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Cypress Unveils Ground-Breaking High Level Development Tool For Rapid Creation of Mixed-Signal, Microcontroller-Based Designs
PSoC Express(TM) Makes Custom Embedded Designs Possible Without
Requiring Designers to Use Microcontroller Code
LYNNWOOD, Wash.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—March 14, 2005—
Cypress MicroSystems, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp.
(NYSE:CY), today introduced PSoC Express(TM), an innovative new
development tool for Cypress's PSoC(TM) mixed-signal arrays that
dramatically improves mixed-signal design practices.
PSoC Express is the first development tool that allows system
engineers to develop microcontroller-based designs at a level that
does not require any Assembly language or C programming. By operating
at a higher level of abstraction than previously possible and removing
the necessity to develop the required firmware, PSoC Express enables
new designs to be created, simulated and programmed to the targeted
PSoC device in hours or days instead of in weeks or months.
Cypress's PSoC mixed signal arrays are programmable SOCs that
integrate a microcontroller and the analog and digital components that
typically surround it in an embedded system. A single PSoC device can
integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions and a microcontroller,
saving customers design time, board space, power consumption, and
system costs. PSoC Express dramatically lowers barriers to entry for
engineers desiring to exploit the flexibility of microcontroller-based
solutions for a wide range of applications.
George Saul, President of Cypress MicroSystems, comments, "Just as
the object-oriented paradigm freed software developers from the
complexity imposed by structured programming languages, PSoC Express
frees hardware designers from the intricacies of current embedded
development/design environments. Designers can now create robust,
complex SOC solutions quickly and painlessly using PSoC Express. PSoC
Express delivers the full power and flexibility of PSoC mixed-signal
arrays while making it unnecessary for the designer to know or use
programming languages."
With PSoC Express, designers work within their areas of
application expertise, defining a custom solution by choosing input
and output devices from a catalog, and then logically linking them to
define system behavior. For example, a user can select temperature
sensors, voltage inputs, fans, LEDs, and then define temperature
regions for fan operation, voltage monitor thresholds and
"sequence-on" logic. Within PSoC Express the designer is able to
verify designs through simulation, then generate and download the
device-programming file. The new tool also creates customized project
documentation including a datasheet with register map, interface
schematics, and bill of materials. Without writing any microcontroller
code, designers implement reliable, custom applications faster than
they can write the requirements.
Max Baron, Principal Analyst for In-Stat and Senior Editor of the
Microprocessor Report, said, "PSoC Express is the world's first Visual
Resource-Based development tool for microcontrollers. It is now
possible for OEM system designers to rapidly develop embedded designs
for a broad range of applications whether or not they are familiar
with Assembly or C programming."
To further accelerate the design cycle, PSoC Express contains
illustrative examples that the designer can learn from, use "as-is" or
modify to meet specific application requirements. This is just one
level of the content-driven architecture underlying PSoC Express. A
proprietary application generation engine (linked transparently to the
award winning PSoC Designer(TM) low-level code generator) utilizes a
catalog including real-world-device drivers (e.g. fans, thermistors,
switches, voltages, etc.), transfer functions (threshold checking,
truth table, priority encoder, etc.) and communication protocols like
I2C and RS232, all of which are combined visually by the designer to
build custom solutions. Cypress plans to release quarterly catalog
updates and later this year will release a complete Content
Developer's Guide to enable third parties to generate PSoC Express
content.
Darren Ashby, Electronics Product Manager at Icon Health and
Fitness, said, "I have tried nearly every 8-bit MCU on the market, and
what sets the PSoC architecture apart is its tremendous flexibility.
Now, with the new PSoC Express, we can take advantage of that
flexibility to solve real world problems unbelievably fast. Engineers
are visual by nature, and PSoC Express caters to that, making the PSoC
architecture easier to design with than any other 8-bit micro I have
seen."
Pricing and Availability
PSoC Express is available today, at no charge, from Cypress's web
site at http://www.cypress.com/psocexpress. The PSoC Express
Development Kit (CY3210-ExpressDK) is available on the Cypress Online
Store.
Users can register for a free PSoC Express web seminar on March 16
at http://cmpnetseminars.com/TSG/default.asp?q=176&;K=0N24. Recorded
versions of Cypress on-line seminars are also available in the
"Events" section of the Cypress web site (www.cypress.com).
About the PSoC Family
PSoC devices are configurable mixed signal arrays that integrate a
fast 8-bit microcontroller with many peripheral functions typically
found in an embedded design. PSoC devices provide the advantages of an
ASIC without the ASIC NRE or turn-around time. A single PSoC device
can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions with a
microcontroller, saving customers design time, board space, power
consumption and from 5 cents to as much as $10 in system costs. Easy
to use development tools enable designers to select configurable
library elements to provide analog functions such as amplifiers, ADCs,
DACs, filters and comparators and digital functions such as timers,
counters, PWMs, SPI and UARTs. The PSoC family's analog features
include rail-to-rail inputs, programmable gain amplifiers and up to
14-bit ADCs with exceptionally low noise, input leakage and voltage
offset. PSoC devices include up to 32KB of Flash memory, 2KB of SRAM,
an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator, power and sleep monitoring
circuits, and hardware I2C communications.
All PSoC devices are dynamically reconfigurable, enabling
designers to create new system functions on-the-fly. Designers can
achieve more than 120 percent utilization of the die in many cases, by
reconfiguring the same silicon for different functions at different
times. In the automotive PSoC LIN bus reference design, the same
digital blocks are reconfigured four times to support the different
LIN communication modes; in doing so, these blocks consume less than
10 percent of PSoC hardware resources and less than 10 percent of the
PSoC MCU cycles.
Software and Support
PSoC Designer, the traditional software development environment
for PSoC, is a full-featured, GUI-based design tool suite that enables
the user to configure design-in silicon with simple point and click
options. With PSoC Designer, users can code the MCU in either C or
assembly language; and debug the design using sophisticated features
such as event triggers and multiple break points, while
single-stepping through code in C or assembly or a mix of the two.
PSoC Designer is free and can also be downloaded at
http://www.cypress.com/psocexpress.
About Cypress MicroSystems
Headquartered in Lynnwood, Wash., Cypress MicroSystems develops
and markets the expanding Programmable System-on-Chip (PSoC) product
family - high-performance, field-programmable mixed signal integration
products for high-volume embedded control functions in consumer,
industrial, office automation, telecom and automotive applications.
The close association with Cypress Semiconductor allows access to
their process and design technology, and field sales and applications
forces. More information about Cypress MicroSystems and its successful
line of PSoC products-as well as access to over 150 PSoC applications
notes-is available online at www.cypress.com.
About Cypress
Cypress solutions are at the heart of any system that is built to
perform: consumer, computation, data communications, automotive,
industrial, and solar power. Leveraging a strong commitment to
customer service and performance-based process and manufacturing
expertise, Cypress's product portfolio includes a broad selection of
wired and wireless USB devices, CMOS image sensors, timing solutions,
network search engines, specialty memories, high-bandwidth synchronous
and micropower memory products, optical solutions, and reconfigurable
mixed-signal arrays. Cypress stock is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the ticker symbol CY. More information about the
company is available online at www.cypress.com.
Cypress and the Cypress logo are registered trademarks of Cypress
Semiconductor Corporation. "Visual Embedded Programming",
"Programmable System-on-Chip," PSoC, PSoC Designer and PSoC Express
are trademarks of Cypress PCD. All other trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.
Contact:
Cypress Public Relations
Don Parkman, 408-943-4885
DSP@cypress.com
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