LPC2468-based Reference Design Platform - IAR, NXP, Micrium

IAR, NXP, and Micrium have announced the release of a new reference design platform based on NXP’s LPC2468 ARM7 microcontroller, targeted at RTOS-based industrial applications. The LPC2468 IRD (Industrial Reference Design) platform software is built around the Micrium µC/OS-II  RTOS, and IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM C/C++ compiler and debugger. The new reference design platform with its RTOS, library, and application modules enable faster time to market for many embedded applications.

LPC2468-based Reference Design Platform - IAR, NXP, Micrium

The IRD platform incorporates interchangeable PCB-based Core, Base and Application modules that provide the essential system functions and wired communications protocols for a wide range of embedded applications, such as: building automation, solid state lighting,  lighting control, metering and industrial control.

The IRD platform includes the use of an integrated development environment (IDE) and J-Link (JTAG) hardware debug link. Both the JTAG connection and Micrium’s system monitor feature assist with software development and debug. Hardware circuitry is incorporated to facilitate In-System-Programming (ISP).

The new platform comprises an NXP LPC2468 microcontroller board featuring USB Host/Device, Ethernet, two RS232 ports, and two CAN ports, LCD display (4×20), a keypad board, and an IAR J-Link JTAG debug probe. Software support is provided for USB Host/Device, 10/100Base Ethernet, RS-232, I2C and CAN communication protocols. Some reference applications (written in C) to help starting application development are also provided by NXP.

Hardware and software application modules will be available separately, and can extend the platform functionality to application modes that include DALI, DMX, CAN and motor control. The IRD provides flexible interfaces for LCD or VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Displays), UART expansion, I2C expansion, and application specific hardware via connection headers. The IRD includes Micrium’s RTOS, TCP/IP stack, File System, USB Host, CAN stack as executable demos. Licensing the source code from Micrium allows the developer to customize this platform quickly.

NXP LPC2468 Microcontroller

NXP’s LPC2468 microcontroller is designed around a 16-bit/32-bit ARM7TDMI-S CPU core. The LPC2468 has 512 kB flash memory which includes a special 128-bit wide memory interface and accelerator architecture that enables the CPU to execute sequential instructions from flash memory at the maximum 72 MHz system clock rate. The LPC2468 can execute both 32-bit ARM and 16-bit Thumb instructions. This feature enables designer to optimize their application for either 16-bit/32-bit performance or code size. LPC2468 microcontroller features real-time debug interfaces that include both JTAG and embedded trace.

The LPC2468 microcontroller is ideal for multipurpose communication applications. It optimally suited for communication gateways and protocol converters. It has:

• A 10/100 Ethernet MAC
• A USB full-speed Device/Host/OTG Controller
• Two CAN channels
• Four UARTs
• An SPI interface
• Three I2C interfaces
• Two SSP (Synchronous Serial Ports),
• An I2S (Inter-IC Sound) interface

Supporting this collection of serial communications interfaces are the following feature components:

• On-chip 4 MHz internal precision oscillator
• 98 kB of total RAM consisting of 64 kB of local SRAM
• 16 kB SRAM for Ethernet
• 16 kB SRAM for general purpose DMA
• 2 kB of battery powered SRAM
• An EMC (External Memory Controller)

LPC2468 microcontroller also provides various 32-bit timers, 10-bit ADC, 10-bit DAC, two PWM units, four external interrupt pins, and up to 160 fast GPIO lines. All of these features make the LPC2468 microcontroller particularly suitable for medical and  industrial control systems.

