Last updated: 17 December 2010


usbstamp

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Contents


Introduction

The MPE USB ARM Stamp is a small board (80 by 48 mm, 3.2 by 1.9 inches) containing a powerful CPU, Flash, SRAM, and peripherals. The Flash is supplied containing a multi-tasking operating system and Forth compiler/interpreter. Applications can be developed and run entirely on the board itself, and turnkey applications can be saved to excute at power up. Everything, including Flash programming, is handled through the USB connection, which also provides all power needed by the USB ARM Stamp. Windows USB drivers are provided on the development CD. Mac, Linux, Free BSD and Open BSD drivers are available by free download.

The hardware and software are designed for rapid prototyping, as only application specific hardware needs to be prototyped, and the interconnect is simple to deal with, and be used to plus the board onto your application hardware. The MPE hardware and software design can be licensed should you wish to produce or modify these boards yourself.

Additional software support is available using a wide range of tools such as the MPE VFX Forth cross compiler and PowerNet TCP/IP stack, the Rowley CrossWorks C compiler, the ARM SDT, or any ARM gnu C toolchain.


Hardware

60MHz ARM CPU

The NXP/Philips LPC2106 controller contains a 60MHz ARM7TDMI-S core, 128k Flash, 64k SRAM, 0 wait state memory accelerator, clock and power management, interrupt controller, watchdog, timer/counters, two serial ports, up to 32 (shared) digital I/O lines, PWM outputs and a JTAG debug interface. See the NXP/Philips web site for further details.

Memory

The LPC2106 controller includes 128kb Flash and 64k SRAM and a memory accelerator to provide zero wait-state acess to the Flash. The on board software sets the clocks and memory accelerator to provide 60MHz 0 wait-state operation, and provides routines for user programs to write to the Flash.

Back up and program storage facilities are provided by a 64k serial EEPROM attached by I2C bus. The on-board Forth software contains driver software for the EEPROM and other I2C devices.

Peripherals

The LPC2106 also contains two UARTs (one with full modem interface), I2C interface, SPI interface, two timers each with four capture/compare channels, PWM unit with up six PWM outputs, real-time clock, watchdog and up to 32 general purpose I/O pins which may be shared with other functions.

USB interface

The USB interface is used for all development work and appears as an additional COM port on your PC. The on-board Forth drivers treat this as the default serial channel. Windows USB drivers are provided on the development CD. Mac, Linux, Free BSD and Open BSD drivers are available by free download.

Power

The board is usually powered by the USB connection, and can also be powered by an external 5v regulated supply. On-board regulators generate 3.3v and 1.8v supplies.

User programmable CPLD

The ARM CPU is interfaced to a complex CPLD with its own JTAG connection. The CPLD is a low power Xilinx XC32/64 from the CoolRunner series. You can put additional peripherals into this device using the free WebPack software available from Xilinx and a simple cable.

Development CD

Supplied with the development versions of the boards is a CD containing all the tools needed to develop applications on the USB Stamp board.


Development CD software

The Development CD contains everything you need to develop applications using the on-board Forth compiler and interpreter.

  • AIDE development environment
  • USB drivers
  • Philips ISP Flash Programmer
  • Disaster recovery tools
  • Forth software manuals
  • Full schematics
  • Example software
  • Binary format conversion tools

The AIDE front end (screenshot) integrates a number of useful tools as standard:

  • PowerTerm teminal emulator for serial communications
  • ForthEd multi-file editor
  • Tool Capture window
  • Text macro system for build management
  • Make utility
  • Users can add additional tools at any time using the tool configuration system.

USB drivers are supplied for all versions of Windows from Windows 98 onwards. Additional drivers for Mac, Linux, Free BSD and Open BSD are available for free download.

The NXP/Philips ISP Programmer allows a board to be reprogrammed from the serial port of any PC. This useful for installing custom applications and for disaster recovery if the Flash has been corrupted. The latest version of this software is also available as a free download

The disaster recovery tools include binary and hex images of the on-board Forth software and of a program to wipe the program header in the serial EEPROM. These permit you to recover from a corrupted Flash or EEPROM, or from an application program with no backdoor to the interactive Forth system.

The manual for the on-board Forth documents every function available to the user. A Forth Primer is provided for those new to Forth. The on-board Forth provides all the facilities of a professional Forth including the device drivers, interrupt handlers, multitasker, timer ticker and timebase, floating point, Xmodem file transfer, and source file client for the file server in AIDE. Download the software manual.

Schematics are provided for the circuit diagram, silkscreen, and default CPLD contents. Download the circuit diagram.


Software Development Tools

Cross Compilers

The recommended professional software development tools for the USB Stamp are the MPE Forth cross compiler and the Rowley Crossworks C compiler.

The MPE Forth cross compiler with the VFX code generator generates code that is much faster and significantly smaller than the code produced by the on-board Forth's compiler. The full version of the compiler has no code space restrictions, and includes configuration, start up and device drivers for a wide range of ARM CPUs and peripherals. Additional tools include a file system, state machine compiler, PID loop controller and telephone technical support. Also available are our PowerNet TCP/IP stack with web server, and a complete implementation of this will fit inside the USB Stamp.

Rowley's CrossWorks for ARM is an integrated development environment that was modelled on Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. It combines all the elements expected of a modern IDE and builds on the industry standard C compiler from the GNU Compiler Collection. This compiler is also available from MPE.

A wide range of other ARM compilers is available from other suppliers. Several implementations of the gnu C compiler are available free of charge for download from a number of sites including  www.gnuarm.com.

RTOS and Operating Systems

A wide range of other ARM operating systems and RTOS is available from other suppliers.


Development Assistance

MPE is available to help you with software and hardware development, system design, production engineering and application development. We have a wide range of experience with ARM chips including both software and hardware development covering applications such as bomb disposal machinery, vending machines, mobile phones, mass spectrometers and JTAG programmers.


Pricing

The USB ARM Stamp is available in development and production forms, and a special low cost USB Stamp version of the MPE VFX ARM Forth compiler is available.

  • Production - tested USB ARM Stamp hardware with on-chip Forth software to perform production tests.
    1 off Price: GBP 79.00, USD ~140, EU ~118
    Contact MPE for volume prices.
  • Development - one board plus Windows development CD containing the AIDE development environment, Philips ISP Flash Programmer, USB drivers, disaster recovery tools, and on-board Forth software manuals and full schematics for the USB Stamp board.
    Price: GBP 99.00, USD ~178, EU ~148
  • Development Plus - As the Development version but wth an MPE VFX Forth Cross Compiler and all source code for the on-board Forth for the USB Stamp and the TiniARM™. The compiler is limited to 120k of code and 64k of RAM. This compiler generates code that is much faster and significantly smaller than the code produced by the on-board Forth's compiler. A rebate of GBP 75.00 is available when upgrading to the full version of the cross compiler.
    Price: GBP 165.00, USD ~297, EU ~245