The Official MSP430 Blog

Who Wants More Tool Deals?

William Cooper — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:18:00 GMT

I think it's time more of you get a glimpse into our wide selection of MSP430 products, so here are some more deals!

This is a breakout board featuring the MSP430FG4619. This device includes two 16-bit timers, a high-performance 12-bit A/D converter, dual 12-bit D/A converters, three configurable operational amplifiers, one universal serial communication interface (USCI), one universal synchronous/asynchronous communication interface (USART), DMA, 80 I/O pins, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) driver with regulated charge pump. Typical applications for this device include portable medical applications and e-meter applications.

MSP-TS430PW28A - Now only $55!

This board features the MSP430G2452. This device contains built-in 16-bit timers, and up to 16 I/O capacitive-touch enabled pins and built-in communication capability using the universal serial communication interface and have a versatile analog comparator. The MSP430G2x52 series have a 10-bit A/D converter. Typical applications include low-cost sensor systems that capture analog signals, convert them to digital values, and then process the data for display or for transmission to a host system.

MSP-TS430DL48 - Now only $20!

The MSP430F4270 is featured on this board and comes with a 16-bit timer, a high performance 16-bit sigma-delta A/D converter, 12-bit D/A converter, 32 I/O pins, and an LCD driver. Typical applications for this device include analog and digital sensor systems, digital motor control, remote controls, thermostats, digital timers, hand-held meters, etc.

MSP-TS430PEU128 - Now only $20!

This board features the MSP430F6779, a highly integrated device featuring Texas Instruments' 24-bit sigma delta converter technology which provides better than 0.1% accuracy. Family members include up to 512KB flash and 32KB RAM and an LCD controller with support for up to 320 segments. The ultra-low-power nature of the F6779 means that the system power supply can be minimized to reduce overall cost. Lowest standby power means that backup energy storage can be minimized and critical data retained longer in case of a mains power failure. The F6779 family executes the Texas Instruments energy measurement software library which calculates all relevant energy and power results. The energy measurement software library is available with the F6779 at no cost.

These offers are for a limited time only. Check them out today!

MSP430@Maker Faire

William Cooper — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:44:50 GMT

We know that not everyone could make it out to Maker Faire, so check out our Make the Switch blog for updates from this past Saturday. The TI booth was hopping and we even had some of our own resident authors out for the event!

Want more? Read up on how you can create real solutions (wireless light switch displayed at the event) using Energia and the MSP430 LaunchPad.

New MSP430 Tool Deal Available!

William Cooper — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:36:00 GMT

Interested in achieving extended battery life in portable measurement applications? Give our MSP430AFE2xx devices a try!

We will make it a little easier... for the next two weeks you can purchase the MSP-TS430PW24 target board for only $30 (new price reflected in cart). Order today!

LaunchPad + Energia = Wireless Light Switch

William Cooper — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:07:00 GMT

Have you ever hesitated to implement your ideas for fear of the long road ahead? Never again! The LaunchPad and BoosterPack ecosystem was a great place to start when implementing an idea in hardware, but until recently it was lacking a development environment that matched its simplicity and ease of use. I'll walk you through this below, but for a first hand experience visit Maker Faire on the West Coast!

Now that is a thing of the past. Energia is a community created and driven software platform based on the Wiring framework. This platform simplifies programming to the use of high level functions, so you can say goodbye to hunting through datasheets and changing register values just to blink an LED.

What now? With LaunchPad and Energia, you can create a prototype in minutes! To demonstrate this, I decided to create a wireless light switch. On the hardware side, I created two pieces: A MSP430 LaunchPad connecting to a TRIAC circuit, for turning the light on and off, and a MSP430 LaunchPad with a Cap Touch BoosterPack and a community developed battery BoosterPack for remote control. Now, the most important part of a wireless light switch…Wireless! I used two Air BoosterPacks featuring the CC110L sub 1 GHz radio and created by Anaren.

On the software side, I used only Energia. I leveraged a cap touch library created by a 43oh community member and a library Anaren created for their Air BoosterPack. Check out the result!

