IAR Systems announces efficient RTOS and file system for ultra-low power MSP430 microcontrollers

IAR PowerPac is a perfect complement to IAR Embedded Workbench for MSP430, a suite of development tools for building and debugging embedded applications using assembler, C and C++. With a small (2kB) memory footprint and an affordable licensing model, the IAR PowerPac RTOS is particularly well-suited for the low-power microcontroller market.

“IAR Embedded Workbench is popular with our MSP430 MCU customers, and we believe that IAR PowerPac – with its tight integration to IAR Embedded Workbench – will be a very welcome addition to the current portfolio of available tools,” commented Matt Muse, Regional Marketing Manager for Texas Instruments.

With up to 25MHz peak performance, higher integration, and power consumption as low as 160 µA/MHz in active mode and 1.5 µA in standby, TI's newest generation of 16-bit MSP430F5xx MCUs enable longer battery life and the ability to use smaller batteries for portable applications, or no batteries at all.

“An RTOS offers further performance enhancements by promoting code reuse, offering clean hooks to middleware and by shortening development time. The quality of the application is also ensured by the predictable response times that are achieved in time-critical applications,” commented Lotta Frimanson Product Manager, IAR Systems. “IAR PowerPac has been designed to fulfil this need, while being simple to use and having a very small memory footprint.”

IAR PowerPac features pre-emptive scheduling as well as round-robin scheduling, handling up to 255 priorities with an unlimited number of tasks, semaphores, mailboxes and software timers. The system provides full interrupt support, and zero interrupt latency time is a key benefit. Nested interrupts are permitted, and very fast context switch times can be achieved. IAR PowerPac for MSP430 File System is MS-DOS/Windows compatible, with FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 support as well as support for multiple device drivers and multiple media. The highly modular structure helps to minimise memory consumption.

The innovative business model under which IAR PowerPac is licensed is similar to that of IAR Embedded Workbench. In addition to a single-user licence, with an option to include source code, IAR Systems has also introduced the concept of a group licence suitable for development teams of up to 20 developers, which also includes full source code of the product. IAR PowerPac for MSP430 is available from IAR Systems and its worldwide network of sales representatives.