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ARM9 MCU CONFIGURED FOR LCD GRAPHICS DESIGNS

Toshiba has added an ARM9- based microcontroller to its range; supporting it is a development kit on which you can create a complete prototype of industrial and consumer applications. The ARM core is the 926EJ-S, and it is backed up by on-chip graphics acceleration. The chip is targeted at “any kind of display application”: Toshiba specifically mentions consumer products such as electronic dictionaries, as well as general industrial display applications. Although the data sheet rates the device to support displays up to 1024x1024 pixels, the chip is optimised for W-VGA (800480) panels. As well as an LCD controller with an image-processor accelerator, the chip has high-speed USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) and SD host-controller interfaces. There is also an I2C interface for high-quality audio output, a CMOS camera interface and a seven-layer on-chip bus structure so that parallel transfer operations do not block each other. The chip, TMPA910CRAXBG, runs at up to 200 MHz; its SD support is for cards up to 32 Gbytes; it costs “under $8” in volume.

At the same time, Toshiba has launched a starter kit—which it sells via distributors for €250—that has a complete prototyping environment on-board, with a touch-screen graphics panel and an Ethernet interface. With space on the board for prototyping of application-specific circuitry, the board comes with support from IAR—a free-download evaluation-tool package runs for 30 days—and from Segger, with an operating system and GUI library IP. Asked about its ARM-product intentions, and about the prospect for devices with Cortex cores, a Toshiba spokesman indicated that a Cortex-based part would be “next”.

Toshiba, www.toshibacomponents.com
IAR, www.iar.com
Segger, www.segger.de