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Dear Reader,
welcome to the January 2006 edition of MicroController
Pros Corporation's Embedded News Digest, your source for microcontroller and
embedded system news.
-
New product
additions at the MicroControllerShop:
ARM:
Cirrus Logic EP9312/EP9315 (ARM920T) Development Board, VGA,
Composite Video, S-Video, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, IDE Interface, PCMCIA
Interface, 3x USB, 1x RS485, 2x RS232
STMicro STR711F-R2T6 (ARM7) Development Board, USB2.0, 2x RS232
STMicro STR711F-R2T6 (ARM7) Development Board, USB, 2x RS232, SD/MMC card
interface
TI TMS470R1A256 (ARM7TDMI) Development Board, CAN, RS232, USB, SD/MMC card
interface, 2x16 LCD
TI MSP430:
Tiny MSP430 JTAG In-Circuit Debugger & Programmer, USB port
New prototype boards
for
MSP430F1611,
MSP430F169 and
MSP430F149 with RS232 and JTAG
MSP430F2131
Prototype Board with JTAG and
Header Board in DIP 20 format
- Please help us to spread the word about this free
microcontroller news source.
Let your friends, colleagues or customers know about the Embedded News Digest.
This month's issue:
MicroController Pros Corporation and Xeltek have entered into
an agreement that provides substantial savings on the highly popular SuperPro3kU
Universal Chip Programmer exclusively to readers of the Embedded News
Digest. For a limited time only you can purchase this programmer for
US$746.00, 25% off the regular US$995.00 retail price.
The SuperPro3kU now supports programming of over 25,000
different devices - by far the largest in the industry. More than 10,000 devices
have been added in 2005 alone.
Xeltek adds new devices upon customer request free of charge during the warranty
period. Turnaround time is usually 2-3 weeks. A list of currently supported
devices is available at:
http://www.xeltek.com/software/sp3000u/sp3000uDevice.pdf
The SuperPro3kU allows PC independent programming with an
optional CompactFlash Memory card. Multiple units can be cascaded for concurrent
programming, by far exceeding the programming speed, reliability and versatility
of conventional gang programmers.
For more detailed information on the SuperPro3kU programmer,
see:
http://microcontrollershop.com/product_info.php?cPath=92&products_id=577
This offer is expires on 02/15/2006.
To receive the 25% discounted price, place order online at
http://microcontrollershop.com/product_info.php?cPath=92&products_id=577.
After checkout is completed, enter PromoCode: EmbeddedNews into Comment Field of
Order Confirmation Screen. Your price will then be adjusted down to $746.00
manually.
ARM Introduces 750 MHz ARM11
Processor
ARM has unveiled an implementation
of the ARM1176JZF-S processor, enhanced with the ARM Artisan Advantage cell
library and memories, which achieves a frequency of more than 750 MHz in a 90nm foundry process while occupying only 2.4 square mm of
silicon area. The implementation delivers a performance of more than
920 Dhrystone MIPS for existing applications and operating systems without the
need for expensive software re-design or re-compilation.
The design is a fully routed, reference
layout of the ARM1176JZF-S processor including 16KB instruction cache, 16KB data
cache, 4x high-performance AMBA 3 AXI interconnect interfaces to speed
instruction and data access, and a vectorized floating-point unit (VFP).
The ARM1176JZF-S synthesizable processor is targeted at
consumer and wireless devices such as digital TVs, set-top boxes, game consoles,
and mobile phones. The processor incorporates ARM Jazelle technology for Java
acceleration, ARM TrustZone key-enabling technology, and a Vector Floating-Point
(VFP) coprocessor to provide powerful acceleration for embedded 3D graphics.
The implementation will run with less than 500mW of power including caches. The ARM1176JZF-S
processor, and the Advantage cell library and memories for the TSMC 90GT
process, are available now.
Freescale
Releases v5.0 of CodeWarrior for HC(S)08 MCUs
Freescale Semiconductor has introduced v5.0 of its CodeWarrior Development
Studio for HC(S)08 Microcontrollers.
