FROM EDN EUROPE: ColdFire updated with real-time subsystem
By Graham Prophet -- EDN, June 10, 2004
On May 5, Motorola Semiconductors was rebranded as Freescale Semiconductor—a Motorola subsidiary pending a forthcoming IPO to float Freescale as a separate company.
In one of its first announcements, the company introduced an extension to the ColdFire-processor line—12 new devices in the MCF547x and 548x number sequences. Employing the V4e ColdFire core, the processors aim at the mid to high end of embedded 32-bit control applications and feature a range of connectivity options, plus the enhanced timing processor unit, or eTPU. This dedicated, real-time-control coprocessor handles tasks such as high-speed I/O, freeing up the main processor and reducing its burden of interrupt servicing. You could use it in motor control, or you can set it up to look like a serial interface using a standard high-speed protocol. In its maximum configuration, the 548x has dual CANbus and dual Ethernet support; 547x is better suited for use as a networked device with its twin Ethernet controllers.
Options include flash/flashless devices and advanced security and encryption features. Freescale sees the part being used in applications that bridge the industrial-control and IT worlds, such as building/HVAC/access control; memory-management and floating-point options support multithreaded Linux. Encryption support extends to protection of software IP, with decryption at the instruction level.
Freescale has also introduced the 523x family, this time using the V2 core with a 16/32-bit eTPU option; you typically use these parts, the company says, for motion control. For both families, the company will introduce a library of precoded application segments using the eTPU, and the code will be available on the company's Web site. With the 523x (which you can think of as an upgrade to the 68332), you get 144 MIPS max at 150 MHz; the 54xx parts offer 410 MIPS max at 266 MHz.
Freescale Semiconductor, e-www.motorola.com.