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Rapid prototyping and fun projects are just a little easier with Energia around and I am so excited to create more projects like the wireless light switch above! Please leave a comment below to share your experiences with the great combo of LaunchPad and Energia. I can’t wait to see what else is out there!

Community Highlights - May

William Cooper — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:40:00 GMT

The MSP430 community is amazing! People around the world are doing great things with our MCUs and we think it is important to share those projects. So welcome to the May edition of Community Highlights!

IR remote created by IPushKarov for his Nikon DSLR

(Please visit the site to view this video)

4x4x4 LED cube created by Samartist using the MSP430 LaunchPad

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Touch Piano developed by Rohit Gupta

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Tune in next month to read about what people are doing with their MSP430 MCUs and tap into the online community directly at 43oh! In the meantime, post all of your cool MSP430-based projects online and share the links on Twitter. We’ll track all the projects with the #MSP430 hashtag.

MSPMATHLIB: Amping up the Performance of MSP430 MCUs, but not the Power

William Cooper — Tue, 07 May 2013 04:05:00 GMT

Interested in long battery life, but think the math required for your application is too much for the MSP430? Think again!

MSPMATHLIB is a new and accelerated library of floating point, scalar math functions. If you need scalar math functions, but don’t want to deal with the hassle of developing a fixed point algorithm to meet your performance needs, then this library is the answer. Figure 1 shows the decreased cycle time when implementing functions using MSPMATHLIB as opposed to existing MSP430 math implementations. Utilizing the intelligent peripherals of our MSP430 F5xx, F6xx and FRAM based MCU series, MSPMATHLIB can bring you up to 26x performance!

Now you can do more with our 16-bit MCUs than you ever imagined and can stay in low power modes longer to improve battery life in existing math intensive applications. No longer do you need to convert to fixed point math and reduce accuracy to get higher performance. This means better performance in applications such as utility metering and applications involving touch, graphics or sensors.

Want to see it in action? Check out this sweet video displaying the enhanced graphics performance enabled by MSPMATHLIB on one of our F5xx series devices.

video platform video management video solutions video player

Learn more and download MSPMATHLIB for your CCS or IAR projects today to unlock the potential of your MSP430 MCU! Don’t forget to leave a comment below about how this library will enable your application.

Celebrate 4/30! Check out these tool deals... good for only 430 minutes!

Alex Kephart — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:30:00 GMT

Today is a great day here at Texas Instruments! Why? It's 4/30! And to celebrate, MSP430™ MCUs will be offering limited quantities of the following tools for only 430 minutes, starting at 5:00am CDT (10am GMT/UTC). Below is a list of the tools we're offering and the promotional pricing for each:

eZ430-Chronos - $50

MSP-FET430U128 - $150

MSP-FET430U100B - $130

MSP-FET430U100C – $130

Order now because once these kits are gone, they’re gone! As always, international shipping is free when you order from the TI eStore! So get them today!

Happy 4/30!

(PS- Be sure to celebrate #msp430day on Twitter, too!)

Selecting a development tool for LCD applications

William Cooper — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:54:00 GMT

In the past two weeks, Jennifer gave you a deeper view of our MSP430 LCD portfolio and introduced you to the applications and benefits of using these integrated devices in your application. Now, if you’re like me, you are ready to get started!

Today I’m going to explore some of the great development tools available from the MSP430 team. Specifically, I will highlight those tools featuring our 100+ devices with integrated LCD so that you can better decide which MSP430 is right for your LCD based applications.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at our 4 series. As you read previously, this series offers CPU speeds of up to 16MHz with 120kB Flash and has integrated features like a 16-bit Sigma Delta ADC for precise measurement. This family is a strong fit for applications including portable medical and metering. Intrigued? Check out the MSP-EXP430FG4618. This Experimenter Board is extremely versatile with both a MSP430F2013 and a MSP430FG4618 on board. You can use the included LCD screen, buttons, capacitive touch pad, audio output and even add a TI Wireless Connectivity evaluation module to implement a full solution.

