New PSoC Solution for Digital Filters Offers Higher Performance And More Flexibility than MCU-Based Offerings

Digital filters have many applications, often involving the removal of a signal that interferes with system performance, or the isolation of a necessary signal. PSoC 3 and PSoC 5’s hardware filter implementation allows higher performance than is possible from any MCU-only solution. It can clean up and isolate even very weak signals, enabling small sensors to operate efficiently, and extracting modulated data in voice and communications systems.

The new filtering solution is available as a drop-in “component” from Cypress’s PSoC Creator™ 2.0 design software. It was recently released in a “Component Pack” update that includes new peripheral functions. The ability to add new peripheral functions to existing devices is a unique advantage of PSoC’s programmability. Cypress plans to deliver new Component Packs every eight weeks providing unmatched time-to-market.

The digital filter component is fully tested and characterized, speeding time-to-market and assuring high quality end products for customers. It enables easy drag-and-drop addition of powerful hardware digital filters to PSoC Creator project schematics. It offers two independent filter channels, each of which can have up to four separately designed FIR or IIR stages in series. Customers can choose built-in standard window filter types or enter custom filter coefficients for maximum flexibility. Final hardware-optimized coefficient values as well as the graphical views of the expected results can be extracted for further analysis.

The digital filter solution is highlighted as the current PSoC Peripheral of the Month, a program designed to highlight applications and functions that standard MCUs can’t deliver, but PSoC can. Each peripheral will be presented with accompanying design support documents at www.cypress.com/go/potm
At the page, customers can learn more and download PSoC Creator free of charge and begin development of high-performance digital filtering applications immediately.

“Filters are ubiquitous elements in a variety of systems, from consumer to embedded,” said Jim Davis, Sr. Marketing Manager for Cypress’s PSoC Platform. “But it’s a function that MCUs traditionally do not perform well. PSoC’s unique architecture blends the performance of a hardware co-processor utilized for digital filter applications with the ease-of-use introduced by the PSoC Creator software toolset. This combination enables integrated and innovative solutions for engineers that also accelerate their time to market.”

Availability
The digital filter component is available in a free download of Cypress’s Component Pack 1 for existing PSoC Creator 2.0 users. Users downloading PSoC Creator 2.0 for the first time will automatically receive the Component Pack. Going forward, registered users will receive alerts when new Component Packs are released.