NEC Electronics Europe Announces Two New PLUG IT! Starter Kits

NEC Electronics Europe announces the release of two Plug it! starter kits to evaluate Full Speed 12 Mbps USB 2.0 function and host communications implemented in its 32-bit V850ES/Jx3-H and V850ES/Jx3–U microcontroller range. V850ES/Jx3-H has Full Speed 12 Mbps USB 2.0 function capability whilst V850ES/Jx3–U incorporates both Full Speed 12 Mbps  USB 2.0 host and function capabilities.

The starter kit for the V850ES/Jx3–H microcontroller range is fitted with the µPD70F3760 device which has 256KB flash memory and 40KB internal RAM. To support the visualization of the software flow, a 7-segment LED display and switches (x11) are provided. Two Mini-B type connectors are provided for USB 2.0 connectivity which can also provide the board supply voltage. In addition, the board makes seventy-seven inputs/outputs available through connectors for system expansion.

The starter kit for the V850ES/Jx3–U microcontroller range is fitted with the µPD70F3769 device which has 512KB flash memory and 56KB internal RAM. In addition to the two Mini-B type connectors, switches and seven-segment LED display, a connector for an A-type USB receptacle, audio, Ethernet RJ-45 and RS232C is also provided. The board memory system can be expanded as the external bus interface of the µPD70F3769 device is connected to an external IrDA infrared connector, Ethernet controller and to a 1MB SRAM memory.

All the functionalities of the µPD70F3760 and µPD70F3769 devices are available including hardened Real Time Clock (RTC), Motor control timer with 6 phase PWM generation, five power saving modes and Low Voltage detector (LVI).

The combination of the V850ES processor architecture with carefully chosen additional functions contributes to the enhanced real time response that makes the microcontroller range V850ES/Jx3-H and V850ES/Jx3-U suitable for real-time control applications.

The V850ES/Jx3-H and V850ES/Jx3-U microcontrollers have up to five Serial Peripherals Interface busses (SPI) and Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) interfaces and up to three Inter-Integrated Circuit (IIC) interfaces.

The USB 2.0 Full Speed 12 Mbps Function controller in the V850ES/Jx3–H microcontroller range provides seven Endpoints with dedicated transfer type assignment, featuring a double buffer configuration each 64 Bytes deep. Burst and interrupt transfer modes are handled by the USB 2.0 Function controller.

The microcontroller range V850ES/Jx3–U has a superset of the V850ES/Jx3–H Full Speed 12 Mbps USB 2.0 features. In addition to the microcontroller V850ES/Jx3–H USB 2.0 Function features depicted above, the microcontroller range V850ES/Jx3–U adds a Full Speed 12 Mbps USB 2.0 host controller with an Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) for PCI communications and support for isochronous transfer as well as control, bulk and interrupt transfers. The microcontroller range V850ES/Jx3–U enables to target a guaranteed latency and a specific USB bandwidth.

To speed up the development of Full Speed 12 Mbps USB 2.0 applications, NEC Electronics provides Communications Device Class (CDC) and Mass Storage device Class (MSC) USB 2.0 class sample drivers (ANSI-C) including a “ready-to-build” Embedded Workbench project from IAR.                                                                                          

Moreover, to speed up the development of USB 2.0 middleware, NEC Electronics has partnered with SEGGER who provides a wide range of middleware components including a high speed emUSB stack (host and device) specifically designed for embedded Systems. The applied Communications Device Class (CDC), Human Interface Device class (HID) and Mass Storage device Class (MSC) USB 2.0 class drivers take full advantage of the advanced V850ES/Jx3-U architecture.

Availability

The V850ES Jx3-H starter kit (p/n V850ES-H-PLUGIT) is already available and the V850ES Jx3-U (p/n V850ES-U-PLUGIT) demonstration kit will be available from end of April 2009.

For more information about NEC Electronics’ two Plug it! starter kits, please klick here.

All Flash is a registered trademark of NEC Electronics Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All Flash MCUs are based on SuperFlash technology from Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.