Do you need higher speeds or more analog integration? Then the 6 series is the answer. These devices run at up to 25MHz and feature more memory and USB connectivity in addition to the LCD driver you need. The devices in this family are more powerful without compromising the ultra-low power you have come to expect from MSP430. If that isn’t enough we have a tool designed specifically for three-phase electricity metering coming soon. The EVM, based on the MSP430F6779, can be connected to the main power lines and has inputs for voltage and current, as well as a third connection to setup anti-tampering. If you throw in our Energy Library and available GUI, you can get started in no time!

Looking for an even more integrated solution? Then look no further! Our RF SoC series offers up to 20MHz speeds and 32kB Flash and includes LCD and an on chip sub 1-GHz radio. We even have a highly integrated and wearable development tool, the EZ430-CHRONOS. This tool is fully programmable and comes in a watch form factor. Check out some of the applications a tool like this can enable!

Still not exactly what you need? Looking to integrate an MSP430 directly into your system? We have tools for that too! Pick out an MSP430 Design Kits for the MSP430 that meets your needs.

If you are interested in LCD applications the MSP430 team is here to help! Don’t hesitate to ask questions below and head on over to www.ti.com/msp430 to explore our LCD portfolio and choose the right tool today! To help you get started we will disount several tools including the MSP-FET430U128 and the EZ430-CHRONOS on 4/30! So follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/timicrocontrollers) or on twitter (@TXInstruments) to learn more.

New to the Launchpad? Check out the new "Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad" book - now available!

AdrianFer — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:33:00 GMT

If you're new to the MSP430 LaunchPad, check out the new Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad book, now available @ Elsevier.com and amazon!

This book explores the world of microcontroller development through friendly lessons and progressively challenging projects, which will have you blinking LEDs, buzzing buzzers & sensing sensors like accelerometers and temperature sensors in no-time!
The book focuses on Energia, a wonderful community-driven, open-source software development tool for writing code.
Jam-packed with 25+ projects with schematics, diagrams & fully-commented code
Also leverages the highly-integrated Educational BoosterPack from CircuitCo Electronics

Coverage includes:

Digital Input/Output: buttons, LEDs, turning anything into a button
Analog Input/Output: sensors, temperature, accelerometer, potentiometer, etc.
Programming fundamentals: conditional branches & loops, flow, logic, number systems
Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM): square wave, buzzer, analog signal simulation
Serial Communication: UART, SPI & I2C
Code development using Energia, a free, open-source code editor and compiler
Debugging through serial communication with a computer
Interfacing with external components such as LEDs, buzzers, potentiometers, sensors & more.

With the help of this book, you will be challenged to think about developing your own unique microcontroller-based application, and you will be equipped to start solving various problems, adding intelligence to existing products, or even developing your own innovative creations with a LaunchPad development kit.

We'll be at DESIGN West this week to help launch the book!

It’s now available to order through Elsevier and Amazon. Order yours today and stop by the Newnes booth (booth #837) at DESIGN West to learn more!

Applications and benefits of using an integrated LCD

Jennifer Barry — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:08:00 GMT

Last week, I wrote about our vast portfolio of MSP430 devices with integrated LCD and memory of up to 512kB Flash. Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty and talk about some applications where this technology is beneficial.

There is a display on almost anything these days. You can see displays around your home on things such as thermostats, appliances and automatic light switches. If you’re anything like me, you probably hit the snooze button several times each morning on your alarm clock after viewing a display that tells you it’s WAY too early to wake up. You might also wear a display on one of those trendy new fitness watches that monitor your daily activity. A health condition could also require you to view a display every few hours when reading blood sugar levels in monitoring devices. You can also monitor your electricity usage via a meter on your house that also has a display. The possibilities are endless!

The MSP430 portfolio with LCD integrated allows easy coding to control several glass displays in different solutions. The LCD controller supports up to 8-mux glass displays. For example, you can control a small 7-segment display for a clock number. Or a large 320-segment display to support Asian characters or black and white graphics. You can use one MSP430 microcontroller to control two small displays. If needed, it’s easy to use two MSP430s to control greater than 320-segment displays. If you’re looking for a quick way to get started coding with some low level commands for the LCD, I would recommend checking out the F471xx and the F67xx series. Whichever solution is best for your product, MSP430 has the right microcontroller for you.

