MCU is just the beginning …
The cost and time-to-market requirements of entry-level MCU design are becoming more and more urgent. With the development of embedded software becoming the biggest contributor, MCU development kit must provide the same high-level value and usability as MCU. At present, designers demand powerful, simple, low-cost or, in some cases, free tools. Freescale pays attention to this, and through KineTIsL series, it ensures that the support (software and tools) toolkit can meet these requirements, and provides a smooth development process for designers of all experience levels.
Freescale Freedom Development Platform
The real Freescale Freedom development platform FRDM-KL25Z can be used to evaluate KL1 and KL2MCU families. Although it is small in size and extremely low in cost (retail price is only $12.95), it has very powerful functions and is equipped with Freescale and third-party software. The board includes 48MHzMKL25Z128MCU with 128KB flash memory, full-rate USB controller and many analog and digital peripherals in 80LQFP package. Its periphery is Freescale MMA8451Q3 axis acceleration sensor, capacitive touch sliding interface, connection between RGBLED of MKL25MCU and USB device, and complex integrated debugging circuit of OpenSDA.
Freescale Freedom Development Platform: Realization of Entry-level MCU Design
OpenSDA is an open standard serial and USB debugging interface, which provides an integrated and easy-to-use flash programmer for mass storage devices, a virtual serial communication port, and a classic debugger for programming and operation control. It is very fast and simple to program MKL25MCU with OpenSDA mass storage programming application. Developers only need to drag and drop S19 file or binary image directly into USB drive, and the application will be programmed into the flash memory of MCU and automatically executed. When needed, FRDM-KL25Z can also be used as a debugging interface between the USB host and the application target processor, thus avoiding the extra purchase of a third-party debugger. Finally, it can perform serial-to-USB conversion and data recording functions. FRDM-KL25Z is the first Freescale Freedom development platform, and there are more boards, which are planned to be used in KineTIs SL series and other Kinetis series in the future. It can be ordered through Element14 and several Freescale global electronic retailers and distributors partners.
If more advanced KineTIsL series development is needed, TWR-KL25Z48M tower system MCU module can be used, and it can be used together with various connection types, analog, graphic LCD and motor control peripheral plug-in modules. Tower elevator module (TWR-ELEV) provides interconnection between MCU and peripheral modules, and must be ordered separately.
IDE support and automatic code generation
KinetisL series is supported by Freescale CodeWarriorforMCUsv10.3IDE and popular third parties: IARTM, KeilTM IDE and other ARMTM ecosystem partners. Each toolchain provides a free code limited version (usually 32KB or 64KB) or an unlimited version with enhanced debugging features, including low-power mode debugging and task-aware debugging of FreescaleMQX/MQXLiteRTOS. CodeWarriorv10.3 is currently available in beta version, and the production version will be available in November 2012.
The CodeWarriorIDE includes FreescaleProcessorExpert. This free GUI-based code generation tool can create application programming framework and device driver in just seven steps, which can significantly save a lot of design work, time and cost. Device drivers (called “embedded components”) are pre-written and only need to be configured through the GUI. Users only select the required functions to create very powerful and efficient code. This powerful and easy-to-use tool can significantly shorten the application development time, because developers don’t have to read the multi-page reference manual to know the register level information. ProcessorExpert can also be used as an independent plug-in (microcontroller driver kit) for IAR and KeilIDE.
FreescaleMQXLite-–RTOS of entry-level MCU?
The use of RTOS is usually not associated with small MCU, but a task-oriented design. However, it should not be overlooked because it provides many advantages, even for entry-level applications. By modularizing the application into a series of tasks, it can ensure that the time-critical part of the code is executed on time and make the complex application easier to develop and maintain, because developers don’t have to treat the whole application as a whole. Using RTOS with common application programming interface (API) also means that tasks can be easily divided among multiple developers and their interactions can be verified during the development process. This can help maximize the efficiency and resources of the design team, while minimizing potential coding errors. Compared with the commonly used full-featured MQXRTOS, the MQXLite of Freescale is smaller and fully compatible with it. It is provided as an embedded component in ProcessorExpert, which is easy to configure and can be easily added to existing applications. It only needs 4KBRAM to run. It supports real-time, priority-based preemptive task switching, which means that threads can be executed in priority order, allowing high-priority threads to always meet their time requirements, no matter how many other threads are competing for CPU time. As software development is a costly and time-consuming process, using free MQXLiteRTOS can save tens of thousands of dollars compared with the do-it-yourself method, even for a small number of applications.
Complete development kit
It is not enough to have MCU characteristics. MCU vendors also need to provide a complete development kit, which allows users to quickly evaluate all the features of devices and build applications with minimal investment. KinetisL series is the best in both aspects–first-class MCU platform with excellent mixed power consumption, feature integration and scalability, and extensive but cost-effective development environment with innovative hardware, IDE and RTOS components.
