Re: Dreaming in Technicolor

Bob,

1. For my guess, your dreaming isn't realistic for the following items.

> I/O Voltage:       3.3v. 5v tolerant
Microcontroller with 5V IO is sure not low-power.

> AtoD:              8 ch 12 bit, 100+ Ksps
Any 12 bit ADC on the CPU silicon is unknown for me. I guess, the reason is
the noise. Possibly, QSPI connected external ADC (e.g. Maxim) will be a good
choise.

> QSPI:              with DMA controller for decent throughput
QSPI is quite old architecture, which is copied from 68k. I guess, developing
this architecture is unlikely. I guess, SPI implementation in PowerQUICC
family is really fast.

> BDM:               6 pin (better yet, on-chip USB-BDM module)
The debug port must work even in case of most of the target system is dead.
BDM/JTAG has minimal requirements. It even doesn't need the alive system
clock. For my guess, an on-chip USB-BDM module is useless due to USB needs
working sophisticated stack and the other fragile resources.


2. Common considerations:
Traditionaly, the real-time control functionality is implemented by IO
oriented low-cost microcontroller (or DSP), which is running small footprint
RTOS or no RTOS at all. The computation-demanding high-level functionality is
traditionally implemented by a communication oriented microcontroller.

Coldfire family has excellent control capabilities together with quite
powerful CPU core. Using a small footprint RTOS, the core resources are enough
for entry-level networking, USB and other general purpose system functionality
with moderate calculational demands. Look, for example, for NetBurner
development kits.

For more calculational power, look at low-cost derivatives of PowerQuick
family together with any low-cost control oriented microcontroller.

The alternative platform can be core+FPGA on single silicon.


--- Bob Furber <[email protected]> wrote:

> I dream of finding a fast, low-power MPU with good control features, 
> that can interface to lots of external memory to host a serious OS. I 
> have yet to find such an animal.
> 
> I see Freescale, NPX, ST and others tripping over themselves to come up 
> with yet another or better 32-bit single-chip MPU. But, without external 
> memory to host a serious OS.
> 
> I salivate when I look at the MCF5553/4 with a plethora of dream I/O 
> features ..but, with insufficient memory to host an OS.
> 
> I look at the newer ColdFire external memory offerings with reasonable 
> speed and low power features, capable of hosting an OS. But, it seems 
> that they are i.MX wannabees, lacking serious control features (i.e., 
> HC11 like technology to generate PWM signals).
> 
> PowerPCs either offer mouth-watering control features with limited 
> memory, or external memory with limited control features. And the PPC 
> requires more instructions to do anything useful, making it a rather 
> slow memory hog.
> 
> i.MX and X-Scale offer speed, access to large memories, but little in 
> the way of control features.
> 
> ...and so on go the yabats.
> 
> Every so often I dream about MOAM (Mother of all MPUs) and this is what 
> it looks like:
> 
> CPU:	           ColdFireV3 or Arm9 or 11
>                     to enjoy Linux/uClinux support
> Speed:	           > 200 MHz
> DRAM Controller:   1.8v DDR/DDR2, 16 bit wide (FlexBus), 64MB or more
> Flash Controller:  1.8v NOR, 16 bit wide, 64MB or more
>                     1.8v NAND
> Core Voltage:      1.8v or less
> I/O Voltage:       3.3v. 5v tolerant
> Power:             ultra low consumption, slow and sleep modes
> eMIOS:             16+ ch (or 24 ch a la MPC5553)
> eTPU:              16+ ch
> SCI serial ports:  2+
> USB:               1 device + 1 host
> Ethernet:          10/100 with on-chip Phy
> AtoD:              8 ch 12 bit, 100+ Ksps
> QSPI:              with DMA controller for decent throughput
>                     3+ chip selects
>                     64+ MHz
> GPIO module:       Unused pins -> GPIO
> BDM:               6 pin (better yet, on-chip USB-BDM module)
> Package:           As small as possible, 0.8mm BGA
> 
> Nice-To-Haves
> CAN                1+ Ch
> SD card interface
> Keypad interface
> Graphic LCD interface
> 
> Am I a voice in the wilderness?
> 
> Bob Furber
> 
> ---
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Regards,
    Yevgeni Tunik
    052-448-9271


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