The last, but most important, factor to keep in mind is the low power aspects of the integrated LCD. Once the LCD controller is setup, it will continue to run without the use of the CPU. This means that for all those portable applications running on a battery, the display is not consuming all the power. Think how critical this is for diabetes patients who need to regularly monitor their blood sugar level! Running to the nearest store to buy batteries every week is not an option. Therefore, running your application in the lowest power mode, but keeping the LCD active is very important!

Check out this video about one of our many feature-rich devices with integrated LCD for large segment displays.

Stay tuned next week when we wrap up this LCD blog series and talk about development tools to get you started.

TI engineers designed their own BoosterPacks – Which is your favorite?

William Cooper — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:02:00 GMT

The BoosterPack Design Challenge inspired TI employees to help grow the MCU LaunchPad ecosystem. Check them out and help choose the winner on the Make the Switch Blog.

Vote Today!

While you’re there, don’t forget to read up on some of the great experiences people have had by switching to TI MCUs!

The coolest Chronos applications in existence.

William Cooper — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:26:00 GMT

Do you ever think about what other engineers are doing with their Chronos? I found myself wondering just that and scoured the web for the coolest applications out there.

The eZ430-Chronos development tool has been available for quite a while now, but for those of you that don’t know, it is a fully programmable development tool in a watch form factor with a sub-1GHz radio built in. It is about time we showcase the most creative and exciting projects that people have created on such a platform. Let’s get started!

The Ultimate Workout Companion

The Chronos is a watch and with that in mind, the health and fitness area is a perfect place to start. This watch can do everything from counting footsteps to measuring heart rate. It can then combine its inputs to determine calories burned! All this with built in functionality to control the workout video you have playing on your TV.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

The Wireless Door Lock

I am always happy when someone comes up with a way for me to carry less stuff. The designers of this project eliminated the need for keys to your home. They even thought to add a passcode so the system is truly secure!

(Please visit the site to view this video)

The Remote Control

When I was growing up, I never really had a problem using the remote controls that came with my toy cars. Now I do! Who doesn’t want to control a vehicle with nothing but their wrist?

(Please visit the site to view this video)

The Flying Mouse

This may go hand and hand with the previous project, but as a video gamer, this one raises the bar in a way I really appreciate. Control your PC by moving your wrist…Why not? I’m not going to lie. If I had this when I was younger, I could have saved a bunch of my allowance by trading my force feedback wheel for that copy of Ender’s Game!

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Wow! There are a lot of people out there doing amazing things with the Chronos. I’m not sure anyone out there can do better. Disagree? Then prove me wrong. If you need a Chronos to get started, go checkout TI Deals and then come back here to share your best Chronos story.

Get that cow out of my shower!!

Hubie — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:11:00 GMT

Photo credit: Sylvia Wright / UC Davis.

There are more than 6 billion people on planet Earth and with cows fast approaching the 2 billion mark, there is a high probably, as silly and preposterous as it may seem, that a cow has ended up in someone’s shower. I came from the cow-rich state of Wisconsin, but it does not mean I experienced it – but someone out there is either too ashamed to admit or has missed a golden opportunity to grab their 15 minutes of fame (and missed the next big thing since the Kardashian’s ). Anyway, you may ask how we can avoid this incident (or stop it from happening again– depending on your point of view).

You’re probably wondering what cows, showers and ultra-low power microcontrollers have in common: Well, the recent release of MSP430G2xx4/G2xx5 Value line microcontrollers with more memory can be used in various applications that will definitely prevent this awkward situation from happening again (and stop any incriminating photos from leaking out).

Speaking of cows, have you ever wondered where these natural and energy-efficient lawn mowers come from in the first place? If you are looking for the end-product like a burger, then I suggest stopping by any local fast food joint. But if you’re looking for live ones, check out your nearest dairy farm or any street corner in Wisconsin.

