Designers interested in using the Texas Instruments Inc. MSP430 microcontroller (MCU)—or at least in getting a free MCU development kit—can attend one of TI’s 430 Day “lunch-and-learn” events starting this month. The sixth annual 430 Day sessions will be held in more than 150 locations worldwide beginning on Mar. 25. Attendees will take home a free eZ430-RF2500 wireless MCU development kit worth $49.
Hosted by TI distributors worldwide, 430 Day teaches embedded-application designers how the MSP430 MCU platform enables extensive system design possibilities with its 16-bit RISC architecture, advanced peripheral set, and wide portfolio. It does this while maintaining the world’s lowest MCU power consumption, according to TI. The event will also offer tips and tricks for using the newest MSP430 MCUs and tools, and will also touch on wireless protocols and low-power design techniques for the portable market.
Included on the schedule are:
- Australia and New Zealand: TBD
- China: April 30-June 26, 2008
- Europe, Middle East, Africa: April 7-30, 2008
- India: April-May
- Japan: May 20-June 4, 2008
- Korea: April 30, 2008
- North America: March 25-April 18, 2008
- South America: April 8-April 18, 2008
- Taiwan: April 15-July 11, 2008
The ez430-RF2500 is packaged in a convenient USB stick form factor and offers two rf-enabled MCU target boards and a PC debugging interface to develop standalone wireless projects. The kit offers a complete solution for writing code as well as operating and testing applications in the field, enabling developers to quickly and easily build low-power wireless systems for sensing and metering, home security and automation, medical, and other applications.