SAN JOSE, CA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY) introduced the CY3271-EXP1 Environmental Sensing Kit. The new kit is the first of many future expansion offerings for the recently introduced PSoC First Touch Starter Kit with CyFi Low-Power RF. The Environmental Sensing Kit includes two boards—a weather station expansion board that includes sensors for atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature and ambient light (all of which can be operated and monitored simultaneously); along with a pigtail thermistor board for measuring temperature in remote locations. The new kit is ideal for designers of systems such as HVAC system monitors, weather stations, and environmental sensor alarms.
The new sensing kit is easy to use right out of the box. Designers use the "Sense and Control Dashboard" software included in the new FirstTouch Starter Kit to quickly set-up and monitor a wired or wireless sensor network through the intuitive visual dashboard. The combination of the Environmental Sensing Kit and the dashboard enable data logging, data aggregation, alarms, and sensor calibration for nearly any type of sensor. In addition, the kit supports custom expansion for designers who want to develop their own applications.
The new CyFi Low-Power RF solution delivers the industry's leading combination of reliable connectivity, power-efficiency and superior range, and is supported by the flexible and easy-to-use PSoC programmable system-on-chip. PSoC reduces the complexity of quantifying a sensor's signal by integrating the amplification, filtering, and ADC stages into a single device. Additionally, the PSoC's analog MUX allows multiple sensors to be connected concurrently.
"The new Environmental Sensing Kit is an ideal platform to showcase the outstanding analog integration capabilities of the PSoC architecture for sensor applications," said Erin Kettwig, senior PSoC marketing manager for Cypress. "In addition, it pairs with the new FirstTouch Starter Kit to demonstrate the simplicity and reliability of the new CyFi Low-Power RF solution."
Availability
The CY3271-EXP1 Environmental Sensing Kit is available today from Cypress and from authorized distributors. It is priced at US$99.99. The CY3271 PSoC FirstTouch Starter Kit is also available, priced at $69.95.
About CyFi Low-Power RF
The CyFi solution uses Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) modulation to encode data and allow the CyFi receiver to recover the signal when faced with interference. The solution intelligently selects a clear channel from the 80 narrow, 1 MHz channels at the transceiver's disposal. No other 2.4-GHz solution combines DSSS modulation with this level of frequency agility. The solution can also increase power amplification to overcome interference. This dynamic adaptability to the operating environment also lends to optimizing power consumption. In noise-free environments the CyFi solution communicates at 1 Mbps to minimize transfer time and leverage the ultra-low-power sleep current of 0.8 µA. The solution automatically drops to a slower, more robust 250 Kbps data rate when it detects interference, and it can increase power amplification to reduce retransmissions and return to sleep-mode faster.
The CyFi protocol stack has the smallest memory footprint of any comparable wireless solution at 5.5K in Flash, leaving room for additional system functionality in the controlling PSoC device. Designers can use the compact protocol stack to build a complete wireless star-topology network with fewer peripherals and greater functionality. The protocol stack has a network capacity of up to 255 nodes per hub, all with asynchronous, bi-directional communication.
About The CY3271 PSoC FirstTouch Starter Kit with CyFi Low-Power RF
The CY3271 PSoC FirstTouch Starter Kit with CyFi Low-Power RF is a low-cost USB thumbdrive kit including PSoC IDE software, a sense and control dashboard for data collection, a PC dongle with RF, a multifunction board, an RF expansion board with power amplifiers for long-range wireless applications, and two battery boards. Designers can also use the kit to leverage the touch-sensing, temperature-sensing, lighting-sensing and proximity sensing capabilities of PSoC devices.
PSoC -- Because Change Happens
PSoC devices employ a highly configurable system-on-chip architecture for embedded control design, offering a flash-based equivalent of a field-programmable ASIC without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC devices integrate configurable analog and digital circuits, controlled by an on-chip microcontroller, providing both enhanced design revision capability and component count savings. They include up to 32 Kbytes of Flash memory, 2 Kbytes of SRAM, an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator, power and sleep monitoring circuits, and hardware I2C communications.
The flexible PSoC resources allow designers to future-proof their products by enabling firmware-based changes during design, validation, production, and in the field. The unique PSoC flexibility shortens design cycle time and allows for late-breaking feature enhancements. All PSoC devices are also dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to morph internal resources on-the-fly, utilizing fewer components to perform a given task.
Easy to use development tools enable designers to select configurable library elements for analog functions such as amplifiers, ADCs, DACs, filters and comparators and digital functions such as timers, counters, PWMs, SPI and UARTs. The PSoC family's analog features include rail-to-rail inputs, programmable gain amplifiers and up to 14-bit ADCs with exceptionally low noise, input leakage and voltage offset.
A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions saving customers design time, board space and power consumption while improving system quality. Customers can save as much as $10 in system costs. Free online training is available at the Cypress Web site.
About Cypress
Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the PSoC programmable system-on-chip, USB controllers, general-purpose programmable clocks and memories. Cypress also offers wired and wireless connectivity technologies ranging from its CyFi Low-Power RF solution, to West Bridge and EZ-USB FX2LP controllers that enhance connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, computation, data communications, automotive, and industrial. Cypress trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online.