Development kit features embedded FRAM

11th July 2014

Mick Elliott

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Farnell element14 has launched Texas Instruments MSP430 ULP (ultra low power) FRAM LaunchPad, a development platform which combines embedded FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) and a holistic ultra low-power system architecture. The new addition to the LaunchPad family, MSP-EXP430FR5969 - an easy-to-use Evaluation Module for the MSP4305969 microcontroller enables developers to reduce energy budgets, minimise product size and enable a battery-free world.

Embedded FRAM, a non-volatile memory known for high endurance and high speed write access, together with ultra-low power makes the MSP430 suited for a wide variety of applications ranging from metering, wearable electronics, consumer electronics, the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial and remote sensors, home automation and energy harvesting.

Available in this dev kit, TI's new EnergyTrace++ technology is the world's first debug system that enables developers to analyse power consumption down to 5nA resolution in real-time for each peripheral; this allows engineers to take control of their power budget and optimise software to create the lowest energy product possible.

Features include :

MSP430 ULP FRAM technology-based 16-bit MSP430FR5969 MCU

64KB FRAM / 2KB SRAM
16-Bit RISC Architecture up to 8-MHz FRAM access / 16MHz system clock speed
5x Timer Blocks
Analog: 16Ch 12-Bit differential ADC, 16Ch Comparator
Digital: AES256, CRC, DMA, HW MPY32

20 pin LaunchPad standard leveraging the BoosterPack ecosystem

The evaluation kit comes with the essentials to get started fast, including on-board eZ-FET emulation for programming, debugging and energy measurements. The board features on-board buttons and LEDs for quick integration of a simple user interface as well as a SuperCap allowing standalone applications without an external power supply.