Date: 04/10/2012

Stellaris LaunchPad evaluation kit launched by TI for ARM Cortex-M4 developers

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has announced a new Stellaris LM4F120 LaunchPad evaluation kit. The tool permits professional engineers, hobbyists and university students to start exploring ARM Cortex-M4F microcontrollers and TI's Stellaris family of microcontrollers for under $5 USD. The core of the new LaunchPad is a Stellaris LM4F120 MCU with low power, integrated analog and floating point performance and gives itself to the flexible and modular design environment of the LaunchPad with abundant peripherals for real-time digital signal control. The Stellaris LaunchPad brings consumer electronics, human interface control, health & fitness and other applications to a wider audience of developers. The kit consists of all the hardware and software needed for developers, hobbyists and university students to get started in 10 minutes or less.

The Stellaris LaunchPad utilizes the BoosterPack XL connection standard that consists of two pairs of dual gender 20-pin stackable headers. Those forty easy-to-access pins permit interface with external components (BoosterPacks) or custom daughter boards. Two sets of 20 pins on the outer rows of the board have similar functions to the primary header pins on existing MSP4302 and C2000 LaunchPad kits, permitting developers to include greater functionality and speed design and exploration. Two inner rows offer an additional 20 pins of Stellaris-based expansion signals for BoosterPack development.

Features:
1. Includes a 32-bit LM4F120H5QR Cortex-M4 MCU with floating point operating up to 80 MHz, 64 KB flash with 100,000 write/erase cycles and two 12-bit 1MSPS ADCs and up to 27 timers, some configurable up to 64-bits
2. License- and royalty-free StellarisWare software pre-loaded in ROM
3. Incorporates USB connectivity and other peripherals including serial ports for UART, I2C, SSI/SPI and CAN controllers
4. Out-of-the-box RGB LED example application
5. Compatible with MSP430 and C2000 MCU BoosterPacks
6. Planned BoosterPacks include capabilities for sensors, wireless connectivity, etc.,

The kit is available now at a promotional price of $4.99 USD.

For more information: www.ti.com/stellaris-boosterpacks

Source: Texas Instruments