- Category: Freescale
Freescale unveils Cortex-A5 based Vybrid controller family
New platform spans solutions from single core to dual heterogeneous core with GPU.
"The devices in the Vybrid family span the entry-level product for customers who want to upgrade from the Kinetis MCU to an MPU with large on-chip SRAM to a highly integrated, heterogeneous dual-core MPU ideal for industrial markets. Each device in the Vybrid family offers a rich suite of reference designs, app notes, Board Support Packages (BSP) and middleware."
- Category: NXP
LPC1300 Reloaded (in 64 pin package)
After few years on the market NXP has refreshed the LPC1300 MCU line with chips carrying more Flash,SRAM, EEPROM, 12-bit ADC and an I²C Fast-mode Plus (Fm+) interface. And for the first time a Cortex-M3 chip in a 64 pin LQFP64 package! Is this the end of life for probably the best ARM7TDMI line of MCUs i.e. LPC2138/LPC2148? Not likely, quick glance at the pining information reveals that it is close but not exactly. So DO NOT try to just swap the chips on the board as the smoke test is guaranteed to produce hot chips and a lot of smoke due to some swapped VSS and VDD pins. Must be a coincidence.
The new new chips are LPC1315, LPC1316, LPC1317, LPC1345, LPC1346 and LPC1347.
Press release - web page link
- Category: Designs
LPCXPRESSO based MIDIbox
Very nice project showing how to transform LPC1769 LPCXPresso into a useful MIDI application.
As a bonus it has step by step instructions on how to amputate LPC-Link JTAG and then nicely reattach it!
- Category: OpenSource
gRX OS board
"The RX/62N OS Development Board has the following features:
- RX/62N Processor running at 96 MHz
- 32 or 64 Mb of 16-bit SDRAM"
and many more
- Category: Renesas
RX architecture
ARM architecture is not the only option in the 32-bit micro world. Renesas developed RX family has some very interesting features. For a good introduction to what was driving development of the RX family see Renesas web site link below.
"The high-performance RX CPU architecture" - web page link
"Fig. 2-2. Optimization of register number
・The use of general-purpose register offers better performance for both arithmetic and control operations
・With only 8 registers, the performance drops and code size increases due to frequent occurrence of save/restore processing in the register
・Hardware volume and specified bit number within the instruction code rises along with the increase of register number'
- Category: Sensors
Ultra-Sensitive Electrical Biosensor Unlocks Potential for Instant Diagnostic Devices
"A new quantum mechanical-based biosensor designed by a team at University of California, Santa Barbara offers tremendous potential for detecting biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations, from instant point-of-care disease diagnostics, to detection of trace substances for forensics and security."
"Biosensors based on conventional FETs have been gaining momentum as a viable technology for the medical, forensic, and security industries since they are cost-effective compared to optical detection procedures. Such biosensors allow for scalability and label-free detection of biomolecules – removing the step and expense of labeling target molecules with fluorescent dye.
The principle behind any FET-based biosensor is similar to the FETs used in digital circuit applications, except that the physical gate is removed and the work of the gate is carried out by charged versions of the biomolecules it intends to detect. For immobilizing these biomolecules, the dielectric surface enclosing the semiconductor is coated with specific receptors, which can bind to the target biomolecules – a process called conjugation."
Web page link
- Category: Tablet
iFixit guts newest iPad and finds A5X dual core processor
... and a bunch of other chips but no quad-core A6.
"Some crafty spudgering reveals the A5X processor in all its glory.
Like the A5, the A5X system features a 1 GHz dual-core CPU. The upgrade that earns it an 'X' is the new GPU, which Apple claims outperforms even Nvidia's Tegra 3 processor.
This particular chip was manufactured in the first week of 2012. Maybe our iPad marks the start of the end of the world."
You can find all the "gory" details of the iPad 3 4G Teardown here:
- Category: Designs
STM32 based geiger counter design
Open source hardware from bunnie:studios.
"I decided my tiny contribution to the effort would be to design a radiation monitor suitable for everyday civilian use. This is a preventative/preparedness measure, addressing the long-term issue of empowering a civilian population with few available options for power generation to self-monitor their environment. The problem with the current crop of radiation monitors is that they are basically laboratory instruments: accurate & reliable, but bulky, expensive, and difficult to use, requiring a degree in nuclear physics to understand exactly what the readings meant. Another problem with crises like these is that while radiation monitoring is important, it's something that is typically neglected by the civilian population until it is too late."
- Category: Embedded Systems
Is System Modeling the Next EDA Abstraction Level?
"System vendors own the user experience, which is driven by software "apps." Hardware platforms consolidate around applications, and software changes the hardware/software development process. As a result, "hardware and software get closer together. This is really the driving factor in EDA, the need to consider hardware and software together much more closely," Schirrmeister said.
This closeness is reflected in the current move to transaction-level modeling (TLM), a technology that gives rise to virtual platforms and high-level synthesis. But what's beyond that? The next level of abstraction is neither "hardware" nor "software." It is hardware and software independent level called "system modeling." This is not a new idea - in fact, Schirrmeister reused the following slide from a presentation in 2002:"
Blog page link