The Texas Instruments MSP430 family of ultralow-power microcontrollers consist of several devices featuring different sets of peripherals targeted for various applications. The architecture, combined with five low power modes is optimized to achieve extended battery life in portable measurement applications. The device features a powerful 16-bit RISC CPU, 16-bit registers, and constant generators that attribute to maximum code efficiency. The digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) allows wake-up from low-power modes to active mode in less than 6µs.

The MSP430x11x2 and MSP430x12x2 series are ultralow-power mixed signal microcontrollers with a built-in 16-bit timer, 10-bit A/D converter with integrated reference and data transfer controller (DTC) and fourteen or twenty-two I/O pins. In addition, the MSP430x12x2 series microcontrollers have built-in communication capability using asynchronous (UART) and synchronous (SPI) protocols.

Digital signal processing with the 16-bit RISC performance enables effective system solutions such as glass breakage detection with signal analysis (including wave digital filter algorithm). Another area of application is in stand-alone RF sensors.