With more than 100 example projects to help programmers get started, the Fast
Track CodeWarrior software tools emphasize usability and allow developers to
create a working project in as few as seven mouse clicks. The tools also allow
switching target microcontrollers and the debug/Flash programming connection in
an open project, and offer product updates and service packs available directly
from freescale.com.
The Fast Track CodeWarrior tools maximize performance with ANSI C/C++ and
compact C++ compilers that include more than 60 advanced optimization strategies
specifically designed to boost performance and reduce code size for the HC(S)08
architecture. The high level of functionality of the C compilers is easily
accessible to first-time users, featuring an enhanced Windows-driven graphical
user interface (GUI).
The new Device Initialization tool provides a fast and easy way to configure and
generate initialization code. Programmers can add the code directly to their
project or create a separate text file.
CodeWarrior Development Studio for HC(S)08 Microcontrollers v5.0 is available
now via download from www.freescale.com/cw5. The Special Edition, with limited
16K C compiler is free of charge (subject to license agreement). Standard
Edition is available for a suggested resale price of $2,394 (USD) and the
Professional Edition has a suggested resale price of $4,794.
Freescale Semiconductor has introduced the first HCS08-core based
microcontrollers that support 5-Volt industrial and automotive applications. The MC9S08AW family features enhanced brown-out detection for controlled power-on reset in the
event of a brown-out or power failure.
The MC9S08AW family is based on Freescale's HCS08 central processing unit (CPU),
with 20 MHz maximum bus frequency, 32 to 60K integrated third-generation Flash
memory, on-chip debug interface, internal clock generator accurate to +/-2%,
16-channel 10-bit ADC, two timers with total of 8 programmable channels, IIC, 2x
SCI, SPI, 54 GPIO, and multiple system protection features. Available in 64 QFP,
64 LQFP, 48 QFN and 44 LQFP, the family has an operating temperature range of
-40 to +125 degrees C.
The MC9S08AW60 is in full production and available in 32K, 48K and 60K Flash
memory versions. The suggested resale price starts as low as $2.98 (USD) in
1,000-piece quantities.
Microchip Technology has announced the new PIC18F45J10 family.
The four PIC18F45J10/44J10/25J10/24J10 devices offer 40 MHz
performance at 3V at a 30-percent cost reduction over 5V microcontrollers.
Key features of the
PIC18F45J10 family include 16 or 32 Kbytes of Flash and 1 Kbyte of RAM, 10-bit
ADC with 10 or 13 channels, one Enhanced Capture/Compare PWM, one or two
standard CCPs, one or two SPI, two I2C, enhanced USART, two comparators, plus
one 8-bit and two 16-bit timers.
All four members of the PIC18F45J10 family are available now for general
sampling and volume production. The starting price range in 10,000-unit
quantities is $1.49 each for the PIC18F24J10 to $1.89 each for PIC18F45J10. The
PIC18F24J10 and PIC18F25J10 are offered in 28-pin QFN, SPDIP, SOIC and SSOP
packages. The PIC18F44J10 and PIC18F45J10 are available in 40-pin PDIP, and
44-pin QFN and TQFP, packages.
Microchip Technology has introduced a new
G.168-standard compliant Line Echo Cancellation software library (SW300080-EVAL) for its 16-bit dsPIC
Digital Signal Controllers.
Example applications that can benefit from these advanced libraries include:
hands-free cell phone kits, speaker phones, intercoms, VOIP solutions,
teleconferencing systems, and cellular telephony applications.
The G.168 Line Echo Cancellation Library is easily callable via a
well-documented API. Two user functions are associated with this library: one is
for initialization and the second function removes the echo component from a 5-,
10-, or 20-millisecond block of sampled 16-bit speech data. This library is
configurable for 16-, 32- or 64-millisecond maximum echo delays (echo
tail-lengths). Double-talk detection can be invoked to avoid updating filter
coefficients when there is simultaneous speech from both ends of the
communication link. As a result, the algorithm functions correctly in the
presence of full-duplex communication. Also, an optional non-linear processor
can be used to eliminate residual echo, which is typically caused by
non-linearity in the echo path.
The G.168 Line Echo Cancellation Library is compatible with Microchip's Noise
Suppression and Acoustic Echo Cancellation libraries, which are designed for a
similar range of applications.
All licensing options for the G.168 Line Echo Cancellation Library are
immediately available. Among these options is a one-year evaluation/development
license, which is unaltered from the libraries that are used for production and
can be purchased online at www.microchipdirect.com. The G.168 Line Echo
Cancellation Evaluation Library license (SW300080-EVAL) is $5USD. Unique,
one-time-fee licensing options are also available for production, starting at
$2,500USD for 5,000-unit products.
The new V850ES/Sx3 32-bit MCUs are available in two subseries: the V850ES/SJ3 and
V850ES/SG3. The MCUs feature Flash memory capacities ranging from 256 KB to 1
MB.
All of the new devices use the NEC Electronics 32-MHz V850ES CPU core and are
pin and software compatible with the existing V850ES/SJ2 and V850ES/SG2 MCUs.
The V850ES/SJ3 MCU features 144 pins, while the V850ES/SG3 MCU features 100
pins. Both products support the in-car CAN standard to allow high-speed data
transfer, and both also boast strong resistance to EMI noise for increased audio
fidelity.
Samples of the V850ES/SJ3 and V850ES/SG3 32-bit MCUs are available now. Mass
production is scheduled to start in October 2006 with a monthly production
projection of one million units. Availability is subject to change.
NEC Electronics has announced the V850E/Dx3
family of 32-bit microcontrollers, based on their existing V850 32-bit RISC CPU
core.
Application-specific peripherals integrated
on chip include stepper motor drivers, LCD controllers/drivers, parallel LCD bus
interfaces and sound generators. Additional integrated peripherals include up to
16 A/D channels, two CAN interfaces, an I2C bus and seventeen 16-bit timers.
The V850E/Dx3 32-bit microcontrollers consist of two subseries: one featuring a
24 MHz core and the second featuring a 48 MHz core. The MCUs provide a range of
memory options from 128 KB to 2 MB of Flash memory and up to 32 KB of RAM. These
devices are packaged in a 144-pin QFP.
Samples of various V850E/Dx3 32-bit microcontrollers are scheduled to be
available in the first quarter of 2006. Mass production is scheduled for the
second quarter of 2007. Availability is subject to change.
Philips Introduces First LPC3000-series 90nm ARM9 Microcontroller
Royal Philips Electronics has announced the availability of its first
90-nm ARM9-based microcontroller: the LPC3180. The new 32-bit MCU provides a vector floating-point co-processor and integrated USB On-The-Go,
as well as the ability to operate in ultra-low-power mode down to 0.9V.
The LPC3180 is the first microcontroller available in the Philips LPC3000
family, which is based on the ARM926EJ-S core. The on-board MMU supports major
operating systems including Linux. The on-chip Java byte-code co-processor
provides for basic security and authentication applications.
Flexible power management in the LPC3180 allows high peak performance,
especially for floating-point calculations, with speeds of up to 208 MHz, and
allows shutting down the core power domain while retaining real-time clock and
wake-up functionality.
The LPC3180 is the first ARM9 MCU to offer USB On-The-Go (OTG) integrated with
full host capability for direct connection to PDAs, smart-card readers and
printers. The large array of peripherals available on chip also include 7 UARTs,
SPI, I2C, a real-time clock with a separate power domain, NAND Flash, and DDR
memory controllers.
Samples of the LPC3180 microcontroller will be available in March 2006. A
development board with Linux will be demonstrated at Embedded World 2006 (booth
number 12-566) in Nürnberg, Germany from February 14 to 16, 2006.
Ramtron International Corporation has launched the
UniVersaKit (VERSAKIT-UVK), a development kit and evaluation system that
supports all Ramtron Versa product families as well as most industry-standard
8051 microcontrollers. The UniVersaKit ships complete with IDE, C compiler and
assembler.
The UniVersaKit is a complete and comprehensive evaluation platform for Versa
mixed-signal and low-cost Flash 8051-based MCU families. The UVK integrates the
required support circuitry to minimize startup time, accelerate system
prototyping and shorten time to market. The board includes voltage regulators
(3.3V and 5V), an RS232 transceiver, DB9 connectors, tact switches for manual
reset/interrupt triggering, user LEDs, a serial two-wire FRAM, Piezo buzzer and
driver circuitry, chip peripherals and I/Os that are easily accessible through
probe vias and header footprints, character LCD display expansion capabilities
and ample prototyping space.
The UniVersaKit development kit ships complete with a development board that
supports all Versa product families, the Versa-ICP for programming and
in-circuit debugging of Versa Mix 8051 MCUs, and a CD-ROM with user guides and
the Versa Ware Programming Software and IDE/Compiler/Assembler. The board can
have either a VMX51C1020 or VMX1016 device soldered on. Also included are a
sample of the Versa 8051 VRS51C1000-40-L-ISPVx, a serial cable and a power
supply.
Ramtron programming and debugging software is provided free with the UniVersaKit
and updates are posted at www.ramtron.com/doc/Products/microcontroller/supporttools.asp. The UVK is
available now for US $99.
Renesas Technology has announced the SH7785 microprocessor,
offering up to 600 MHz operation and incorporating the SuperH Family's top-end
SH-4A CPU core and a display unit comprising an LCD panel controller.
The SH7785 offers a 50% increase in speed and enhanced functions compared with
the current SH7780 (with maximum 400 MHz operation capability) incorporating an
SH-4A core.
The SH7785 incorporates an SH-4A CPU core with a maximum operating frequency of
600 MHz, providing high processing performance of 1 GIPS (giga instructions per
second) or more. Large-capacity on-chip cache memory (32 Kbytes each for
instructions and data) and RAM (8 Kbytes for instructions, 16 Kbytes for data,
and 128 Kbytes for common use) also help to speed up software processing. A
floating-point processing unit (FPU) with maximum 600 MHz operating capability
is also provided. The FPU supports single-precision and double-precision
operations, and achieves performance of 4.2 GFLOPS (giga floating-point
operations per second) in single-precision mode. The FPU also provides hardware
support of sine/cosine operations and vector arithmetic operations, helping to
speed up 3D graphics drawing processing.
An LCD panel controller capable of controlling multiple overlapping display
screens is included. It
is capable of superimposed display of up to three SVGA resolution (800 x 600
pixel) screens, four WVGA resolution (800 x 480 pixel) screens, or six 480 x 234
pixel screens. The maximum number of display colors is approximately 260,000,
enabling highly expressive image and video displays to be realized at low cost.
The display unit also offers advanced and versatile display control capabilities
such as overwriting of text information during streaming video playback.
The SH7785 has a 300 MHz 32-bit dedicated bus connectable to high-speed
DDR2-SDRAM, providing a maximum data transfer rate of 2.4 Gbytes/second.
A hardware data translation accelerator useful for moving image playback
provides high-speed execution of motion compensation, color data format
conversion, and, when used in combination with the display unit, enables moving
image playback and display to be performed by the SH7785 alone.
Numerous other on-chip peripheral modules are provided, including a PCI
bus controller, a direct
memory access controller, interrupt controller, watchdog timer, an interface for
connection to a audio CODEC IC, and various serial interfaces.
The package used is a 436-pin BGA (19 mm x 19 mm), approximately 20% smaller
than the current SH7780 package, enabling compact systems to be created. An
environment-friendly lead-free package version is also available. Sample
shipments will begin in May 2006 in Japan.
Sensory has announced the availability of new audio
technologies running on their RSC-4x microcontroller platform. These new
technologies give consumer electronic products extraordinary conversational and
interactive capabilities.
Now the RSC platform can implement a variety of new technologies that are great
for robotics and interactive creatures:
Beat detection -- picking up the amplitude of different sounds in the
room as they occur and reacting to them with a movement or display function.
Beat prediction -- chip figures out the recurring beat to know how to act
moving forward (great for dancing and motion oriented products).
Sound sourcing -- adding a second microphone allows the RSC processor to
locate the sound of a human voice.
Talk-back -- RSC can produce speech in response to your talking or
inquiries that appears to be conversational speech from a non-human creature.