Seriously speaking, modern dairy farms have deployed passive RFID tagging systems to identify cows within a specified range. This system works well if there is only one cow that needs to be identified at a time. It does not work so well if you have multiple cows within a close area. Typically, the cow tag with the strongest signal wins. This is why you see cattle ranchers guide their cows in single file, like elementary school children, as they enter a holding pen to ensure that there is no way to miss a cow’s signal. This isn’t the most practical way to run a dairy farm.

Employing an active wireless tagging system that incorporates an ultra-low power (ULP) microcontroller provides more intelligence while paired with the proper wireless radio/s. The MSP430G2xx4/G2xx5 Value Line microcontroller series is perfect for this application because it can now support up to 56K Flash and 4K SRAM, available in a tiny 3.3 x 3.3. mm DSBGA package, and is ultra-low power. The larger memory on these low-cost MSP430 MCUs helps support the necessary wireless protocol stack, the small DSBGA package size minimizes the solution footprint, while the ultra-low power features is critical to extending the battery life as much as possible. Since developers now have a more capable microcontroller for cattle tracking systems, adding additional sensors to the system is possible. With livestock tags that are effective at longer ranges and last longer because of a stronger battery (courtesy of ultra-low power MSP430 MCUs), cows won’t be able to wander off the pasture and into your home.

So, the next time you see a cow on the side of the highway, check out if they have an active RF tag and assure yourself that you won’t have to scream: “Get that cow out of my shower!” In case you are wondering, that cow in the photo above is probably taking a hot shower courtesy of an electronically controlled water heater, which just happens to be another perfect application for our new MSP430G2xx4/G2xx5 Value Line devices!

What is your favorite application for the MSP430 Value Line Series – we’d love to hear from you! If you want to learn more, check out our overview video.

Tools

MSP430 38-Pin Target Board $89
MSP430 38-Pin Target Board and USB Programmer $175
MSP430 LaunchPad Value Line Development $9.99
CC110L RF BoosterPack – 430BOOST-CC110L $19
TRF7960A Evaluation Module – TRF7960AEVM $99
MSP430G2744 BoosterPack $15 (Available in May thru OLIMEX)

Related Documents

How to decide which MSP430 MCU is right for your application with an LCD

Jennifer Barry — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:01:00 GMT

Welcome to the MSP430 LCD Blog Series! Our team will take you on a three-part ride to learn what MSP430 MCUs have to offer for displaying all that cool data you guys are generating. We get a lot of questions about our LCD portfolio because there are so many tempting features to choose and developers don't always know what's the best option for their design. Here’s what you can expect to learn in the next few weeks:

Part 1: TI's MSP430 LCD portfolio and how to decide which MCU is right for you
Part 2: Applications and benefits of using an integrated LCD
Part 3: Selecting a development tool for LCD applications

The ride is ready to begin. Here we go...

Back in 2001, MSP430 released its first microcontroller with integrated LCD. Since then, we've developed a strong portfolio that has grown to support more than 100+ devices with LCD and integrated memory of up to 512kB Flash. This provides you, our customer, with the industry’s broadest offering of microcontrollers with integrated LCD and high memory options to support endless low power applications (Seriously, what ISN'T using a display nowadays?)

As the MSP430 microcontroller has grown, so has each peripheral - including our beloved LCD. Features such as the number of segments, clock dividers and programmability of segments have expanded with the latest microcontrollers. It’s now easier than ever to individually control the blinking of each segment, dual displays and interrupts with the 320-segment LCD_C. If you're having trouble deciding which features are important to control the display in your application, the table below provides many details on the features and differences between the LCD peripherals across our portfolio.

Now that you're decided which features are most important for your application, take a look at our various ultra low power MSP430 series with integrated LCD.

4 series – up to 16MHz and 120kB Flash; featuring 16-bit Sigma Delta, 12-bit DAC, Operational Amplifier

6 series – up to 25MHz and 512kB Flash; featuring 24-bit Sigma Delta, RTC with battery backup, USB, 12-bit DAC, Operational Amplifier

RF SoC series – up to 20MHz and 32kB Flash; featuring sub-1GHz RF Transceiver, 128-bit AES for security

The MSP430 LCD portfolio is the best option for any developer using an LCD. Stay tuned for our next segment on this blog, where we'll evaluate different applications and the benefits of using an integrated LCD in your next design.

