CNXSoft – Embedded Software Development

Atmel has just announced its SAM D20 family of embedded Flash micro-controllers based on ARM Cortex-M0+ processor core, designed for low power applications such as home automation, consumer, smart metering and industrial applications.

Atmel SAM D20 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit

The key features of Atmel SAM D20 MCUs are as follows:

• Cortex M0+ @ 48MHz, 2.14 Coremark/MHz
• Single-cycle IO access, supporting a pin toggling frequency up to 24 MHz
• Eight-channel event system
• Peripherals:
  • Four to six serial communication modules (SERCOM) configurable as UART/USART, SPI or I2C
  • Up to eight 16-bit Timer/Counters
  • Peripheral touch controller (PTC) that supports up to 256 channels and supports buttons, sliders, wheels, and proximity
  • Real Time Clock (RTC) and calendar with leap year correction
  • 12-bit 350ksps ADC and 10-bit DAC
• Power Consumption:
  • <150µA/MHz
  • <2µA RAM retention and RTC
  • Options between internal and external oscillators and on-the-fly clock switching

The family supports features 14 new devices available in 32-, 48- and 64-pin package options with 16 to 256KB of Flash memory, and 2 to 32KB RAM.

Atmel SAMD20 Block Diagram

SAM D20 series is supported by the same Atmel Studio and Atmel Software Framework used for Atmel AVR MCUs. The company also providesSAM D20 Xplained Pro evaluation kit (Pictured at the top of this post) with the following specifications:

• SAMD20J18 microcontroller (64-pin package, 32KB SRAM, 256KB flash)
• One mechanical reset button
• One mechanical user pushbutton (wake-up, bootloader entry or general purpose)
• One yellow user LED
• 32.768kHz crystal
• 3 Xplained Pro extension headers
• Program/debug interface for external targets
• Embedded Debugger
  • Auto-ID for board identification in Atmel Studio 6.1
  • One yellow status LED
  • One green board power LED
  • Symbolic debug of complex data types including scope information
  • Programming and debugging
  • Data Gateway Interface: SPI, I²C, 4 GPIOs
  • Virtual COM port (CDC)
• USB powered
• Supported with application examples in Atmel Software Framework

The Xplained PRO kit also comes pre-loaded with software that can be re-programmed, debugged and prototyped without any additional tools.

Samples of 128KB 32-pin, and 256KB 48-and 64 pin products are available in QFN and QFP packages now with pricing starting at $1.02 USD for 1K units of the 16KB, 32-pin QFN package. SAM D20 Xplained Pro kit can be purchased for $39 from Atmel Store.

Further information is available on Atmel SAM D20 microsite, and you may want to read “An intelligent remote control with Atmel’s SAM D20 under the hood” blog post to see a practical application using SAM D20 MCU.

Texas Instrument launched SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 in Q1 2012 in order to bring WiFi connectivity to any device including 8-bit or 16-bit MCU, as CC3300 internally handled all networking tasks, and exchange data with the MCU via an SPI interface. This Wi-Fi processor allows to use Wi-Fi for data transmission for the Internet of Things, and offers much better battery than other system relying on software to handle network traffic. Today, the company has just announced SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack, a low cost evaluation platform that works with both MSP430 and Tiva C Series LaunchPad evaluation kits, and sells for $35.

SimpleLink CC3000 BoosterPack

SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack features and benefits as seen in the press release:

LaunchPad Board with CC3300 BoosterPack

• SmartConfig technology:
  • One-step Wi-Fi configuration using smartphones, tablets or PCs
  • Easy network setup for display-less (headless) devices
  • Simultaneous multiple device provisioning
  • iOS, Android and Java sample applications available
  • Royalty-free software
• Flexible memory size – Small memory foot print of CC3000 module for easy integration with low-cost MCUs such as ultra-low power MSP430 Value Line
• Service discovery – Quick discovery of network-provisioned devices via smartphones and tablets using mDNS
• Pre-certified $9.99 CC3000 module – Reduces costs to add Wi-Fi to MCU-based designs

Other interesting details is that it support 802.11 b/g, and IPv4 TCP/IP Stack. There’s no mention of IPv6, which might be an issue for some IoT applications. Transmisstion power is +18dBm at 11Mbps, CCK, and Rx Sensitivity -86dBm, 8% PER, at 11Mbps.

