Cypress Semiconductor Corporation recently introduced the CY8C24794-24LFXI, a Programmable System-on-Chip(TM) (PSoC(TM)) mixed-signal array family component. It is the first PSoC device to integrate a USB 2.0 Serial Interface Engine (SIE), offering a USB implementation resulting in shorter design cycles, reduced component and bill-of-material costs, and board space and power consumption savings. The newest PSoC device also includes Cypress's CapSense(TM) technology, offering an efficient solution to replace mechanical switches and controls with simple, touch-sensitive controls. The CY8C24794-24LFXI is ideal for human interface devices (HIDs), including mice, keyboards, gamepads and joysticks, as well as uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and other PC peripheral applications.New Chip Provides Traditional PSoC Integration Benefits Plus USB and Cypress CapSense(TM) Technology for HID, UPS and other Applications The CY8C24794-24LFXI includes a full-speed (12 Mbps) USB 2.0 SIE, including a 0.25 percent accurate clock with an integrated oscillator that meets USB 2.0 clocking specifications and requires no external crystal, reducing component and pin counts. The device provides four unidirectional endpoints and one bi-directional control endpoint to support control, interrupt, isochronous, and bulk transfer types, as well as flexible synchronization. It offers up to 48 analog inputs, so no external analog multiplexer is required for applications such as laptop touchpads using CapSense technology. In addition to six standard PSoC configurable analog blocks and four digital blocks, it provides 16 Kbytes of flash program storage, 1 Kbyte of SRAM data memory and an easy-to-use, 8-channel DMA to a dedicated 256 Byte buffer for the USB SIE. The CY8C24794 is supported by development software that allows basic implementation in less than an hour. This software includes a user module that allows very rapid design implementation. The USBFS protocol user module generates application programming interfaces (APIs) for easy development and includes a setup wizard. The user module and its corresponding APIs are clearly documented in a user module datasheet. A HID module with wizard is also included. "PSoC products provide customers with quick, embedded mixed signal solutions. As the market leader in USB, Cypress is now offering PSoC customers a USB interface, essentially for free," said Steve Gerber, director of product marketing for Cypress's PSoC Business Unit. "Now any PSoC-based solution can be seamlessly interfaced to USB with no extra components, pins or cost." "Cypress has combined my two favorite technologies, USB and the PSoC architecture, to form a winning combination," said John Hyde, author of USB Design by Example, a leading textbook on USB. "As a beta user of the product, I appreciated the flexibility and wider range of USB solutions that this allows me to create. The integrated tool suite also sped development and simplified testing." The CY8C24794-24LFXI is available in a 56-Lead (8x8 mm) MLF package. It operates between 3.0 V and 5.25V and from -40 to 85 degrees C. The CY8C24794 is supported with a CY3214-PSoCEvalUSB Evaluation Board. About the PSoC Family PSoC devices are configurable mixed signal arrays that integrate a fast 8-bit microcontroller with many peripheral functions typically found in an embedded design." PSoC devices provide the advantages of an ASIC without the ASIC NRE or turn-around time. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions with a microcontroller, saving customers design time, board space and power consumption. Customers can save from 5 cents to as much as $10 in system costs. Easy to use development tools enable designers to select configurable library elements to provide 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. PSoC devices include up to 32KB of Flash memory, 2KB of SRAM, an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator, power and sleep monitoring circuits, and hardware I2C communications. All PSoC devices are dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to create new system functions on-the-fly. Software and Support PSoC Designer(TM), the traditional software development environment for PSoC, is a full-featured, GUI-based design tool suite that enables the user to configure design-in silicon with simple point and click options. With PSoC Designer, users can code the MCU in either C or assembly language; and debug the design using sophisticated features such as event triggers and multiple break points, while single-stepping through code in C or assembly or a mix of the two. In March of this year, Cypress introduced PSoC Express(TM), the first embedded development tool that allows microcontroller-based design development without Assembly language or C programming. By operating at a higher level of abstraction and removing required firmware development, PSoC Express enables designs to be created, simulated and programmed to targeted PSoC devices in hours or days instead of weeks or months. PSoC Express includes an application generation engine as well as an input/output device catalog and communication protocols like I2C and RS232, all of which are combined visually by the designer to build custom solutions. Both PSoC Express and PSoC Designer can be downloaded free of charge from the Cypress web site at www.cypress.com/psocexpress. The new CY3215-DK Professional Class Development Kit includes a USB 2.0 based, full speed in-circuit emulator with a large trace buffer, which seamlessly integrates with PSoC Designer and the user's development board." The development kit includes everything necessary to complete a design with the PSoC family of ICs. The easy-to-use tools support all the advanced PSoC packages to keep the cost of development to a minimum while providing all the features found in tools that cost $2,500 or more. The CY3215-DK is priced at $599 (suggested resale). The CY8C24794 is supported with a CY3214-PSoCEvalUSB Evaluation Board that connects directly to the CY3215-DK. The CY3214-PSoCEvalUSB is priced at $99 (suggested resale).