Recording data on flash has limitations, so
Cypress Semiconductor turned to nonvolatile
SRAM (nvSRAM) with its latest PSoC family of
8-bit configurable microcontrollers. The PSoC
NV can offer up to 256 kbytes of nvSRAM plus
2 kybtes of conventional SRAM and 32 kbytes
of flash. The nvSRAM has a transfer rate of
1 Mbyte/s and eliminates the wear issues of
flash. This can be critical in embedded data
logging applications where replacement is not
an option. Cypress’ approach is faster than
EEPROM and flash, and it also eliminates the
software programming overhead. Like SRAM,
nvSRAM is just read/write memory with no
endurance limits like flash. SRAM is still faster,
but a large nvSRAM is ideal for its intended
target audience. The PSoC NV mantains
the PSoC configuration flexibility with a set
of programmable digital and analog blocks,
which can be configured for a range of devices
such as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs)
and digital-to-analog converters (DACs). The
PSoC has some dedicated digital communication
interfaces like USB, but additional digital
interfaces can be set up using the configurable
digital blocks. A flexible I/O rerouting system
lets designers match ports and reconfigurable
I/O. An eval kit costs $55. PSoC Designer provides
software support.
Cypress Semiconductor
www.cypress.com
See Associated Figure