Recording data on flash has limitations, so Cypress Semiconductor turned to nonvolatile SRAM (nvSRAM) with its latest PSoC family of 8-bit configurable microcontrollers. The PSoC NV can offer up to 256 kbytes of nvSRAM plus 2 kybtes of conventional SRAM and 32 kbytes of flash. The nvSRAM has a transfer rate of 1 Mbyte/s and eliminates the wear issues of flash. This can be critical in embedded data logging applications where replacement is not an option. Cypress’ approach is faster than EEPROM and flash, and it also eliminates the software programming overhead. Like SRAM, nvSRAM is just read/write memory with no endurance limits like flash. SRAM is still faster, but a large nvSRAM is ideal for its intended target audience. The PSoC NV mantains the PSoC configuration flexibility with a set of programmable digital and analog blocks, which can be configured for a range of devices such as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs). The PSoC has some dedicated digital communication interfaces like USB, but additional digital interfaces can be set up using the configurable digital blocks. A flexible I/O rerouting system lets designers match ports and reconfigurable I/O. An eval kit costs $55. PSoC Designer provides software support.
Reprints
