Good Grief Caruthers – this is a busy day in programmable logic space (where no oine can hear you scream). The folks at Cypress have just introduced a new development platform for their PSoC 5 (Programmable System-on-Chip) family of devices which boast a mix of programmable analog, programmable digital, and an ARM Cortex-M3 Processor.

The guys and gals ay Cypress unveiled two new design kits, a new version of the PSoC Creator Integrated Development Environment (IDE), and announced that devices from the CY8C55xxx family are now sampling.

They say that the unique programmable analog and digital peripherals in PSoC 5, along with the high performance 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor, position PSoC 5 for demanding applications such as industrial, medical, automotive, and consumer equipment.

They also say that PSoC 5 devices offer industry-leading integrated analog resources, including one 20-bit Delta Sigma ADC and two 12-bit SAR ADCs with sample rates as high as 1 Msps.  The PSoC 5 architecture also includes the powerful, PLD-based Universal Digital Blocks for implementing standard and custom digital peripherals.  The new PSoC 5 development platform including kits, samples and PSoC Creator are available today at www.cypress.com/go/psoc5.

The PSoC 5 FirstTouch Starter Kit (CY8CKIT-014) helps designers get acquainted with the new PSoC 5 architecture.  It includes software and example projects which take advantage of the kit’s onboard sensors including an accelerometer, a thermistor, proximity sensing, and CapSense.  The kit enables easy development via 28 general-purpose I/O pins, a 12-pin wireless module header, and Serial Wire Debugging (SWD). It also includes the PSoC Creator™ IDE, a powerful design environment that combines schematic and textual entry with pre-configured, pre-tested components that can be simply "dropped-into" designs. The kit is available today, priced at US$49.00.

The PSoC 5 FirstTouch Starter Kit

The CY8CKIT-010 PSoC CY8C55 Family Processor Module Kit is available for more in-depth design work. It works with the PSoC Development Kit (CY8CKIT-001), which offers support for the entire PSoC line.  The CY8CKIT-001 kit contains a main PSoC development board, and three processor module boards for the different architectures: PSoC 1, PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 devices. It also includes a MiniProg3 debug and evaluation device, prototyping cable kit, a USB cable, a 12V AC power adapter, and both PSoC Creator and PSoC Designer software. Sample projects are also provided. The kit is available today, priced at US$249.00. The PSoC 5 processor module is priced at US$65.00. Designers can get more information and order kits and samples from www.cypress.com/go/psoc5.

The CY8CKIT-010 PSoC CY8C55 Family Processor Module Kit

Dev Kit Availability
The PSoC 5 FirstTouch Starter Kit and CY8CKIT-010 PSoC CY8C55 Family Processor Module Kit are both available today, priced at US$49.00 and US$65.00, respectively. The CY8CKIT-001 PSoC Development Kit is also available, priced at US$249.00. All the kits, as well as samples of the CY8C55xxx family, are available at www.cypress.com/go/psoc5.

About the PSoC 5 Architecture
The PSoC 5 architecture combines the industry-leading ARM Cortex-M3 processor, which operates at a maximum frequency of 80 MHz enabling up to 100 DMIPS of performance, with flexible analog and digital subsystems.  The analog subsystem include high-precision, programmable analog resources such as ADCs, DACs, TIAs, Mixers, PGAs, OpAmps and more that can be configured to suit a designers unique needs. The digital subsystem includes enhanced programmable-logic based digital resources that can be configured as 8-, 16-, 24- and 32-bit timers, counters, and PWMs, as well as more advanced digital peripherals such as Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), Pseudo Random Sequence (PRS) generators, and quadrature decoders. Designers have a unique ability to customize this digital system through full featured general purpose PLD-based logic available in PSoC 5.  The new architectures also support a wide range of communications interfaces, including Full-Speed USB, I²C, SPI, UART, CAN, LIN, and I²S.

The new PSoC 5 architecture meets the demands of extremely low power applications by delivering the industry’s widest voltage range from 5.5V down to 0.5V along with low 300nA hibernate current. It offers programmable routing, allowing any signal, whether analog or digital, to be routed to any general-purpose I/O to ease circuit board layout. This capability includes the ability to route LCD Segment Display and CapSense signals to any GPIO pin.

The PSoC 5 architecture is powered by the 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, and allow a seamless transition between 8-bit PSoC 3 designs and 32-bit PSoC 5 designs with pin and API compatibility. More information, including data sheets, application notes, online training, development kits, free PSoC Creator downloads and device samples, is available at http://www.cypress.com/go/psoc5.

PSoC 5 Device Availability
Samples of the CY8C55xxx family of PSoC 5 devices are available today in 100-pin TQFP and 68-pin QFN packages from local Cypress sales representatives and authorized distributors. Full production is expected in Q1 2011. The PSoC 5 FirstTouch Starter Kit (CY8CKIT-014), as well as the CY8CKIT-001 Development Kit and CY8CKIT-010 Family Processor Module Kit are also available today.