Evaluation and development platform for Silicon Labs' C8051F mixed-signal microcontrollers

Small and portable, the ToolStickSK requires only a USB port on a PC and software that designers can download from the Silicon Laboratories website.

“Tools are the most important factor in a designer’s decision on which MCU to use at the heart of their system,” said Derrell Coker, vice president of Silicon Laboratories. “The ToolStick Starter Kit enables customers to plug directly into their laptops and begin development wherever and whenever it is convenient. Developers can easily experiment with new designs and execute on established designs in a risk free, low cost development environment.”

Inexpensive and easy to use, the ToolStickSK is another example of Silicon Laboratories’ commitment to provide the most comprehensive development platforms. The ToolStickSK includes a base adapter that uses a C8051F326 USB MCU to communicate with an interchangeable daughter board. Three example programs are included to demonstrate Silicon Laboratories’ user-friendly development environment and mixed-signal MCU. Designers can view and change the contents of internal registers and memory, as well as set breakpoints in the code or perform single stepping through disassembled code. To meet customer demands, the new ToolStick Terminal PC application provides access to UART and GPIO functions on the MCU. In addition, customers can purchase other daughter boards demonstrating different Silicon Laboratories MCUs, depending on the functionality necessary for the end product.

To shorten the overall product development cycle, the ToolStickSK simulates field implementations by plugging into a USB port and determining how a product’s code will affect the behavior of the target MCU. The designer can also connect the end product with the ToolStickSK, providing an immediate demonstration of how the product will behave in the field.