CC3300 BoosterPack measures 16.3mm × 13.5mm × 2mm, can operate in -20°C to 70°C temperature range, and comes with porting and user guides, an API guide, sample applications, and support via the community. There’s also a “Radio Tool Package” executable for Windows, which probably contains the tools needed for development.

You can watch the introduction video below.

The SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack is available now through TI eStore for $35 including shipping, or through distributors. Two other bundles are also available:

• CC3000 BoosterPack with MSP430 LaunchPad (MSP-EXP430G2-CC3000BOOST) for $40.99, and available now.

• CC3000 BoosterPack with the Tiva C Series LaunchPad (EK-TM4C123GXL-CC3000BOOST) for $43.99. Not available yet, and ETA has not been provided.

More information is available on www.ti.com/cc3000boost.

BSQUARE has recently announced the availability of its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Mobile Development Platform (MDP), based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8974 (LTE), which will be released both in tablet and smartphone form factor. This development platfom has been designed for application developers and device manufacturers so that they can develop, test, optimize and showcase apps in Android 4.2.2 powered by the latest Qualcomm SoCs.

Snapdragon 800 Tablet and Smartphone MDPs

Snapdragon 800 Tablet and Smartphone MDP specifications:

The only difference between the tablet and smartphone MDP is the display size and resolution. These are ones of the rare development platforms that come with 802.11ac, a new Wi-Fi standard allowing data transfer at up to 1.3 Gbps, as well as USB 3.0. Both MDPs ship pre-loaded with Android 4.2.2. Development can be performed with tools such as the Snapdragon SDK,  AllJoyn SDK for peer-to-peer connectivity , and/or the Vuforia SDK for augmented reality apps.

Bsquare MDP can be purchased now for $799 and $1099, for respectively the smartphone and tablet version, with 3 to 4 weeks lead time “due to high demand”, and the price includes 30 minutes of support. Further information is available on Bsquare’s Snapdragon MDP page.

Via Linuxgizmos and BSquare newsletter.

VIA Technologies has recently announced the VAB-600 Pico-ITX embedded board featuring WonderMedia WM8950 ARM Cortex A9 SoC clocked at 800MHz. VIA targets in-vehicle infotainment as well as mobile and healthcare applications for the board despite an operating temperature range between 0°C and 60°C.

VIA VAB-600 Pico-ITX Board (Click to Enlarge)

Here are the key features of this embedded board:

• SoC – Wondermedia WM8950 Cortex-A9 @ 800MHz  + Mali-400 GPU
• System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM
• Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash memory + 512KB SPI Flash for Boot Loader + microSD slot
• Video Output – Mini HDMI, on-board DVO (Digital Video Output) for TTL or LVDS display
• Video Codecs – MPEG2 MP@HL, MPEG4, H.264 BP/MP/[email protected], VC-1 SP/MP/AP, VP8 and JPEG/MJPEG.
• USB -  2x mini USB 2.0 host ports
• Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (VT6113), 3G (SIM card slot) and optional WiFi support (VIA VNT9271B6050 WiFi module shared with one USB port)
• On-board Connectors:
  • 2x COM connectors
  • 1x RTC battery pin header
  • 1x USB 2.0 connector
  • 1x SPI connector for programming SPI Flash ROM
  • 1x Keypad connector
  • 1x CIR connector
  • 1x Front audio pin header for Line-in, Line-out and MIC-in
  • 1x Front panel pin header for system power-on, reset and power LED
  • 4-wire resistive touch screen FPC connector (through VT1603A)
  • 1x pin header for 1 I2C pair and 8 GPIO
  • Optional battery charger connector with Smart Battery function
• Operating Temperature Range – 0°C to 60°C
• Operating Humidity – 0% ~ 95% (relative humidity ; non-condensing)
• Dimensions – 10cm x 7.2cm Pico-ITX form factor

The company provides board support packages (BSPs) for Android 4.0 and/or Embedded Linux (Kernel 3.0.8). Android 4.0 EVK is available for download here, but there’s nothing for Linux yet. Before downloading the file you’ll have to agree to a “Non-Disclosure and Recipient Acknowledgment for Short Term Sample Products Evaluation”, which I find a bit silly for a publicly available file…

VIA also offers a startker kit including VIA VAB-600 Pico-ITX board, VAB-600-A I/O card, VAB-600-C TTL Converter card, a 7” touch screen TTL panel, cables and a 18W AC adapter.

