PSoC 4 BLE: One-Chip Solution for the IoT

[CypressPSoC]

Image of the PSoC 4 BLE Development Module:

this is really interesting. how soon is soon?

The dev kits are available for order already.
The separate modules should be available for order next month.

[CypressPSoC]

On the topic of wishful thinking, in addition to allowing even low end devices like PSOC4 to run with a crystal, it would be nice if cheap dev boards (ie not $50-$100) had a real programmer instead of usb/serial adapter that don't work half the time. Or at least a functional serial bootlaoder. You know, like NXP, STM, and 3rd party clones.

thanks for the feedback, and point taken.
we understand that the community likes the low-cost board, but wants a real programmer on those - we'll factor that in for our next kits.
we're also try to fix the whole programming issue by developing a low-cost programmer, you know, fix that $89 miniProg3.

[CypressPSoC]

We'd be happy to answer any questions about the new BLE chips, or anything PSoC in general!

Ok, I'll bite.

When is Cypress going to support a *native* Linux PSOC development environment?

Sadly, native Linux is probably not going to happen with PSoC Creator in the near-med future. The tradeoff between adding new features to the current toolset vs porting to another platform is keeping our hands tied on the former. We've got our kind customers working-around this with VMs and other methods, as other users have mentioned.

[CypressPSoC]

Once you export the project to keil or eclipse you can keep on developing in whatever you want.

PSoC Creator support for Linux? probably never, but the compiler and deployment can be done from anywhere if you know how to do it.

You can even use an MCU to program the PSoC if you follow the programming requirements.

Edit: once you have the hex file you can just use python and one of those $4 prototype boards to program a PSoC:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/psoc-examples/msg522556/#msg522556

Full info (but windows based):
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/psoc-examples/msg522554/#msg522554

But once you have the prototype board configured you can use any OS to program a chip via python on any OS you choose.

Edit 2: Keil uVision has support for Cypress PSoC chips, not sure if their Linux version supports them as well, and it even supports the miniprog 3 if you have the drivers for windows, I know you can program the PSoC chips with some other programmers but you will have to lookup the details

THIS. For users willing to take a couple work-arounds, the path is definitely there.
Now we realize this is far from optimal, but at least it lets us continue to focus on building the next generation of chips and adding more features to the current Creator IDE, while still letting users benefit from the current technology.

[CypressPSoC]

And if you really don't want to pay the reasonable amount for the MiniProg3 you could just buy an cheap JTAG programmer on ebay and use that to program the chip.

Actually the MiniProg3 is included in the remote controller BLE devkit for $50 and also in the mouse Ble dev kit as well for $50, so tempted, it's worth it just for the MiniProg instead of having to use my modified kitprog running in a pioneer.

But all that said, It would be interesting to hear from Cypress what plans they have for Linux or other OS's as MarkL asked.

A good deal, indeed!
As mentioned in other places, we're also working on developing a reduced-cost programmer so we can nip the $89 miniprog3 problem in the bud.

Official line on native linux support, unfortunately, is still no at this point. We continue to focus our software resources on tool feature development.

[nuno]

I think PSoC4 is a very good at its "range" and has potential to be a generic chip. There are however just a very few small things I would like to see to make it a really fantastic chip, so I'm taking the oportunity here:

1) Ability to connect a crystal "directly" for system clock. Looks like the BLE already addresses this so it's promissing for further down the road. I would like, however, to not see it "crippled" to 24MHz (a configurable multiplier would be nice, quadruple the crystal clock freq even going beyhond chip limit and have a programmable divider (actually already there, if memory serves well); let people get creative).

2) Add "the missing bit" to the 7-bit DAC, or better, add 2 bits to each DAC.

3) Double the UDB number (4 -> 8 ).

A DIP version would be nice but not essential; these days even an hobbist can solder a 28pin SSOP.
I see lots of potential for creativity on these chips, and from what I've seen around so far, I think that what can be done with them is still very under-explored. The crystal clock point above is a deal breaker to many applications. The other 2 points can double or triple the creativity potential of the chip.

[MarkL]

We'd be happy to answer any questions about the new BLE chips, or anything PSoC in general!

