Development kit bridges MCU power and performance gap

26th February 2018

Mick Elliott

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A collaboration between RS Components (RS), Cypress Semiconductor and MikroElektronika has created Clicker 2 for PSoC 6, a development kit for faster prototyping with Cypress' PSoC 6 ultra-low-power microcontrollers (MCUs). Bridging the gap between expensive, power hungry application processors and low performance MCUs, PSoC 6 MCUs deliver advanced compute performance for energy-conscious devices like IoT endpoints or other small battery-powered objects.

Its dual-core architecture combines an Arm Cortex M4 and an Arm Cortex M0+ on the same chip, delivering flexibility to assign tasks for optimum performance and power-efficiency.

Flexible architecture enables interfacing with different types of sensors and creating custom interfaces.

Lightweight, state-of-the-art security based on trusted execution environment (TEE) provides protection including secure boot, secure data storage, and advanced cryptographic algorithms without the overhead of external memory or a secure element.

Developers can now quickly bring their PSoC 6 projects to life using the new Clicker 2 development kit, to be marketed exclusively through RS.

The board contains a PSoC 63 Connectivity Line device, which is Bluetooth 5 compliant and simplifies interfacing with many different types of devices.

Two separate mikroBUS interface headers ensure ample expandability using MikroElektronika click boards(TM). Hundreds of click boards are available, each with working example code, giving easy access to functions such as GSM, GPS/GNSS, motor control, sub-GHz or 2.4GHz radio, speech recognition, sensors, meters, LCD or OLED displays, and many more.

The option to add two click boards simultaneously to Clicker 2 for PSoC 6 doubles expandability and saves users making either-or decisions.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, MikroElektronika Product Marketing Manager, commented, "Clicker 2 is the ideal platform to begin PSoC 6 projects, combining ease of use, flexibility and economy."

"The Clicker 2 for PSoC 6 marks our introduction into the flourishing MikroElektronika click board community utilising our PSoC 6 MCU solution, which is purpose-built for the IoT," said Jim Davis, Marketing Director of the MCU Business Unit at Cypress. "In line with Cypress' focus on solving problems for our customers to enable their next-generation products, we are expanding our reach into strong partner ecosystems, and RS and MikroElektronika are a perfect fit."

"Working together with MikroElektronika and Cypress, we have addressed important engineering challenges for developers to ensure Clicker 2 for PSoC 6 provides the best possible kick-start for our customers' projects," said Andy Keenan, Vice President Category Management for Semiconductors and Passives at RS.

RS and its partners in the project will demonstrate Clicker 2 for PSoC 6 on the Cypress Semiconductor stand, Hall 4A Stand 148, at embedded world 2018 in Nuremberg (February 27 to March 1).