Atmel Launches Family of Power Efficient ARM Microcontrollers

Atmel SAM4L processors target designs that need both performance and low power usage.  An evaluation kit is available for $149 at the Atmel store with an integrated power meter.

This family uses the ARM Cortex-M4 processor which has the highest performance in the Cortex-M family and includes control and signal processing capabilities.  For pricing and availability see this Atmel press release.

SAM4L-EK: Overview

The SAM4L-EK evaluation kit features an ATSAM4LC4C with 256K flash and 48MHz max clock frequency.  The kit includes an on-board Segger J-Link, capacative touch area, USB device connector, light sensor, audio jack, segmented LCD, a wireless interface header and an add-on board header for Atmel Sensors Xplained boards.  A unique feature of this board is the real-time power monitoring section with OLED color display.

New Low-Power ARM Processors Available from Freescale

Cortex-M0+ processors and $12.95 development platform are now in stock at Mouser  The Cortex-M0+ is the most energy efficient ARM processor and is currently only available in the Freescale Kinetis L series MCU family.  Currently available are a KL25 with USB and a KL15, both with 128KB program memory, 16KB data RAM, and 48MHz clock frequency.

The FRDM-KL25Z Freescale Freedom Development Platform is also available at other distributors including DigiKey.  It includes a Capacitive touch slider, accelerometer, tri-color LED, OpenSDA USB to serial debug interface, and an open-source data logging application.  See the video below for more information.

Introducing the Freescale Freedom Development Platform FRDM-KL25Z

Open and DIY Game Consoles

Two Linux based systems are coming out that are aimed at consumers for general computing, education and gaming.  The Rasberry Pi has been making a lot of headlines because of its low cost (< $35 US), and a recent games.com blog predicts it could cause a social gaming explosion.  Another highly anticipated system is Pandora, which is not cheap at 375 EUR, but offers portability.  If you can't wait a few months for these to be available, you can build your own console by connecting an Arduino to a  GameDuino, or get build the entire console yourself with and XGameStation or Uzebox kit.

Raspberry Pi

Pandora

GameDuino

XGameStation

Uzebox

NXP Promoting I2C Bus Chips With Giveaway

NXP Semiconductor is asking for video entries in a promotion for it's I2C chips.  Tell them what you would like to do with the NXP I2C demonstration board and you could win one.  There are no videos available yet, but this page will have a gallery of the best entries.  This isn't a general purpose development board, and the retail value is only about $40, but might be worth looking at if you plan on using I2C.  Also, be aware that the PC software to interface with the board is a little old, and support is only listed for windows OSes up to XP.

If you don't want to upload a video, you might still be interested in a free I2C sample kit.  They have kits available for industrial, portable, or computing applications.  For portable applications they list gaming and are promoting Fast-mode Plus (Fm+) I2C-bus technology which is compatible with NXP cortex-M0 ARM processors.

Google Honors Edison With Doodle and Datacenters

If you visit Google today you will see a doodle commemorating Thomas Edison's 164th Birthday.  I found this short bio of Edison and his invention factory  from RadioElectronics.com a little more readable than Edison's Wikipedia entry.

It is interesting that the DC power distribution that Edison advocated is now making inroads in data centers to save energy.  This IEEE Spectrum article, 'Direct Current Networks Gain Ground,' has the alternate title 'Edison Vindicated' in the print version of the magazine.  Google utilizes DC power in its 'Manhatten Project' data center design revealing this big energy saving secret in 2009.  It will be very interesting to see what affect a DC power network will have on embedded system designs  It has the potential to make consumer electronic devices cheaper and easier to use, eliminating the need for manufacturers to provide, and for consumers to carry around, a wall wart or black brick power supply.

Microchip and Cymbet Offer Solar Energy Harvesting Kit

The Microchip XLP Energy Harvesting Kit is available exclusively from DigiKey for $195.  It contains a Microchip XLP 16-bit development board with a PIC24F16KA102 Microcontroller, the  Cymbet EVAL-08 solar energy harvesting  evaluation kit, and a Microchip PICkit3 USB debugger/programmer.

The Cymbet board manages and stores indoor or outdoor light energy with an EnerChip EH CBC5300 Module ($36 at DigiKey) to provide power for the Microchip PIC24F board.  The PIC24F16KA102 is a nanoWatt XLP (eXtreme Low Power) PIC Microcontroller.

Pocket Size Digital Storage Oscilloscope

DSO nano - Pocket size digital storage oscilloscope sold for only $89 at the www.seeedstudio.com Seeed Depot.  It uses an ARM Cortex-M3 processor, has a 2.8" color TFT LCD with data acquisition of 1Msps,  12bits, and 4096 point storage.

The brief manual includes a schematic and you can download the firmware from  the open source dsnano project hosted at google code

Optional stand available for only $50!

Want to experiment with Linux? Get a Didj!

Now that the Didj has been discontinued by Leapfrog, it is sure to be on sale for much less than the cost of a similarly featured development board for Linux.  You can find all of the datasheets, reference material, and source to do your Linux experimenting at the eLinux.org Didj wiki page.  Below is a teardown of the toy and some processor specs, you can download the full datasheet from the site.

• 32bit CPU Embedded Architecture : 533MHz ARM926EJ with 16KByte I-Cache and 16KByte D-Cache.
• High performance 3D Graphics Accelerator
• USB 1.1 Host Controller, USB 2.0 Device, 4Ch UART
• LCD Controller, 8Ch DMA, Timer, Interrupt Controller, RTC
• SD/MMC, I2S, I2C, SSP, ADC, GPIOs, PWM, Power Manager

Leapster's Latest Handheld ARM-Linux Gaming Platform

Leapfrog is promoting the Leapster Explorer as an all in one platform for gaming, e-books, videos and educational content.  It can also function as a camera and video recorder if you purchase a camera accessory.  It has an ARM processor, 512MB of flash storage, a 420x420 pixel 3.2 inch touch screen, 3D graphic processing, and a flash engine for applications and video.  The image below is from an explorer review by Nicole Tanner at whattheyplay.com

The release of this new product seems related to the news that Leapster is discontinuing the Didj, another ARM processor based Linux gaming system that has been on the market only 2 years.  The Didj announcement isn't going over well with parents on the Leapfrog community forum.  Leapster2 owners are also upset that the cartridges will not be compatible with earlier products.

Low Cost CPLD Development Kit

The Lattice ispMACH 4000ZE Pico Dev Kit is on sale today for $36 at the Lattice store. Some example applications for the CPLD include adding GPIO and 5V input capability to your microcontroller. See this video for more info on consumer applications.

Lantronix Embedd Linux Networking Contest

To promote the XPort Pro, a tiny self contained network server, Lantronix will give up to $6000US for the winning design. You will need to purchase an evaluation kit for $99 to enter.

NXP Microcontroller Design Challenge

The NPX LPC1100 Design Challenge just started and offers contestents a free NXP LPCXpresso development platform ($29 value), if your design is approved by the judges. If your design is not approved, you can still participate and win prizes by rating design entries and giving feedback. The LPCXpresso is unique in that it can be used as a stand alone JTAG debugger by cutting the traces between the LPC-Link and the Target portions of the board. The target section for the contest includes an LPC1114 (LPC1343 shown in the picture). The processor architecture is the new ARM Cortex-M0, designed to be small and energy efficient for battery-powered devices. The development environment is an Eclipse-based LPC IDE from Code Red Technologies, its free but limited to 128KB downloads. The prizes for the contest are given as Apple Gift Cards of up to $3000.

Analog Devices New BF50x DSP

The new 50x series Blackfin Processors offer 400MHz at $4.50, and come with a new analog-to-digital (ADC) control module (ACM), PWM units, optional on-chip flash and ADCs. This family is targeted mainly to industrial applications such as motor control, power inverters, uninterruptible power supplies, smart metering, and advanced sensing. They also are recommended for portable medical devices—with the lower cost and high performance, they may be attractive for consumer electronic devices as well. The BF506F EZ-KIT LITE development board is less expensive than other Blackfin EZ-Kits at $199, and includes a USB debug interface so you don't need to purchase a JTAG device. Embedded Linux is actively developed for the blackfin at http://blackfin.uclinux.org/ with toolchain development and a uCLinux port.

Low Cost TI DSP Development USB Stick

The TMDX5505eZDSP USB Powered DSP development tool includes everything you need for fixed-point DSP development for $49. Texas Instruments recommends this processor family for low-power consumer applications such as voice recording, musical instruments, and portable medical devices. You can start developing without purchasing any other tools according to this introductory video. The eZdsp features an integrated codec with line-in and headphone jacks, as well as an expansion connector for custom projects. You can also download a DSP library and image processing library at TI's website. They include optimized assembly routines for the 55x that you can call from C code.

TI Releasing Watch for Microcontroller Development

Amazing new platform for development, eZ430-Chronos Wireless Watch Development Tool. Introductory video here and assembly/disassembly video here. Not available at the time of writing but will be available for purchase for $49 at TI eStore.

Barnes and Noble Announces Nook

Barnes and Noble has released details and some specifications of its new electronic reader, Nook.

Barnes and Noble will release electronic reader

Gizmondo and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Barnes and Noble will release the Nook, an electronic reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle. It's reported to sell for $259, and run Google's Android OS. Gizmondo has pictures but no specifications yet.

iPhone Vulnerable to Text Message Attack

Researchers at the Black Hat USA 2009 Technical Security Conference have shown how to use an SMS message to attack the iPhone. Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner gave the talk 'Fuzzing the Phone in your Phone' (full text link here). They presented techniques that can be used for the iPhone as well as Android and Windows Mobile phones. The Authors demonstrated the iPhone attack for Elinor Mills of CNET before the talk. She reports there is no patch at this time but Apple was notified of the problem 6 weeks ago.

SDRAM Power Calculator

Need to estimate battery life for your next embedded design? With SDRAM systems that can be difficult but Micron has a few system power calculator excel spreadsheets you can download to help. They have separate spreadsheets for SDRAM, DDR, DDR2, DDR3 and RLDRAM II. They also have some useful tech note pdfs on calculating system power.

Google Wave Changes Personal Communication

Google Wave is the second Google project for the developers of Google Maps. It attempts to combine e-mail and instant messaging into a single system, but doesn't stop there. They also aim to combine documents with conversations and allow networked collaboration to create a new electronic object called a wave. A wave doesn't have a true physical representation but that is part of the design according to the Google Wave post on the Official Google Blog. With an electronic form the wave allows dynamic features like playback and rewind that are hard to navigate with paper documents.

Another interesting part of Wave is that it has an underlying open protocol called the Google Wave Federation Protocol. By opening up the protocol, Google is enabling companies to develop interoperable systems that use waves. That could allow consumer electronic start-ups to invent new web enabled devices. This can also allow some apps to be developed and delivered across mobile platforms. In the video you can also see Wave running on Android and iPhone at the 25:26 mark.