Ok, I'll bite.

When is Cypress going to support a *native* Linux PSOC development environment?

Sadly, native Linux is probably not going to happen with PSoC Creator in the near-med future. The tradeoff between adding new features to the current toolset vs porting to another platform is keeping our hands tied on the former. We've got our kind customers working-around this with VMs and other methods, as other users have mentioned.

I've read about the VM approach, but that still requires the overhead of installing and maintaining a second operating system.  And the other piecemeal proposals that have been posted still need the GUI design tools running on windows.

What I'm reading between the lines in your reply is that the Linux community isn't important enough.

What about support for Wine/Crossover?

[jeremy]

This looks extremely interesting, especially for the price. Does PSoC creator support c++ yet?

[miguelvp]

This looks extremely interesting, especially for the price. Does PSoC creator support c++ yet?

Never officially as far as I know but you've been able to use c++ for quite a while:

http://www.mbedded.ninja/programming/microcontrollers/psoc/using-cplusplus-with-psoc-creator

[andyturk]

As mentioned in other places, we're also working on developing a reduced-cost programmer so we can nip the $89 miniprog3 problem in the bud.

BLE + PSoC looks interesting. It's somewhat similar to the nRF51822, but with more analog capability. One issue that pops up in nRF development is that if you're running the "soft device" (what Nordic calls their BLE firmware) it basically takes over the mcu, handling all interrupts directly and then vectors off to application code for stuff it doesn't care about.

The Nordic soft device consumes roughly 40% of the RAM and flash available on the silicon, not to mention a significant portion of the available cpu cycles. Once consequence is that the effective ADC sample rate is greatly reduced on the nRF when Bluetooth is active.

So, how much of the M0's RAM and flash does the Cypress BLE implementation absorb, and what's the max ADC sample rate when BLE is active?

[neslekkim]

We'd be happy to answer any questions about the new BLE chips, or anything PSoC in general!

Ok, I'll bite.

When is Cypress going to support a *native* Linux PSOC development environment?

Never unless they port their framework to something else than .net (or whatever they are using).
But a VM will make it possible for you to use. And if you are really determined you could make a diy version of it in QT to make it cross platform compatible .... but that is quite a lot of work compared to just running it in an VM.

If it is .net code, Microsoft opensourced .net now at the recent Connect(); conference:
http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2014/Nov-12.html
The plans is to provde .net for Linux and OS-X, not sure yet how this will happen, if it will be the full framework, or parts.

[nuno]

This looks extremely interesting, especially for the price. Does PSoC creator support c++ yet?

How important is C++ in a device this size?

[hli]

So, how much of the M0's RAM and flash does the Cypress BLE implementation absorb, and what's the max ADC sample rate when BLE is active?

Building one of the simpler examples (in debug mode) gives me:
Flash used: 86959 of 131072 bytes (66,3%).
SRAM used: 13420 of 16384 bytes (81,9%). Stack: 2048 bytes. Heap: 1024 bytes

For release mode the flash usage goes to to
Flash used: 78311 of 131072 bytes (59,7%).

The RAM usage calculation is known to be sometimes too pessimistic, though. The data sheet for the BLE component gives no figure on the RAM or flash usage, as it should normally.

[dferyance]

The two Modules (for PSoC 4 BLE or PRoC BLE) that are included as part of the $49 dev kit, will soon be available for purchase separately.
Those modules are fully self-contained systems that include - the main chip with all IOs exposed, a tuned PCB antenna, power circuitry and easy access to programming pins. These are pretty small in size for a dev kit (27x43mm) and will be cheap, we're shooting for < $10 each for these boards. Hook up some sensors, LEDs, and a coin-cell battery - and you have your complete BLE + Analog/Digital Sensing system ready to go! Did I mention these modules are also FCC-certified so you can sell them as your end product too?
Image of the PSoC 4 BLE Development Module:

The modules sound really nice, but do you know if Cypress or some other 3rd party has plans for a smaller SMT-based module? Something like the form-factor of the RFDuino or Bluegiga modules? RFDuino has a cool design of using a SMT module but also mounting it to a DIP breakout.

