Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Freescale Semiconductor | Subject: ColdFire V1
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 27 July 2006
8-bit ease-of-use for 32-bit processing
New ColdFire V1 core to power industry's first 8-bit-compatible 32-bit microcontrollers
As performance and memory requirements increase in consumer, medical, industrial and motor control applications, designers are hitting the ceiling of 8-bit performance The new ColdFire V1 core from Freescale Semiconductor is designed to provide 32-bit performance with the ease-of-use of an 8-bit microcontroller at a price point that won't give traditional 8-bit designers sticker shock
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 20 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The 68K/ColdFire V1 core will provide the engine for the industry's first 32-bit devices that are compatible with 8-bit - allowing easy migration between architectures.
Products based on the V1 core will use the same peripheral modules and development tools as products based on the S08 architecture, providing upward compatibility and simplifying application design.
"The 68K/ColdFire V1 core is Freescale's next step in delivering the Controller Continuum, our roadmap for 8-bit and 32-bit product compatibility that will give designers the ability to move effortlessly between 8-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers," said Mike McCourt, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Microcontroller Division.
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"Our next-generation products based on the V1 core will provide 32-bit performance with 8-bit ease-of-use at 16-bit prices".
"The introduction of the V1 core represents a significant step to bridge the gap between 8- and 32-bit microcontroller applications," said Rob Lineback, senior market analyst, IC Insights.
"Providing a common set of development tools and integrated peripherals, along with pin-compatible packages, is crucial".
"Freescale appears to be on track with its efforts to join the 8- and 32-bit MCU worlds".
Freescale has a rich peripheral portfolio, built on 30 years of microcontroller expertise.
The 68K/ColdFire V1 core will exploit this legacy to enable new application features and capabilities.
Freescale's 68K/ColdFire V1 core and 8-bit S08 architecture will share a common set of tools, starting with the CodeWarrior 6.0 development studio.
The CodeWarrior tool set makes programming the 32-bit 68K/ColdFire architecture as simple and straightforward as programming an 8-bit microcontroller.
Early supporters of the 68K/ColdFire V1 core include Opto 22, a provider of hardware and software products for applications in industrial automation and remote monitoring.
"Opto 22 has a long history of using Freescale microcontrollers and microprocessors in our most successful products," said Matt Chang, engineering manager, Opto 22.
"Freescale has continued to deliver the innovative architectures, features, tools and performance we need in a timely and efficient manner".
"The introduction of the V1 core will allow us to use both 8- and 32-bit technology in a formerly 8-bit-only space, without the development discontinuities imposed by multiple architectures".
The 68K/ColdFire V1 core is designed to deliver increased system utilisation, resulting in the lowest power consumption of any 68K/ColdFire products to date, while offering more processing performance than 8-bit microcontrollers.
This new low-voltage/low-power technology allows the V1 core to achieve aggressive stop/run currents.
The full set of ColdFire architecture registers are built into the 68K/ColdFire V1 core, and it supports the same programming model as the 68K/ColdFire V2-V4 cores.
The V1 core uses the S08 bus structure, which enables the use of similar peripheral and memory modules.
For package pin compatibility, the V1 uses the S08's single-pin background debug mode to create simple interface configuration.
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