Pitch detection -- a human pitched voice can be analyzed by the RSC
processor to figure out the pitches being sung.
Sing-back -- combining talk-back and pitch detection allows a robotic
creature or avatar to imitate a person singing.
STMicroelectronics has announced availability of a new
series of microcontrollers within the ST7Lite family, offering
a choice of 16- and 20-pin packages, and 2KB or 4KB of Flash memory. The ST7FLit1xB series is an extension of the established ST7Lite1
devices, with the addition of an enhanced 12-bit auto-reload timer, fast analog
comparator with 16 internal voltage references, and other features.
The 12-bit timer in the new series includes four independent PWM output channels
with programmable Dead Time generation, intended for use in half-bridge driving
mode in lighting and motor control applications where PWM signals must not be
allowed to overlap. The new comparator provides 16 selectable voltage
references, and alongside the 10-bit ADC with op-amp, which is available across
the ST7Lite family, makes the new series a cost-effective solution for many
power applications. Other new features are a 32MHz PLL and enhanced one-pulse
mode functionality to allow more flexibility in the use of the peripherals.
The ST7FLit1xB devices bridge the central features of the ST7Lite family. The 24
variants offer different combinations of 2KB or 4KB of Flash memory, either 128
bytes of data EEPROM or no EEPROM, and a 16-pin or 20-pin SO, DIP or QFN
package.
The 20-pin versions of the ST7FLit1xB series are in volume production now, in
both DIP and SO packages. U.S. pricing for the series is between $0.87 and $1.14
for quantities of 25,000 pieces.
STMicroelectronics today announced availability of larger
SRAM versions of the 8051-based uPSD3400 Turbo Plus microcontroller series. The
new uPSD3454E devices integrate 32 Kbytes of SRAM and 256 Kbytes of Flash
memory, together with USB 2.0 Full-Speed and a range of other interfaces and
peripherals.
The core of the uPSD3400 Turbo Plus series is a high-performance,
4-cycle-per-instruction, 40 MHz 8032 MCU, further enhanced by a 16-bit internal
instruction path enabling double-byte instructions to be fetched in a single
memory cycle. The wider path coupled with a pre-fetch queue and branch cache
brings average performance to 9 MIPS, with peak performance at 10 MIPS.
On-chip programmable logic -– which includes 16 macrocells with an architecture
similar to the industry-standard 22V10 PLDs –- eliminates the need for external
glue logic to keypads, panels and LCDs, and allows the creation of functions
such as shifters, counters and chip selects. A free software development tool is
available for PLD configuration. Integrated peripherals include USB 2.0
Full-Speed (12 Mbps), eight 10-bit ADC channels, I2C, SPI, two UARTs with
independent baud rate, IrDA support and up to 45 configurable I/O pins depending
on package size.
In addition to the three standard 8032 16-bit timers and a flexible 12-source
interrupt system, a 16-bit Programmable Counter Array includes dual independent
counter blocks, each with three modules. Each module can function as a 16-bit
capture/compare, 16-bit timer/counter, or as an 8-, 10- or 16-bit PWM
controller.
The uPSD3454E (5.0V) and uPSD3454EV (3.3V) MCUs with 32 Kbytes of SRAM and 256
Kbytes of Flash memory are available in both TQFP80 and TQFP52 packages, with a
lead time of 4 to 6 weeks. U.S. pricing is from $6.98 in quantities of 10,000.
MicroController Pros Corporation (µCPros) is an authorized
distributor for many microcontroller tool vendors, which enables us to offer you
a large selection of Microcontroller Development Tools for almost any major
microcontroller architecture.
The
MicroControllerShop (http://microcontrollershop.com) puts convenient and
secure online shopping, feature- and price-comparison on your computer's
desktop. Microcontroller Development Tools featured at the
MicroControllerShop
include: Emulators, EPROM programmers, FLASH programmers, microcontroller C-
compilers, assemblers, emulator accessories, pin adapters, pin converters,
microcontroller starter kits and embedded evaluation boards for various
microcontroller architectures and manufacturers.
copyright 2006 by
MicroController Pros Corporation
visit our web
http://www.ucpros.com
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