Freescale Expands ColdFire Portfolio USB Options For Industrial Connectivity
Austin, TX - Universal serial bus (USB), a mainstay in the consumer market, is rapidly emerging as a de facto communications standard within the industrial marketplace. Helping designers respond to this market opportunity, Freescale Semiconductor has expanded its 32-bit ColdFire USB device portfolio to offer flexible USB connectivity for a wide range of industrial applications, according to the company source.
Freescale's ColdFire USB portfolio expansion includes the MCF5221x microcontroller (MCU) family with Full-Speed USB On-The-Go (OTG) and the MCF5253 embedded processor with Hi-Speed USB OTG. Leveraging an optimized architecture designed for low operating voltage, these ColdFire devices are designed to deliver low power consumption without compromising performance. The devices come standard with a complimentary USB software stack created in collaboration with CMX Systems, enabling developers to streamline the design process and accelerate time to market.
"Our expanded ColdFire portfolio provides new choices for designers who want affordable, power-efficient industrial USB connectivity," said Mike McCourt, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Microcontroller Division. "Our latest ColdFire USB controllers will allow developers to quickly and easily upgrade their serial applications to USB, helping improve the performance and functionality of their industrial control systems."
ColdFire controllers with USB OTG provide highly integrated embedded control for designers who need cost-effective USB connectivity for industrial control, factory automation, HVAC systems, fire/security systems, point-of-sale equipment and health care monitoring instrumentation. The ColdFire devices can also be used in consumer applications that require USB connectivity, such as digital cameras, PDAs and PC interfaces.
USB OTG gives developers the option of using the on-chip USB module as a USB device or a USB host. USB OTG also allows multiple USB devices to communicate without a host interface, making it ideal for system-to-system communication applications. The ColdFire USB controllers also integrate USB transceivers on chip, which reduces system cost and board space and simplifies system designs based on these devices.
MCF5221x microcontroller family
The MCF5221x MCU family provides a cost-effective, single-chip embedded control solution that implements USB 2.0 Full-speed Host/Device OTG with an integrated USB transceiver. The MCF5221x family offers a smooth migration to other higher performance ColdFire devices with USB connectivity. Additional MCF5221x product features include:
- ColdFire V2 core delivering 76 Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS at 80 MHz
- Up to 128Kbytes of flash memory
- 16Kbytes SRAM
- Up to 56 general-purpose I/O (GPIO)
- Two-channel periodic interrupt timer
- Two inter-integrated circuit bus interface modules
- Four-channel 32-bit timers with DMA support
- Real-time clock with 32kHz crystal
- 12-bit analog to digital converter (ADC)
- Up to three on-chip UARTs
- Available speeds: 66 MHz and 80 MHz
MCF5253 embedded processor
The MCF5253 is a high-performance, cost-effective embedded control solution with Hi-Speed USB OTG and an integrated USB PHY. It features 128Kbytes of static random access memory (SRAM), which enables single-cycle access to critical data or control functions. The MCF5253 also includes an enhanced multiply/accumulate (eMAC) module, which eliminates the need for an off-chip DSP to handle signal processing or filtering tasks. Additional MCF5253 product features include:
- ColdFire V2 core with up to 125 Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS at 140 MHz with integrated eMAC module
- 8Kbytes I-cache
- SDRAM controller
- Two CAN 2.0B modules
- I<>S interface (Rx x2/Tx x3)
- Three UARTs with flow control
- Dedicated ATA hard disk interface
- Flash media card interface
- Real-time clock module
- Four-channel DMA controller with 4 DMA channels
- Six-channel 12-bit A/D converter
- Power-efficient design: 1.2V core, 3.3V I/O, under 40mA current draw at 140 MHz
Development tools support
Freescale's latest ColdFire USB controllers are supported by a comprehensive set of software development tools, including a complimentary Special Edition version of Freescale's CodeWarrior Development Studio for ColdFire, v6.4 or later. Other professional-grade software tools and operating systems are available through partnerships with world-class suppliers, such as Green Hills Software, Mentor Graphics and Wind River.
Free open-source GNU tools are available to support the ColdFire product line. These tools can be downloaded from Freescale's website, and they are also available directly from CodeSourcery.
To help reduce software development cost and time, a complimentary USB software stack from CMX is available for both the MCF5221x family and the MCF5253 device. In addition, Freescale also offers a µCLinux Board Support Package (BSP) with an integrated USB stack for the MCF5253 device.
SOURCE: Freescale Semiconductor