Cypress Korea (Country Manager Young-do Lim, www.cypress.com ) announced a digital filtering solution based on its PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5 programmable system-on-chip product families.

A new solution, available for free through Cypress’s “Component Pack” software upgrade, enables designers to quickly and easily design and customize digital filters with higher performance than any MCU solution. Combined with the easy-to-use PSoC Creator software, the hardware digital filter co-processor integrated into PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 devices enables the implementation of advanced FIR or IIR digital filters, AC noise rejection, and various other filtering applications.

Digital filters have many applications and often include signal rejection functions that interfere with system performance or the separation of necessary signals. The hardware filter implementations in PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 enable higher performance than is possible with any MCU-dedicated solution. These digital filters allow small sensors to operate efficiently and can eliminate and separate even very weak signals while extracting modulated data in voice and communication systems.

The new filtering solution is available as a drop-in “component” in Cypress’s PSoC Creator™ 2.0 design software, which was recently released in a “Component Pack” update that includes new peripheral features. The ability to add new peripheral features to existing devices is a unique advantage of PSoC’s programmability. Cypress plans to deliver new component packs every eight weeks while supplying products to the market the fastest.

The digital filter component will be fully tested and characterized to accelerate time-to-market and ensure high-quality end products for customers. Additionally, the digital filter component enables the easy drag-and-drop addition of powerful hardware digital filters into PSoC Creator project blueprints. This component provides two independent filter channels, each capable of holding up to four separately designed FIR or IIR stages in the series. Customers can select built-in standard window filter types or input custom filter coefficients for maximum flexibility. Not only can coefficient values optimized for the final hardware be extracted, but a graphical view of the expected results can also be obtained for further analysis.

Digital filter solutions are being highlighted as this month's PSoC Peripheral, a program designed to emphasize applications and capabilities that PSoCs can deliver but standard MCUs cannot. Each peripheral will be displayed at www.cypress.com/go/potm , accompanied by design support documentation. On this page, customers can view more detailed information about PSoC Creator, download it for free, and immediately begin developing high-performance digital filtering applications.

Filters are a ubiquitous element in various systems ranging from consumer to embedded, yet they are a function that MCUs do not inherently perform well. PSoC’s unique architecture harmonizes the performance of hardware co-processors utilized for digital filter applications with the simplicity introduced by the PSoC Creator software toolset. “This combination enables integrated and innovative solutions that allow engineers to quickly bring their products to market,” said Lim Young-do, General Manager of Cypress Korea.

Release Status
The Digital Filter component is available to existing PSoC Creator 2.0 users via the free download of Cypress Component Pack 1. Users downloading PSoC Creator 2.0 for the first time will automatically receive the component pack. Additionally, registered users will be notified when new component packs are released. For more information regarding this solution, please refer to www.cypress.com/go/potm .

Cypress PSoC 3 and PSoC 5
The new PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 architectures include high-precision programmable analog functions (analog-to-digital converters with up to 20-bit resolution), and scalable programmable digital resources integrate powerful industry-standard MCU cores, ample memory, and communication peripherals. PSoC 3 devices are based on the new high-performance 8-bit 8051 processor, while PSoC 5 devices are based on the powerful 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor. These new products provide designers with a seamless programmable design platform, enabling easier migration from 8 to 32 bits. The powerful capabilities of these new solutions dramatically expand the applications and markets that PSoC can serve, including automotive, portable medical devices, and industrial markets. For more information about PSoC products, please visit www.cypress.com/psoc , and for free online training, please visit www.cypress.com/psoctraining .