Chrontel, the video interface specialist, is targeting its latest video IC at Atom processor-based netbooks. This chip has been design specifically to interface with low-power processors such as Intel’s recently announced N450, D410 and D510 Atom processors which rely on LVDS video outputs. “Low power processors like Intel’s very successful Atom line, have integrated graphic controllers. They typically rely on ...
Future Electronics is offering a full system–level reference design for embedded systems based around the Microchip PIC32MX5, MX6 and MX7 families of 32-bit microcontrollers. Called the ConnectNet Micro-Blox development board, which is part of the distributor’s Future-Blox series of stackable proof-of-concept development boards, it offers design options for functions such as power management, display-driving, memory control and communications interfaces. The board ...
European engineers have developed a brain wave sensor that allows paralysed people to write. The Mind Speller is a EEG-based (electroencephalogram-based) device that detects and interprets ‘P300’ event-related potentials in the brain signals of a person that is looking at a display presenting alternate rows and columns of characters (video). “P300 potentials are often used as metrics of cognitive function ...
Codeplay’s Offload programming tool suite is available for the development of software for Cell Broadband Engine powered devices running under Linux. The Offload tool suite provides a Windows-based GCC SDK so that code can be offloaded to the SPUs on the Cell Broadband Engine. It uses the Eclipse CDT and the Offload Player Debugger for executing and debugging code on ...
The cost of using 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers for low-power applications has been tumbling in recent months. Texas Instruments has a variant of its 16-bit MSP430 microcontroller with a 15p ($0.25) price tag, and other suppliers are following TI down the cost curve. “We have not compromised on low-power performance, it still has 0.1µA RAM retention,” TI marketing manager VC ...
If there was one word that dominated the stands of embedded PC makers at Embedded World in Nurnberg, it was Atom. To created its cool-running baby processor, Intel had to leave out a lot of processing power. This was bad news for folks trying to watch high-definition video, and good news for the industrial guys where less heat has allowed ...
Fabless chip firm FTDI has introduced a second generation of USB controller, adding an on-die Harvard architecture microcontroller and peripherals including eight channels of PWM for motor control. Dubbed Vinculum VNC2, it is a programmable dual USB chip in which the channels can independently operate as host or slave. It includes 256kbyte flash and 16kbyte of SRAM. “Customers had two ...
Intel has cut the power consumption of its Atom processor for designing in to energy-sensitive home networking and storage devices. The company says there is a 50% power reduction compared to previous Atom processors. Intel has combined the Atom D410 single-core or D510 dual-core processors with the 82801IR I/O controller in an integrated design aimed at network storage (NAS) devices which ...
Car dashboards with touch control may be just around the corner as silicon supplier Atmel introduces its first standard product capacitive touch controller that is fully qualified for the automotive market. Areas where touch control is expected to be used in vehicles includes controls for windows and rear-view mirrors. “As the automotive industry demands more touch-enabled interfaces for their systems, ...
STMicroelectronics has introduced a 32-bit microcontroller in its STM32 range which will make the Cortex-M3 based devices more cost competitive with the Cortex-M0 based entry-level MCUs. Dubbed the Value Line, the 24MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor based MCUs will have a price tag of less than $1. “Our Value line with Cortex-M3 is our response to Cortex-M0,” ST spokesman Alexander Czajor ...
