Flexible PSoC 3 Platform with Programmable Analog and Digital Circuits
Enables Students to Learn Embedded Design Techniques and Exercise Their Imaginations
SAN JOSE, Calif., February 3, 2010 – Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) today announced that its PSoC
3 FirstTouch
Kit is included in the kit of parts for the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition. Cypress has provided over 1,900 customized kits to FIRST for use in building the competitive robots. The student teams are expected to use the kits in the control units of the robots, hooked up through a USB connection to the robot’s netbook computer.
The Cypress PSoC 3 architecture has unique programmable analog and digital peripherals that enable capabilities such as motor control, intelligent power supply and battery management, human interfaces such as CapSense touch sensing, LCD segment display, graphics control, as well as audio/voice processing, communication protocols, and much more. It is accompanied by the new PSoC Creator Integrated Development Environment, which introduces a unique schematic-based design capture along with fully tested, pre-packaged analog and digital peripherals easily customizable through user-intuitive wizards and APIs to meet specific design requirements. PSoC Creator enables engineers to design the way they think and dramatically shorten time-to-market. More information, including data sheets, application notes, online training, development kits, free PSoC Creator downloads and device samples, is available at www.cypress.com/go/psoc.
The PSoC 3 FirstTouch Starter Kit (CY8CKIT-003) helps designers get acquainted with the new PSoC 3 architecture. It includes an array of sensors, I/O’s, projects, and software in addition to Serial Wire Debugging (SWD), an accelerometer, a thermistor, proximity sensing, CapSense, a 12-pin wireless module header, and 28 general purpose I/O pins. Customers can find more information and order the kit for US$49 at http://www.cypress.com/?rID=38235.
“We are excited to participate in this outstanding program,” said Patrick Kane, Cypress’s director of University Relations. “The PSoC platform is absolutely ideal for students because its flexibility and programmability offer the opportunity to quickly implement and test new ideas. We look forward to some amazing robots from the talented and imaginative participants.”
In addition to the FirstTouch kits, students have the options to buy the Cypress Carrier and Enclosure am-0564 from AndyMark, Inc., which helps to protect the FirstTouch kit and also provides easy-to-use screw terminals for connecting the board with other parts of the robot. This helps to avoid timely soldering and breadboarding for the contestants. It is available at http://andymark.biz/am-0564.html. The Cypress Carrier and Enclosure am-0564 are built by eStop Robotics LLC of Aldan, Pennsylvania (www.estoprobotics.com).
PSoC -- Because Change Happens
PSoC devices employ a highly configurable system-on-chip architecture for embedded control design, offering a flash-based equivalent of a field-programmable ASIC without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC devices integrate configurable analog and digital circuits, controlled by an on-chip microcontroller, providing both enhanced design revision capability and component count savings. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions saving customers design time, board space and power consumption while improving system quality and reducing system cost.
The new PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 architectures include high-precision programmable analog capability (up to 20-bit resolution for an Analog to Digital Converter) and expanded programmable digital resources integrated with powerful, industry-standard MCU cores and ample memory and communications peripherals. PSoC 3 devices are based on a high-performance 8-bit 8051 processor, while PSoC 5 devices include a powerful 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor. The products provide designers with a seamless, programmable design platform, enabling easy migration from 8 to 32 bits. The robust features of these new solutions dramatically expand the applications and markets that PSoC can address, including automotive, portable medical, industrial and many more. The PSoC 1 family is based on a cost-optimized 8-bit M8C core. More information about PSoC products is available at www.cypress.com/psoc and free online training is at www.cypress.com/psoctraining.
About Cypress
Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the flagship PSoC programmable system-on-chip families and derivatives such as PowerPSoC solutions for high-voltage and LED lighting applications, CapSense touch sensing and TrueTouch solutions for touchscreens. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers, including the high-performance West Bridge solution that enhances connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress is also a leader in high-performance memories and programmable timing devices. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial and military. Cypress trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.