Microprocessor

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To be tackled today

Basic microprocessor
Concept of a microcontroller
Difference between the Blackfin microcontroller and Blackfin Ez-Kit Lite evaluation board
Capabilities of the ADSP-BF533 Blackfin Ez-Kit Lite evaluation board
Various acronyms that will be used in the course


Issues with external devices
Many pins
Mechanical failure rates increased
Design time increased – routing issues
Cost increased, board size increased
Continually redesigning same thing
Compatibility between parts
Upgrade part
Many similar options between different projects


Advantages of microCONTROLLER over microPROCESSOR

Pin count down
Design time down, Board layout size down
Upgrade path easier – matching between peripherals for speed
Cost down – bulk purchases
Reliability up
Common software / hardware design environment available from manufacturer


Issues when using microcontroller

Two types of memory – speed issues when using
On-chip – fast, easy to access, “almost as fast as using a register”, limited amount of on-chip memory available
Off-chip – slower to access – additional cost
Use on-chip memory in a “cache” mode (copy off-chip data to on-chip when processing data, then copy back)
External components still there
E.g. Video CODECs – need to use DMA – Direct Memory Access – so that the controller can get on with the “processing” and let something else worry about moving data in and out of the chip
Real time environment
Event driven – can’t WAIT for a device to become ready, can’t POLL to see if device is ready, interrupt handling is key
All these resources are “power hungry” and compete for resources (data busses etc) – special features to control power use