VIA VAB-600 Starter Kit (Click to Enlarge)

Sample units of the VIA VAB-600 Pico-ITX board are available now at an undisclosed price. Further information, including the board user’s manual and product brief, is available on VIA’s VAB-600 page.

Texas Instruments has just announced the Tiva ARM MCU platform, and specifically the Tiva C Series TM4C123x ARM Cortex-M4 MCUs, which are the first Cortex-M MCUs to be built on 65 nanometer flash process technology. The Tiva C Series TM4C123x MCUs, formerly known as Stellaris LM4F MCUs, are available now and target home, building and industrial automation.

Key features and benefits of Tiva C Series MCUs:

• MCU Core – ARM Cortex-M4 floating-point core, operating at up to 80 MHz.
• Mixed-signal applications with high-performance analog integration – 2×12-bit ADC and 3 comparators.12-bit ADC accuracy is achievable at the full 1 MSPS rating without any hardware averaging.
• On-chip connectivity options - USB (host, device and On-The-Go), UARTs, I2C, SSI/SPI, CAN, etc..
• Non-volatile storage of user interface or configuration parameters to reduce system cost – Thanks to integrated EEPROM.
• Low power -  Standby currents as low as 1.6 uA.
• Large choice of MCU RAM and storage sizes – Up to 256KB flash and 32KB SRAM.

On the software side, TI-RTOS, a real-time operating system, is available to all TI MCUS, and for applications that do not need an operating system, TivaWare for C Series MCUs is a free toolkit allowing “no OS” software development. Support is available through FAE or via E2E online community. As with its other MCUs, Texas Instruments also provides a low cost evaluation kit.

EK-TM4C123GXL Launchpad Evalkit

EK-TM4C132G LaunchPad includes:

• A TM4C123G LaunchPad Evaluation board with TM4C123GH6PM MCU (256KB Flash / 32KB SRAM)
• On-board In-Circuit Debug Interface (ICDI)
• USB Micro-B plug to USB-A plug cable
• Preloaded RGB quickstart application
• ReadMe First quick-start guide

The board is compatible with TI’s BoosterPacks should you need to extend the capabilities of the board.

The Tiva C Series TM4C123x MCUs are available now and price starts at 2.15 USD in 10K quantities. The LaunchPad kit (EK-TM4C123GXL) can be purchased on TI e-Store for $12.99 now, but you’ll need to wait 8 to 10 weeks before delivery. TI also announced Tiva C Series devices with Ethernet capabilities will be available in in the near future. Further information can be found in Tiva C Series page.

Have you ever dreamed of a single board with the power of 4 Raspberry Pi and Arduino Due functionality? This dream should soon become reality thanks to UDOO single board computer. This open source hardware board is powered by Freescale i.MX6 Dual or Quad with 1GB RAM, as well as Atmel SAM3 Cortex M3 MCU that provides access to Arduino compatible headers.

Here are the specifications of the board:

• SoC – Freescale i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9 CPU Dual/Quad Core @ 1GHz + Vivante GPU
• MCU – Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 (same as Arduino Due)
• System Memory – 1GB DDR3
• Storage – micro SD (boot device) + SATA (i.MX6 Quad only)
• Video Output – HDMI and LVDS + Touch (I2C signals)
• Audio I/O – Analog Audio and Mic
• Expansion Headers – 54 Digital I/O + Analog Input (Arduino-compatible R3 1.0 pinout)
• Connectivity
  • Ethernet RJ45 (10/100/1000 MBit)
  • WiFi Module
• USB – mini USB and mini USB OTG,  2x USB type A (x2) and USB connector (requires a specific wire)
• Camera connection
• Power Supply – 12V power adapter and external battery connector
• Dimensions – 11 cm x 8.5 cm

The UDOO board will run Android 4.0 ICS and Ubuntu Linaro 11.10 initially. The Kicksrtarte video below gives and overview of the board, and showcases 6 use cases: educational kit, digital signage with RFID reader, games using sensors, automation, Android hacking with Arduino motor shield (Google ADK 2012), and digital urban furniture.

