WingNews logo WingNews GitHub [2]
top | item 7329325

Freescale Shrinks World’s Smallest ARM-Based MCU by 15%

78 points| brchen | 12 years ago |media.freescale.com

56 comments

order
[+] hershel|12 years ago|reply
Another interesting small mcu is the nrf51822 which is 3.5x3.8mm , it includes bluetooth low energy transceiver and dc-dc converter + 256K/16K flash/ram and it supports the mbed/arduino. It would be also possible to write/adapt a low energy mesh protocol for it.

Another interesting one: stm32f401, cortex-m4 ,84mhz,512KB flash, 96 KB ram, low power and can run python(micro python) - at only 3X3 mm.

[+] Qworg|12 years ago|reply
Small enough to be installed in the cables of your device.

Freescale's best trick with these is putting them in business cards (between thin plastic).

[+] 31reasons|12 years ago|reply
Don't forget the battery, wifi and other electronics needed for fully functional system. It would make the entire device 5 times bigger. But its getting there when the entire system is as small as this.
[+] jmpe|12 years ago|reply
Notice that they explicitly mention IoT, a week after Atmel announced a similar controller for an IoT module:

http://atmelcorporation.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/atmels-smar...

[+] zokier|12 years ago|reply
Freescale seems to mention IoT only because it is the buzzword du jour, there doesn't seem to be anything that makes this new chip particularly IoT oriented. It doesn't even have any built-in internet (or any network for that matter) connectivity, which is kinda important for IoT.

In comparison Atmels use of IoT in that case seems more justified by the fact that they are marketing a solution with network connectivity. And imho the integration of connectivity and microcontroller is far more significant than 15% reduction of already ittybitty package size.

[+] pasbesoin|12 years ago|reply
These recent developments keep reminding me of the "dust" in Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky". Powered by microwave pulses.

Granted, that dust as described is more capable. But we know how that curve tends to go.

It seems that the science fiction writers are barely keeping ahead of "reality", these days. Kind of amazing.

[+] marshray|12 years ago|reply
What were some of the implications of this dust?
[+] zeckalpha|12 years ago|reply
How does this compare to an AVR (other than being a Von Neumann computer)?
[+] slashdotaccount|12 years ago|reply
AVR's are 8-bit microcontrollers, Cortex-M's are 32-bit and are generally more powerful and have more features (even the Cortex-M0's) than both AVR's tiny and mega series.
[+] PinguTS|12 years ago|reply
AVR is so old school now and has been for years. AVR only lives on because of the hobbyist, like Arduino. Professionals have switched to Cortex M0, because of size, price, and power consumption.
[+] ksec|12 years ago|reply
Suggested Price @ 0.75 Per Unit at 100K Batch.

Would Love to get one to play with :D.

[+] SixSigma|12 years ago|reply
You can get a FRDM-KL25Z dev board with a 48Mhz M0+ for $12.95

It even works with the Mbed system, so you don't need to worry about setting up a compiler environment becuase you can do it all online (unless you want to - it works with GCC)

http://mbed.org/handbook/mbed-FRDM-KL25Z

[+] jmpe|12 years ago|reply
Get yourself a discovery board from ST, same architecture (actually: a good range of choice) and no need to solder a 3 mm2 BGA ;)
[+] moron4hire|12 years ago|reply
I'd love to have 100 of them! It probably wouldn't be $0.75/ea for only 100, probably closer to $1.00 each, but still. $100 for 100 MCUs to throw into projects would be awesome. 48Mhz is a lot of hertz to throw at a lot of problems.

Hell, at that price, you can afford to do stupid shit with them, like put them in your friends' LED lightbulbs to screw with them, or build a physical neural-network computer, just so you can hook up LEDs between all the interconnects and make a blinklichten display.

The only problem is that they are ball grid array devices. I wouldn't necessarily say that BGA is impossible for a hobbiest, but typically you're just not going to find that kind of equipment at your local hackerspace.

[+] bsilvereagle|12 years ago|reply
Freescale will probably do a Freedom Board with one of these on it, I expect it to sell for ~$13.
[+] dman|12 years ago|reply
What os do people run on this?
[+] sitkack|12 years ago|reply
They don't usually run an OS. But are structured like

  void setup_code() {
    // configure SPI
    // analog to digital converters
    // timers
    // fix internal and external buggy hardware
  }

  void interrupt_handler() {
    TURN_OFF_INTERRUPTS;
    // packet recv
    // time expired
    // etc
    TURN_ON_INTERRUPTS;
  }


  setup_code();
  register_interrupt_handler(interrupt_handler);
  while(1) {
    // application code
  }
Microcontrollers like this only have 2k of working state, the presentable complexity is in the code, not the data.
[+] rwmj|12 years ago|reply
There are various FORTHs which run on this and similar chips. Search for M0 FORTH. For example I think this one will run on the Freedom Board:

http://mecrisp.sourceforge.net/

[+] timthorn|12 years ago|reply
You quite possibly don't run an OS, but there are a number of RTOS stacks available - or some people still brew their own.
[+] jmpe|12 years ago|reply
an RTOS (uC/OS, Freertos, chibios, ...) or simply a hal such as CMSIS.
[+] pjmlp|12 years ago|reply
Bare metal, and preferably Assembly as you need every byte in those 32KB/2KB.