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Revision as of 06:10, 13 December 2006
PSoC (Programmable System-on-Chip) is a family of mixed-signal arrays made by Cypress Semiconductor, featuring a microcontroller and integrated analog and digital peripherals.
The real strength of PSoC versus a fixed-purpose ASIC comes from their ability to modify the behavior and configuration of the individual digital and analog components dynamically while in use. A systems designer can implement multiple devices out of the same semiconductor circuitary. For example, part of a vending machine electronics machinery could be automatically re-programmed to report its inventory and have replenishments ordered at midnight.
See also
- FPAA: field programmable analog array
PSoC - or Programmable System-on-Chip - is a software configured, mixed-signal array with built-in MCU core. The core is a Cypress proprietary, very-small harvard architecture machine called the M8C. The M8C is an 8-bit machine with a rich 256 instructions. PSoC has three separate memory spaces: RAM, Flash and IO Registers (which control and access the configurable blocks and fixed functions).
PSoC resembles an ASIC in its flexibility and integration: blocks can be assigned a wide range of functions and interconnected on-chip. Unlike an ASIC, there is no special manufacturing process required to create the custom configuration - only startup code which is created by Cypress' PSoC Designer IDE.
PSoC resembles an FPGA in that at power up it must be configured, but this configuration occurs by loading instructions from the built-in Flash memory. Unlike an FPGA, the current generation of PSoC cannot have its digital functions reprogrammed by VHDL or verilog, it can only be configured with register settings.
PSoC most closely resembles a microcontroller in usage, since the programs written by a user execute code to interact with the user-specified peripheral functions (called "User Modules"), utilizing automatically generated APIs and interrupt routines. PSoC Designer IDE generates the startup configuration code and peripheral APIs automatically based upon the users selections in a visual-studio-like GUI.
External links
- Cypress Semiconductor
- [http://www.cypress.com/psocdesigner Download PSoC Designer Software}
- Download PSoC Express Software
- PSoC Developer
- CYPros Consultant
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