Avnet Kopp is supplying and supporting Microchip’s new PIC32 family of microcontrollers (MCUs), which is based upon the MIPS32 M4K core from MIPS Technologies, a high performance core with 32 core registers that are each 32-bits.
MIPS Technologies is an intellectual property (IP) vendor offering a range of licensable 32- and 64-bit processor cores for use by SoC designers. These processor cores target applications ranging from deeply embedded, realtime control applications to high-performance embedded systems with demanding digital signal processing requirements.
The M4K core is the smallest, lowest-power MIPS core, and is supported with a C and assembly language tool chain that includes application-specific software component libraries, an instruction set simulator, and in-system debug support. The M4K core is intended for deeply embedded control applications such as those found in wireless networking, automotive and industrial control applications.
The M4K core is specifically designed to perform traditional control-oriented tasks in the embedded control applications for which it is intended. Each member of the MIPS 32-bit processor core product line is compatible with the MIPS32 instruction set architecture (ISA) and targets a different class of applications.
The MIPS32 ISA provides a standard instruction set architecture specification that is common across all 32-bit MIPS cores, allowing code written for one core to be re-used with a different 32-bit MIPS core without modification.
At the low end of the MIPS product line is the MIPS32 M4K core. The M4K core has the smallest silicon footprint and lowest power consumption of all MIPS cores. It is targeted at cost-sensitive, deeply embedded control applications, such as those found in wireless networking, automotive applications and industrial process control and instrumentation.
Microchip has extended the functionality of the M4K core with some unique proprietary enhancements, including an 8-word prefetch queue with branch prediction. The prefetch buffer can also be used as a mini-cache, to lock either four 32-bit instructions or eight 16-bit instructions, allowing small loops of code to achieve top speed execution.
Microchip's 16-bit shipments have quadrupled in the past two years, growing faster than its 8-bit business. The PIC32 family is targeted to further extend this growth. One reason why Microchip chose the MIPS M4K is that the architecture shares a close compatibility with Microchip's existing 16-bit PIC24 and dsPIC microcontrollers, allowing Microchip's customers to easily migrate existing 16-bit designs to the PIC32.
Initial members of the PIC32 family have up to 512 KBytes of Flash with 32 KBytes of RAM. They operate at 80 MHz, and execute 1,53 DMIPS/MHz, while delivering single-cycle multiply and divide performance. The Flash pre-fetch module has a 256 Byte cache and the devices boast fast context switch and interrupt response. They feature a 4 channel hardware DMA controller, while the USB device/host/OTG module has a dedicated DMA.
Additional features include a programmable vector interrupt controller; 10-bit ADC operating at 500 KSps with ±1 LSB accuracy; 16-bit parallel master port for adding QVGA and memory; power-out reset, brown-out reset, LVD and pull-ups; 2,3-3,6 V operation with 5 V tolerant I/Os; and multiple power management modes.
Microchip Development Tools Support comes in the form of MPLAB IDE, MPLAB C32 C Compiler, MPLAB REAL ICE In-circuit Emulator, MPLAB ICD 2 In-circuit Debugger and the MPLAB PM3 Universal Device Programmer. The MPLAB IDE v8.x contains a cycle accurate instruction and simulator for running software without target hardware, allowing designers to evaluate PIC32 MCUs without having to purchase any hardware.
The PIC32 family also enjoys broad third party development tools support, including a wealth of compilers, debuggers, realtime operating systems (RTOS), debuggers and compilers from 11 vendors.
Available software resources provided in the form of free source code include USB host and device stacks, USB OTG stack, two TCP/IP stacks including BSD compatibility, a 16-bit file system and FTP, SNMP and HTTP servers.
A PIC32 starter kit is also available, which comes complete with everything that developers need to get started, including the USB-powered MCU board, MPLAB IDE and the MPLAB C32 C compiler, documentation, sample projects with tutorials, schematics, and 16-bit compatible peripheral libraries.
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