Siemens' latest industrial microcomputers are powered by the Sicomp CPCI-CPU066, a central processing unit equipped with an Intel Pentium II/III Mobile processor running at 500MHz. It is designed to work with two backplane bus systems, the SMP16 and Compact PCI, as well as connecting high-performance graphics to its Advanced Graphics Port (AGP). The AGP permits faster graphics because it makes no demands on the system bus. The CPCI-CPU066 is typically used for intensive data processing and real-time requirements. It also features a 1MB flash EPROM, SDROM to 256MB, and CMOS-RAM.
Motorola's new flash microcontroller is a single chip solution for in-application programmability and re-programmability, so OEMs can program later in the manufacturing cycle, and make remote upgrades in the field. A flash memory chip can be rewritten and hold its content without power, and be updated by a software download. The new 68HC908AB32 is an 8-bit chip capable of write/erase cycling to 10,000 cycles and programming speed to 2 msec. for a 64-byte block. It has 32 kB in-system programmable flash memory, 512 bytes of byte-erasable EEPROM, and 1,012 bytes of user RAM.
The process of hand-assembling digital signal processors (DSPs) has typically been a time-to-market bottleneck, but Lucent's new StarCore SC110 allows engineers to develop up to 90% of the code in C, which compiles very quickly. It is priced for applications such as client DSL modems, voice-centric handsets, IP telephony, home networking client devices, and automotive and motor control.
