Hello group, I have been tasked with investigating possible solutions for a new product. I have normally used micros with flash/ram memory onboard, but now we need to have atleast 1MB codememory and the same amount of RAM, so I have been looking for a while to find some possible setup. It appears to me that singlechip MCU's are much more popular (naturally), but I would like to ask all of you for an advice on the following: What micros do you use with external memory? Why? What RTOS? Why? Total systemcost is an issue for this product. Thanking you in advance for any input on the matter.
ARM7 with external memory
Started by ●May 2, 2006
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
In article <44573cd5$0$47047$edfadb0f@dread15.news.tele.dk>, Henrik [6650] <not@valid.com> writes>Hello group, > >I have been tasked with investigating possible solutions for a new product. >I have normally used micros with flash/ram memory onboard, but now we need >to have atleast 1MB codememory and the same amount of RAM, so I have been >looking for a while to find some possible setup. It appears to me that >singlechip MCU's are much more popular (naturally), but I would like to ask >all of you for an advice on the following: > >What micros do you use with external memory? Why? >What RTOS? Why? > >Total systemcost is an issue for this product. > >Thanking you in advance for any input on the matter.Is this home work? -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ /\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
Henrik [6650] wrote:> Hello group, > > I have been tasked with investigating possible solutions for a new > product. I have normally used micros with flash/ram memory onboard, > but now we need to have atleast 1MB codememory and the same amount of > RAM, so I have been looking for a while to find some possible setup. > It appears to me that singlechip MCU's are much more popular > (naturally), but I would like to ask all of you for an advice on the > following: > > What micros do you use with external memory? Why? > What RTOS? Why? > > Total systemcost is an issue for this product. >You cannot make any decision based on just requirement for memory size. You need to know processing requirements and peripherals. If large Flash/RAM is the only requirement, then AT91M40800 is a good low cost alternative. Many would consider the AT91RM9200 running Linux as a good candidate.> Thanking you in advance for any input on the matter.-- Best Regards, Ulf Samuelsson ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com This message is intended to be my own personal view and it may or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
"Ulf Samuelsson" <ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com> wrote in message news:e37ntc$7i4$1@emma.aioe.org...> You cannot make any decision based on just requirement for memory size. > You need to know processing requirements and peripherals.Of course not, I am aware of that, and perhaps I should have been more detailed in my previous post. However, my peripheral requirements is likely to be fulfilled by most devices. I only need a serial port and a SPI and a few IO. Of course I need 16 bit timers and preferably a dedicated PIT for the RTOS.> If large Flash/RAM is the only requirement, then AT91M40800 is a good low > cost alternative. > Many would consider the AT91RM9200 running Linux as a good candidate.My reason for requesting large flash/ram sizes is that I need to do quite a lot of dataprocessing and storing. I plan on using SQLite and use SPI flash for storage. For the GUI I plan to maintain rather large amounts of dataobjects in RAM for easy and fast access. Hence the high RAM demand. Also, since the customers specs as to datamanipulation is not yet 100% defined, I prefer to start out large, and shrink if possible. Actually I have been looking at AT91 series since we use atmel in almost every product we ship today, but I feared that those would "soon" be EOL (with nothing than a "gut feeling" to base it on) and I need to be able to manufacture this product for atleast 5 years from january 2007. I hope I am totally mistaking here?? With AT91 in mind, could anybody suggest a RTOS to look at? Thank you, Henrik
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
"Chris Hills" <chris@phaedsys.org> wrote in message news:JgAw7yAU+1VEFAhU@phaedsys.demon.co.uk...> Is this home work?Absolutely not. This is for our next generation controllers for animalfeeding. Our current solution is based on a 8051 architecture, but due to the amount of data we need to process and store, we want to "climb the ladder" a step or two. Thank you, Henrik
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
> Total systemcost is an issue for this product.What is your target unit cost and estimated volume? Maybe COTS hardware would provide a simple solution if your interfaces are that simple (as per other post). Regards, Richard. http://www.FreeRTOS.org *Now for ARM CORTEX M3!*
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
Henrik [6650] wrote:> "Ulf Samuelsson" <ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com> wrote in message > news:e37ntc$7i4$1@emma.aioe.org... > >> You cannot make any decision based on just requirement for memory >> size. You need to know processing requirements and peripherals. > > Of course not, I am aware of that, and perhaps I should have been more > detailed in my previous post. However, my peripheral requirements is > likely to be fulfilled by most devices. I only need a serial port and > a SPI and a few IO. Of course I need 16 bit timers and preferably a > dedicated PIT for the RTOS.AT91M42800A will do the job for you then. This is 0,35u. If this makes you nervous, and you can wait just a little, then the AT91SAM9260 and AT91SAM7SE should be arriving this summer. The AT91RM9200 is avaialble, but will be more expensive.> Actually I have been looking at AT91 series since we use atmel in > almost every product we ship today, but I feared that those would > "soon" be EOL (with nothing than a "gut feeling" to base it on) and I > need to be able to manufacture this product for atleast 5 years from > january 2007. I hope I am totally mistaking here?? > > With AT91 in mind, could anybody suggest a RTOS to look at? > > Thank you, > > Henrik-- Best Regards, Ulf Samuelsson ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com This message is intended to be my own personal view and it may or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
"Richard" <nospam@thanks.com> wrote in message news:b3L5g.62949$wl.3635@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...> > Total systemcost is an issue for this product. > > What is your target unit cost and estimated volume? Maybe COTS hardware > would provide a simple solution if your interfaces are that simple.I believe that we would be able to do the hardware for about 150USD which is what we have as an initial budget. We have been looking at COTS hardware, but we have not been able to find any that match our needs and demands. We bare temperature extremes below -15 degrees celcius and the environment i relative noisy (electrically, that is). Our estimated annual volume is about 2-2.5K units. Thank you, Henrik
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
On Tue, 2 May 2006 17:16:54 +0200, "Henrik [6650]" <not@valid.com> wrote:>My reason for requesting large flash/ram sizes is that I need to do quite a >lot of dataprocessing and storing. I plan on using SQLite and use SPI flash >for storage. For the GUI I plan to maintain rather large amounts of >dataobjects in RAM for easy and fast access. Hence the high RAM demand. >Also, since the customers specs as to datamanipulation is not yet 100% >defined, I prefer to start out large, and shrink if possible.I'd use only a small flash for booting, enough RAM for code+data, and an SD/MMC card for code and permanent data. All SD/MMC cards have an SPI mode, and firmware updates and database backups will be very easy then. If you need speed you could always use the sd cards' 4 bit mode. Mit freundlichen Gr��en Frank-Christian Kr�gel
Reply by ●May 2, 20062006-05-02
Henrik [6650] wrote:> "Richard" <nospam@thanks.com> wrote in message > news:b3L5g.62949$wl.3635@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk... >>> Total systemcost is an issue for this product. >> >> What is your target unit cost and estimated volume? Maybe COTS >> hardware would provide a simple solution if your interfaces are that >> simple. > > I believe that we would be able to do the hardware for about 150USD > which is what we have as an initial budget. We have been looking at > COTS hardware, but we have not been able to find any that match our > needs and demands. We bare temperature extremes below -15 degrees > celcius and the environment i relative noisy (electrically, that is). > Our estimated annual volume is about 2-2.5K units. >Check out www.mechatronicbrick.dk or www.iotech.dk. The IO Technologies pricing for AT91RM9200 CPU module + 8 MB of dataflash + 16 MB of SDRAM is 68 Euros = $85> Thank you, > Henrik-- Best Regards, Ulf Samuelsson ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com This message is intended to be my own personal view and it may or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB
