Freescale Semiconductor has expanded its tower system modular development platform to include a tower system module based on Power Architecture technology. The module features the MPC8309 PowerQUICC communications processor, which is suitable for industrial, factory automation and entry-level networking applications. Future modules are claimed to include the company's QorIQ and PX series of microcontrollers.
The tower system provides a common development platform for power architecture devices that range in performance from 60 to 2550DMIPS (dhrystone million instructions per second). The tower system shares the MQX RTOS (real-time operating system) and codewarrior IDE (integrated development environment).
The tower system includes two main modules such as TWR-MPC8309 main processor module and MPC830x-TLCD (touch-LCD) daughter card. The main processor module measures 64x110mm, supports good connectivity, such as dual 10/100 Ethernet ports with IEEE 1588 support, dual USB 2.0 connectors, twin RS-485 headers for PROFIBUS support, audio ports for headphone and microphone jacks, a mini-PCI connector and an SD card slot. The touch-LCD daughter card features a 3.2inch QVGA colour LCD display, with a 12-key capacitive touch keypad.
The processor module can be used with the daughter card as a standalone or SBC for PLCs (programmable logic controllers), gateways and operator interface terminals. The modules also support the development of robotics, test and measurement and factory automation applications.
The tower system's e300 power architecture core offers double precision floating point, 16kbyte of instruction and data cache, and up to 835DMIPS at 417MHz of performance, while consuming less than 1.6W of power.
Based on the e200 power architecture core, PX series microcontrollers offer single-core performance up to 600DMIPS, multicore options and up to 4Mbyte of embedded flash memory. A single PX series microcontroller can control up to six motors, process complex math algorithms and manage more than three communications connections - all at the same time, says the company.
