Freescale helps consumer and industrial developers get up and running quickly with USB connectivity

Flexis™ JM controller family, backed by complimentary software and rich ecosystem, offers unprecedented 8- to 32-bit compatibility and ease of use

Flexis JM signature graphic

Nuremberg, Germany (Embedded World). – Used in countless devices from PC peripherals and memory sticks to industrial equipment, universal serial bus (USB) connectivity has become a pervasive standard for serial communications. Freescale Semiconductor has introduced its Flexis™ JM family of microcontrollers (MCUs) to help designers easily incorporate USB connectivity into a wide range of consumer and industrial applications.

The Freescale Flexis JM family includes the new 32-bit MCF51JM128 (JM128) ColdFire® MCUs and the 8-bit MC9S08JM60 (JM60) devices The JM60 and JM128 USB devices are software- and pin-compatible, enabling designers to migrate quickly and easily from simple 8-bit designs to more complex application designs that require 32-bit performance.

The JM devices are supported by Freescale’s complimentary USB software, development boards, reference designs, application notes, training and more. This comprehensive ecosystem helps simplify development and reduces time to market for applications that require USB connectivity.

“The JM family makes it exceptionally easy and cost-effective for developers to add USB connectivity to their applications,” said Aiden Mitchell, consumer and industrial MCU product manager for Freescale’s Microcontroller Solutions Group. “Because these are pin-compatible Flexis devices, embedded developers now have the flexibility of migrating their USB applications from 8-bit to 32-bit, or vice versa. And, the availability of complimentary USB software stacks can help reduce development cost and time significantly.”

Comprehensive software solution
To minimize designers’ development cost and time, Freescale offers a complimentary USB-Lite software stack from CMX that supports the integrated USB modules on the Flexis JM devices. Source code for the software stack is available to developers to enable customization. Rounding out the software solution, Freescale’s CodeWarrior® Development Studio for Microcontrollers provides an integrated design environment that helps accelerate and simplify application development.

Wide range of USB applications
Freescale’s Flexis JM devices are designed to enable versatile, cost-effective plug-and-play connectivity for a wide range of applications, including:

* PC peripherals
* Data transfer devices (memory sticks)
* Lighting control systems
* Test and measurement equipment
* Patient monitoring systems
* Security and access control panels

The 32-bit JM128 devices also integrate a controller area network (CAN) module, which is ideal for linking industrial automation and control systems.

32-bit Flexis JM: High performance for flexible USB designs
For developers seeking 32-bit performance and flexible USB connectivity, the JM128 MCUs include an integrated USB controller that supports USB 2.0 full-speed host, device and On-The-Go (OTG) configurations.

Additional features include:

* 50.33MHz V1 ColdFire core and 25.16MHz bus frequency
* 2.7V to 5.5V operating range
* Up to 128KB flash memory; Up to 16KB SRAM
* Integrated CAN module
* