Austin, Tex.— Coming on the heels of the launch of its first Cortex-M3 processor-based microcontroller, Luminary Micro has added four devices to its Stellaris family. The LM3S301, LM3S310, LM3S315 and LM3S316 are available immediately and offer features such as an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a dedicated Pulse-Width Modulator (PWM) for motor control, as well as larger on-chip memory.

The Stellaris line of MCUs bring 32-bit computing to cost-sensitive embedded microcontroller applications at a cost equivalent to legacy 8- and 16-bit devices, according to Wendell Smith, director of marketing. The MCUs are being targeted at embedded and industrial applications, such as building and home automation; factory automation and control; and industrial control power devices.

Luminary Micro launched the first members of its ARM-based Stellaris family of 32-bit microcontrollers that boasts an entry-level price of only $1.00 in March. For details on the earlier parts, see entry level parts.

The newest parts have speeds up to 25 MHz; incorporate ADC and motor control peripherals; and have more memory than the first two products, making them ideal for more intense applications such as stepper, brushed and brushless DC, and AC induction motors. The four new products distinguish themselves from the first two Stellaris family products, the LM3S101 and LM3S102 – primarily through larger flash memory, and the more specialized ADC and motor control peripheral functions.

The LM3S301 runs at 20 MHz while the other three new devices operate at 25 MHz. All four devices have 16 Kbytes of on-chip flash and 2 Kbytes of static SRAM. The differentiating features of the four units are as follows: the LM3S301 offers a thee 3 channel 10-bit ADC, two analog comparators, three signal PWM generator, twelve dedicated GPIOs, with up to 33 GPIOs available. The LM3S310 has three analog comparators, three signal PWM generator, three dedicated GPIOs, with up to 36 GPIOs available.

The LM3S315 and LM3S316 each have a four channel 10-bit ADC and one analog comparator. The LM3S315 has two signal PWM generator and seven dedicated GPIOs, with up to 32 GPIOs available. The LM3S316 offers 4 signal PWM generator, dedicated GPIOs, with up to 32 GPIOs available and well as I2C interface.

All parts are packaged in 48-pin RoHS-compliant LQFP for commercial and industrial operating temperatures. Volume pricing on the four devices start at $2.53.

The company’s fully functional development kit, which was announced in March with the first two Stellaris products, supports the entire Stellaris line. The kit, complete with ready-to-go software and tools designed to get users running in 10 minutes or less, includes Luminary Micro’s development kit motherboard and daughterboard; peripheral driver library; documentation, schematics, and example programs; and all cables and jumpers. Users of more than one Stellaris product simply change out the daughterboard. All boards in the Stellaris development kit have passed the certification and are CE marked, indicating the development kit’s conformance to European regulatory requirements.

The development kit also includes full evaluation versions of popular software and hardware development tools from ARM, with the RealView Microcontroller Development Kit, which incorporates the industry-proven Keil •Vision development environment, and CodeSourcery (GNU).

Luminary Micro’s founder and Chief Marketing Officer Jean Anne Booth points out that ARM designed the Cortex-M3 processor specifically with the predicted high-growth MCU market in mind. “The Cortex-M3 processor provides the benefits of increased performance and reduced code size, delivering lower costs in silicon, system and development,” said Booth. “With Stellaris, we deliver high value performance and the chance to enter the multi-vendor supported ARM architecture, which means designers may never have to upgrade architectures or change tools again.”

Stellaris family MCUs are based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, the microcontroller member of the ARM Cortex processor family. The Cortex-M3 processor is architected to bring 32-bit to the 8/16-bit MCU space. The Cortex processor utilizes the ARM Thumb-2 instruction set, combining 16- and 32-bit instructions to improve code density and performance, optimized over earlier 16-bit Thumb instructions. The processor extends ARM7 family processor capabilities in critical MCU applications with a 5x improvement in MIPS/watt, providing real-time interrupt response capability, and predictable deterministic behavior. Integrated Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller (NVIC) provides deterministic interrupt handling. A memory protection unit (MPU) provides a privileged mode for protected operating system functionality.

Alpha customers are currently designing in Luminary Micro products. Full development kits, including applications software and evaluation versions of popular software tools, are available now. Orders may be placed at www.luminarymicro. or through Mouser at www.mouser.com.

Additional Stellaris family products will be announced later this year.

Luminary Micro Inc. 1-512-279-8800

www.luminarymicro

###