NXP LPC2468 Microcontroller Block Diagram

Features of LPC2468 Microcontroller

• ARM7TDMI-S processor, running at up to 72 MHz.
• 512 kB on-chip flash program memory with In-System Programming (ISP) and In-Application Programming (IAP) capabilities. Flash program memory is on the ARM local bus for high performance CPU access.
• 98 kB on-chip SRAM includes:
  • 64 kB of SRAM on the ARM local bus for high performance CPU access.
  • 16 kB SRAM for Ethernet interface. Can also be used as general purpose SRAM.
  • 16 kB SRAM for general purpose DMA use also accessible by the USB.
  • 2 kB SRAM data storage powered from the Real-Time Clock (RTC) power domain.
• Dual Advanced High-performance Bus (AHB) system allows simultaneous Ethernet DMA, USB DMA, and program execution from on-chip flash with no contention.
• EMC provides support for asynchronous static memory devices such as RAM, ROM and flash, as well as dynamic memories such as Single Data Rate SDRAM.
• Advanced Vectored Interrupt Controller (VIC), supporting up to 32 vectored interrupts.
• General Purpose AHB DMA controller (GPDMA) that can be used with the SSP, I2S-bus, and SD/MMC interface as well as for memory-to-memory transfers.
• Serial Interfaces:
  • Ethernet MAC with MII/RMII interface and associated DMA controller. These functions reside on an independent AHB.
  • USB 2.0 full-speed dual port Device/Host/OTG Controller with on-chip PHY and associated DMA controller.
  • Four UARTs with fractional baud rate generation, one with modem control I/O, one with IrDA support, all with FIFO.
  • CAN controller with two channels.
  • SPI controller.
  • Two SSP controllers, with FIFO and multi-protocol capabilities. One is an alternate for the SPI port, sharing its interrupt. SSPs can be used with the GPDMA controller.
  • Three I2C-bus interfaces (one with open-drain and two with standard port pins).
  • I2S (Inter-IC Sound) interface for digital audio input or output. It can be used with the GPDMA.
• Other peripherals:
  • SD/MMC memory card interface.
  • 160 General purpose I/O pins with configurable pull-up/down resistors.
  • 10-bit ADC with input multiplexing among 8 pins.
  • 10-bit DAC.
  • Four general purpose timers/counters with 8 capture inputs and 10 compare outputs. Each timer block has an external count input.
  • Two PWM/timer blocks with support for three-phase motor control. Each PWM has an external count inputs.
  • RTC with separate power domain, clock source can be the RTC oscillator or the APB clock.
  • 2 kB SRAM powered from the RTC power pin, allowing data to be stored when the rest of the chip is powered off.
  • WatchDog Timer (WDT). The WDT can be clocked from the internal RC oscillator, the RTC oscillator, or the APB clock.
• Standard ARM test/debug interface for compatibility with existing tools.
• Emulation trace module supports real-time trace.
• Single 3.3 V power supply (3.0 V to 3.6 V).
• Three reduced power modes: idle, sleep, and power-down.
• Four external interrupt inputs configurable as edge/level sensitive. All pins on PORT0 and PORT2 can be used as edge sensitive interrupt sources.
• Processor wake-up from Power-down mode via any interrupt able to operate during Power-down mode (includes external interrupts, RTC interrupt, USB activity, Ethernet wake-up interrupt, CAN bus activity, PORT0/2 pin interrupt).
• Two independent power domains allow fine tuning of power consumption based on needed features.
• Each peripheral has its own clock divider for further power saving. These dividers help reducing active power by 20 - 30 %.
• Brownout detect with separate thresholds for interrupt and forced reset.
• On-chip power-on reset.
• On-chip crystal oscillator with an operating range of 1 MHz to 24 MHz.
• 4 MHz internal RC oscillator trimmed to 1 % accuracy that can optionally be used as the system clock. When used as the CPU clock, does not allow CAN and USB to run.
• On-chip PLL allows CPU operation up to the maximum CPU rate without the need for a high frequency crystal. May be run from the main oscillator, the internal RC oscillator, or the RTC oscillator.
• Boundary scan for simplified board testing.
• Versatile pin function selections allow more possibilities for using on-chip peripheral functions.

Source: http://www.standardics.nxp.com/products/lpc2000/datasheet/lpc2468.pdf : LPC2468 Microcontroller DataSheet (Preliminary) [1.8Mb]