PSoC Chips Upgrade to ARM Cortex-M3 CPU

In the January 2010 “Lab Rat” column in Design News magazine, I reviewed the Cypress Semiconductor PSoC 3 First Touch Starter Kit. The Cypress PSoC devices provide a processor core surrounded by programmable logic. Software tools–PSoC Creator in particular–simplify designs because developers work with building blocks of pre-built functions rather than write all their code in C.

The PSoC 3 provides an 8051 MCU. The new PSoC 5 family introduces the ARM Cortex-M3 processor core, quite a step up in processing power. You can read the complete Cypress press release at: www.cypress.com/?rID=43694. So I won’t repeat the details here. Looks like a neat way to create an application-specific processor/FPGA chip.

Cypress has kits for the new devices: The PSoC 5 FirstTouch Starter Kit ($US 49.00) and the CY8CKIT-010 PSoC CY8C55 Family Processor Module Kit ($US 65.00) are both available now. You also can buy a CY8CKIT-001 PSoC Development Kit for $US 249.00. For more information about the kits and to obtain sample devices, visit: www.cypress.com/go/psoc5.

If you have an interest in the ARM Cortex-M3, I recommend two books:

1. “The Definitive Guide to the ARM Cortex-M3,” by Joseph Yiu, Newnes, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7506-8534-4. An excellent hardware reference.

2. “ARM System Developer’s Guide: Designing and Optimizing System Software,” by Andrew N. Sloss, Dominic Symes, and Chris Wright, Elsevier, Inc, 2004. ISBN: 978-1-55860-874-5.

Also, read my column on Cortex-M3 software debugging in the August 2010 issue of ECN magazine: www.ecnmag.com.

The ARM Web site provides a wealth of technical information about all ARM cores: www.arm.com.

Did I miss a good Cortex-M3 reference? Add a comment and share your information. –Jon Titus