Seco, an Italian embedded systems company, is a partner of the project, and I’ve written about Seco‘s products several times before, so I’m pretty sure any technical and manufacturing challenges will be resolved. They are also building a community around the board involving some universities (Carnegie Mellon, USA; University of California San Diego, USA; Aarhus University, DK; Siena, IT; OCADU Toronto; CA) before opening up to the rest of the world. The schematics, documentation, education materials, etc.. will eventually be available on udoo.org.

The UDOO board is on Kickstarter, and they have already reached the $27,000 US funding target of their campaign.  You can get an UDOO board for as low as $99 and up to $169 depending on the options you select. Most pledged have gone to the $99 version with Freescale i.MX6 dual with Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but the one I really find interesting is the $129 pledge with Freescale i.MX6 Quad, as you get 1GBe, Wi-Fi, SATA, and Arduino compatible MCU and header. If you prefer received the board with a 12V power adapter, an HDMI cable, and 2 SD card preloaded with Android and Ubuntu, it will cost you $169. Design is almost complete and the boards should start to ship in September 2013. If you live outside the US, you’ll have to add $15 for shipping.

Thanks to Teji and renw0rp for the tip.

You may have previously heard about ULP-COM (Ultra Low Power CoM), a standard for systems and computers on module. The standard has been ratified by the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) in February 2013, and renamed to SMARC (Smart Mobility ARChitecture). This standard is specifically designed for low power designed, and is currently only used with ARM SoC. Kontron was involved in the design of this standard, released several ULP-COM, now SMARC, compatible CoM based on TI, Freescale and Nvidia SoC, and yesterday the company just announced SMARC Starterkit will all hardware and software components needed to get started with evaluation and development.

This starter kit comes in a carrying case with the following items:

• SMARC Evaluation Carrier Board
• 7″ Display PM070W4 (WVGA – 800×480)
• Touch USB Kit ETP04USBR
• Mounting Kit
• Adapter and Cables:
  • 1x Kontron LVDS Jili30 Adapter incl. cable
  • 1x DSUB9
  • 1x micro USB USB A
• Storage
  • SanDisk MicroSDHC-Card 8GB incl. SD-Card Adapter
  • Crucial m4 SSD 32GB, mSATA 6Gb/s
• USB Stick with manual and drivers
• Power Supply – 5V/3A + support for Li-Ion battery 3.6/7.2/10.8V (not included)

A SMARC CoM is not included, but you can optionally ask to have one of the three CoM below installed, configured and shipped with the kit:

• SMARC-sA3874i – SMARC computer-on-module powered by Texas Instruments Sitara AM3874 Cortex A8 SoC
• SMARC-sAMX6i – SMARC compliant CoM based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual or Quad Cortex A9 SoC
• SMARC-sAT30 – SMARC CoM powered by Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core Cortex A9 processor

The first 2 modules can operate in industrial temperature ranges (-40 °C to +85 °C) and are especially suited for military, transportation and other demanding applications, and the Nvidia modules are better suited to graphic-hungry applications such as points of sales/information, and medical application.

The kit supports the following key features (as defined in SMARC standard):

• Serial ports – RS232
• 2x mini PCIe interface
• 1x PCIe interface
• SDIO 4-bit interface to micro SD connector
• Gibabit Ethernet
• 7 port USB hub supporting multiple I/O options
• CSI – Camera Serial Interface
• Accelerometer
• Can Bus interface

The company provides support for Windows Embedded Compact, Linux & Android operating systems for their modules. BSP (Board Support Package), BIOS images, product change notifications (PCNs), 3D models for CAD, and software development tools are available in the customer section of the site.

You may obtain further details and/or request information on Kontron’s SMARC Starterkit page.