Sensors + MSP430 MCUs – A “Sens”-ational pair

pradhyum — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:25:00 GMT

In Part III of our consumer application series, let’s take a closer look at consumer applications involving sensors.

MSP430 MCUs as a sensor hub for mobile computing applications

My colleague, Daniel Torres, published an excellent paper on sensor hub in mobile computing applications on Embedded.com. Here are some excerpts:

Sensors in mobile computing are a fundamental part of the human machine interface; sensors help the system identify the context and environmental conditions. Motion sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers identify whether the system is on a flat surface or whether it is being moved or tilted in a certain position. They provide the orientation of the system and also help provide a more accurate position of the system by increasing the resolution of the GPS with dead-reckoning algorithms. They can also be used in conjunction with the Wi-Fi or 3G/4G radios to determine the position of the system inside a building where the GPS signal is not available. They are the preferred interface, and commonly used, in gaming and augmented reality applications. Sensors in mobile computing applications can track ambient light, barometric pressure, touch, temperature, and voice recognition.

…..

The application processor in a typical tablet system is in charge of system management tasks such as power regulation, thermal management, reading sensors, and backlight control. The architecture prevents the main processor from staying in low-power mode for extended period of times because it has to maintain system management tasks, such as reading the sensors, in order to maintain context awareness. Many of these tasks require high sampling rates.

A solution to the problems described above is to use a MSP430-based sensor/aggregation hub controller (see figure below). This system approach helps extend the period of time in which the main processor is in lower power mode and, as a result, reduces the overall system power consumption. This is achieved by aggregating the data coming from the sensors and other modules in order to reduce the interrupt latency on the application processor.

The chart below shows the power savings using a MSP430 MCU-based sensor hub (red line) to read and process sensor data verses using an application processor (orange line) to do the same. This experiment benchmarks the two while running a nine-axis sensor fusion algorithm to determine system orientation (yaw, pitch and roll) using data from accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer.

The system current consumption (total board) is significantly lower when the MSP430 sensor hub controller preprocesses and aggregates the incoming data from the motion sensors. The current consumption is reduced as much as 20 percent in some cases. These power savings are more evident when the sensors are sampled more frequently for example - sampling rates ranging from 10mS up to 100mS.

Reducing system cost in sensor hub applications:

In typical mobile computing applications, the application processors usually run at a lower voltage of 1.8V while the microcontroller runs at 3.3V. Interfacing a microcontroller to an application processor requires external level translators.

The Texas Instruments MSP430F522x and MSP430F521x devices support a main supply rail (1.8V to 3.6V) and a separate I/O supply rail (1.8V ± 10%), eliminating the need for level translators and offering system-level advantages such as reduced system cost and increased flexibility. F521x and F522x devices also have a fast wake-up time at 3.5 µs and as little as 1.4-µA power consumption in standby mode, making them a great fit for “always on” sensor hub applications.

Sensor MCUs in health and fitness

MSP430 devices working in conjunction with sensors is now becoming widely popular in health and fitness applications such as activity monitors, pedometers and sports watches. The “always on” microcontroller reads various sensors and analog interfaces, runs computations/signal processing, provides user interface such as LCD display and keypad control and manages wireless/wired data transfer and connectivity interfaces.

MSP430 MCUs really shine in these applications primarily due to their ultra-low-power characteristics and ability to run for several months on a small watch battery. Furthermore, high performance analog and digital peripherals allow for flexible interface to sensors and AFEs.

At CES 2013, TI showed off a “health hub” watch featuring an MSP430 MCU. The health hub can monitor heart rate, body water content, oxygen saturation, heart rate, etc., and stream the data over a Bluetooth interface to a tablet.

Sensor manufacturer InvenSense recently announced the MotionFit™ wearable sensor SDK for health and fitness applications featuring the MSP430F5528 microcontroller and their MPU-9150 single chip gyroscope, accelerometer and compass.

That concludes this week’s look at sensors within MCU designs. Check back in next week where we’ll conclude this series with MSP430 use cases in wireless applications.

Helpful links: