Cypress EZ-Color™ HB LED Solution Enables Intelligent Lighting Networks With Support For DMX512 Protocol

SAN JOSE Calif.- Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) today introduced support for a new protocol in its award winning EZ-Color™ design solution for high-brightness (HB) LED intelligent lighting systems. The EZ-Color solution now includes drivers for the DMX512 protocol, enabling designers to create an entire intelligent lighting network quickly and easily with no coding required.

The EZ-Color family of HB LED controllers combines with PSoC Express™, the industry’s first visual embedded design tool to deliver a complete design solution for growing applications such as architectural lighting, general signage, entertainment lighting and more. The solution enables designers to simply select an HB LED part number, choose either temperature or optical feedback, and choose a color, including white. For more information, visit www.cypress.com/ez-color."

“The DMX512 protocol is widely used for the flexibility it offers lighting designers,” said Gopal Garg, managing director of the EZ-Color business unit for Cypress. “Support for this protocol simplifies EZ-Color design to designers of intelligent lighting networks in theaters, commercial buildings, and other complex systems.”

Preconfigured drivers for the popular DMX512 protocol allow designers to control complex lighting networks of controllers and dimmers in stage shows and industrial buildings. The EZ-Color solution makes it easy to employ the DMX512 protocol by simply setting three variables within PSoC Express.

About the EZ-Color HB LED Solution
HB LED design requires a complex set of calculations with custom firmware to deliver consistent color. The two biggest problems that HB LED engineers face are having to account for differing LED performance specifications based on manufacturing bins and the LEDs’ degradation (such as output flux, wavelength etc.) over different temperatures. With PSoC Express, designers simply select a color from a gamut presented on-screen. Pre-loaded manufacturers’ bin specifications and choice of either temperature or optical feedback algorithms are automatically applied to the selected design and programmed into the EZ-Color Controller. This can save anywhere from weeks to months of design time for a complex design.

EZ-Color HB LED controllers can support up to 16 LED channels, compared to four or five channels for competitive devices. The additional channels can mean a savings of dozens or even hundreds of controllers in very large designs, saving on design complexity, power consumption and board space. The EZ-Color HB LED controllers are also powered by Cypress patent pending PrISMTM (Precise Illumination Signal Modulation) technology. The PrISM modulation technology significantly reduces low-frequency flicker and radiated electro-magnetic interference (EMI)-common problems with HB LED designs. Designers also have the flexibility to add additional functionality to the EZ-Color controllers, including battery charging, motor control and other features.

The EZ-Color family is supported by the CY3261A-RGB Evaluation Kit. The evaluation kit showcases EZ-Color’s flexibility and ease of use for high-brightness LED color mixing applications and employs temperature compensation for consistent color. Included with the evaluation kit is an interactive graphical interface enabling quick color mixing via a CIE diagram or by directly controlling each HB LED. The kit is available on the OnLine Store at www.cypress.com for US$149.