My BLE dev-kit is due to arrive tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. I do a lot with both PSoc and BLE, it makes sense to finally combine the two in one chip.

I am glad Cypress has listened to concerns over the MiniProg3 price. If it wasn't for your cheap bootloadable 4200 modules I wouldn't have ever evaluated PSoc. I now have the MiniProg3 and it is a great little programmer but I wouldn't have started with it. That really is the only thing in the way of people trying out your platform. Otherwise, you have a great selection of dev-kits and a free IDE. A while back I tried out the STM32 and was surprised at how much harder it was to get going compared to PSoc.

[vvanders]

Got my kit today and would love to play around with it, however the directions on upgrading the firmware are quite crap.

Plugged in the dongle and CySmart said firmware was out of date. Guess I made the mistake of upgrading the firmware default button on PSoC programmer because now I can't get CySmart to recognize anything. Anyone hit something similar?

[vvanders]

Scratch that, got it back by putting it in "service mode" and then uploading firmware via bootloader host tool. Directions are buried in page 113 of the User guide for those interested.

[vvanders]

Yeah, running the latest firmware, no errors just failed to enumerate in CySmart.

[neslekkim]

Got this kit today, what is the difference between Proc BLE and Psoc BLE?, the pioneer board itself now have only and 5LP, I wonder if that is wired up differently than the previous Pioneer kits so one can use the 5LP directly?, or is everything wired up directly to the sub-modules, so all headers on the pioneer comes from those?

[hli]

Got this kit today, what is the difference between Proc BLE and Psoc BLE?

The PRoC BLE is the cheaper and less-capable brother of the PSoC. Its missing the UDBs and some of the analog stuff (e.g. no OpAmps IIRC). Its intended for devices that don't need all the advanced capabiolities but are price sensitive (the example given by Cypress are wireless mouse and remote controls). OTOH it comes with pre-defined components for such solutions, so there should be less programming involved (did not try that though).

I wonder if that is wired up differently than the previous Pioneer kits so one can use the 5LP directly?, or is everything wired up directly to the sub-modules, so all headers on the pioneer comes from those?

You can always look up the schematics if you want, they are in the user guide. AFAICS the PSoC5 still acts as programmed, and probably comes with a boot loader. All external headers should be routed from the modules.

[Evi]

Quote from: CypressPSoC on 14 November 2014, 00:26:07


Quote>The dev kits are available for order already.The separate modules should be available for order next month.



It is very interesting, but yet none available. Would you be kind to keep us informed as the modules will be available?

[miguelvp]

Well,

The CY5672 PRoC™ BLE Remote Control Reference Design Kit (RDK)
http://www.cypress.com/?rID=102638
and the CY5682 PRoC™ BLE Touch Mouse Reference Design Kit (RDK)
http://www.cypress.com/?rID=102637

Lost their list price (was $49 I believe) and included a miniprog 3.

Also waiting in news about the CY8CKIT-059 PSoC® 5LP Prototyping Kit
http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

At least that one still shows the price at $10.

I wonder if the disappearance of the price means they are going to charge more for those two PRoC kits that include the MiniProg3

[miguelvp]

And as soon as I typed that, now they have pre-orders on the CY8CKIT-059 PSoC® 5LP Prototyping Kit
http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

So I pre-ordered 4 of them

Too bad that they only use FedEx so the minimum shipping was $12 within the US. Still happy to pay for that.

I do however still would like to get my hands on the CY5672 PRoC™ BLE Remote Control Reference Design Kit (RDK)
http://www.cypress.com/?rID=102638

[neslekkim]

And as soon as I typed that, now they have pre-orders on the CY8CKIT-059 PSoC® 5LP Prototyping Kit
http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

So I pre-ordered 4 of them

Too bad that they only use FedEx so the minimum shipping was $12 within the US. Still happy to pay for that.

Checked now, and I have to pay $25 for shipping, last time when I ordered those -49 sticks, it was $15 for 4..
Hope it will show up at Farnell soon..

[ez24]

Any updates to any of this ?  Interesting reading
thanks