Design Considerations
    3. 2.3 Highlighted Products
      1. 2.3.1 AM2612
      2. 2.3.2 DRV7167A
      3. 2.3.3 AMC0106M05
      4. 2.3.4 DP83826A
  9. 3System Design Theory
    1. 3.1 AM2612 Motor Control and Communication Interface
    2. 3.2 DC Link and Ground Configuration
    3. 3.3 Three-Phase Inverter With DRV7167A Half-Bridge GaN Motor Driver Power Stage
    4. 3.4 Inline Shunt Precision Phase-Current Sensing With AMC0106M05 Functionally Isolated, Delta-Sigma Modulator
    5. 3.5 System Power Management
    6. 3.6 Functional Safety Concept
    7. 3.7 Ethernet Physical Layer
    8. 3.8 Position Feedback Interface
  10. 4Hardware, Software, Testing Requirements, and Test Results
    1. 4.1 Hardware Requirements
      1. 4.1.1 TIDA-010979 PCB Overview
      2. 4.1.2 TIDA-010979 Hardware Setting
    2. 4.2 Software Requirements
    3. 4.3 Test Setup
    4. 4.4 Test Results
      1. 4.4.1 Power Management and System Power Up and Power Down
      2. 4.4.2 Half-Bridge GaN Motor Driver Power Stage Switch Node
      3. 4.4.3 Power Stage Thermal Measurements
      4. 4.4.4 Phase-Current Sensing and Position Feedback
      5. 4.4.5 EtherCAT® Communication
  11. 5Design and Documentation Support
    1. 5.1 Design Files
      1. 5.1.1 Schematics
      2. 5.1.2 BOM
      3. 5.1.3 Layout Prints
      4. 5.1.4 Altium Project
      5. 5.1.5 Gerber Files
      6. 5.1.6 Assembly Drawings
    2. 5.2 Tools and Software
    3. 5.3 Documentation Support
    4. 5.4 Support Resources
    5. 5.5 Trademarks
  12. 6About the Author
  13. 7Revision History

1 System Description

This reference design demonstrates the capacity of TI Sitara™ MCU-AM261x devices to handle an industrial Ethernet-connected real-time servo motor control with a 70mm diameter printed circuit board (PCB) for a 48V, 1kW robot joint.

The control part of this design includes one 500MHz R5F core on an AM261x MCU with a small 10mm × 10mm BGA package to perform closed loop field-oriented control (FOC) and another 500MHz R5F core of this AM261x MCU to run EtherCAT stack. Also, two Programmable Real-Time Unit - Industrial Communication Subsystems (PRU-ICSS) are used on this AM261x MCU to support multi-protocol encoder and industrial Ethernet MAC layer. This reference design employs two BissC digital encoders to feedback the position information of the rotor and reducer. Other encoder protocols like EnDAT, HDSL, BissC and Tamagawa can also be supported by PRU-ICSS.

The power part includes three 100V, 70A half-bridge GaN motor driver power stage DRV7167A devices with integrated driver and overcurrent protection, optimized for extremely low gate loop and power loop impedance. The PCB offers mounting holes for an optional heat sink with the top-side cooled DRV7167A GaN motor driver power stage. An integrated bootstrap diode helps further reduce space for the high-side GaN-FET bias supply.

For precision phase-current sensing, this reference design uses three functional isolated delta-sigma modulator AMC0106M05 devices plus three 1mΩ phase-current shunts to measure the 3-phase current with a linear measurement range of ±50A. A digital interface connects the AMC0106M05 to the MCU to run the SINC3 decimation filter.

This reference design also showcases the unique functional safety concept with AM2612 MCU and safe power approach. This safety concept is targeted to build a safety certified CAT3, PLd or PLe architecture to achieve logical redundancy with one MCU.