NXP’s New 120 MHz ARM Cortex-M3 Microcontrollers Top DSP Benchmarks

With 256-point 16-bit FFT execution time of less than 190 µs, this is 54 percent faster than the nearest Cortex-M3 alternative and challenges low-cost DSPs in performance. For 1024-point 16-bit FFT the execution time is less than 0.89 ms. These times include the FFT initialization and overhead of the algorithm.

“With the availability of the LPC1769 and LPC1759, NXP’s performance advantage increases up to 40 percent over other Cortex-M3 MCUs.” said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager, microcontroller product line, NXP Semiconductors. “We’ve simplified high performance embedded control for our users with the most extensive DSP library available.”

The LPC1769 and LPC1759 MCUs feature 512 KB Flash, 64 KB SRAM, USB 2.0 Host/On-The-Go/Device, CAN 2.0B interfaces, 12-bit ADC, 10-bit DAC, I2C, SPI, UARTs and many other peripherals. The LPC1769 also adds a 10/100 Ethernet controller with a dedicated Ethernet Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller.

The LPC1700 series is already supported by a large number of development tools, real-time operating system (RTOS), middleware, and technical support services from industry leading tool vendors including IAR, Keil, Hitex, Code Red, and many others, such as:

* LPCXpresso – Provides customers with an end-to-end solution from initial prototype evaluation to final production. This development tool platform focuses on ease-of-use and faster product development time and supports all derivatives of Cortex-M0/M3 families and specific devices from the LPC2000 and LPC3000 families including the LPC1700 series.
* mbed (online rapid prototyping tool) – Enables engineers to create functioning prototypes for quick experimentation and more inventive and productive development.
* “Using the FreeRTOS Real Time Kernel; A Practical Guide, LPC17xx Edition” (Feb 2010) – Recently released, this eBook provides code examples for beginners to advanced users, including topics like how to use the memory protection unit (MPU) in conjunction with an RTOS. It is now available at http://www.FreeRTOS.org/Documentation
* A complete DSP Library is available on http://ics.nxp.com/find/LPC1769 including:
o License and royalty-free source code libraries
o Highly optimized 16- and 32- data width FFT, PID control with documentation
o FIR & IIR Filters: IIR (ARMA), biquad, 16- and 32-bit single stage for both
o Random number generator and resonator function
o Dot product & cross product of vectors
* License- and royalty-free VDE IEC 60335 Class B test libraries - Approved by the VDE (Verband der Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik e.V.: German Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies) testing and certification institute. These free NXP libraries eliminate the need for the designer to develop their own self-test routines. http://ics.nxp.com/find/LPC1769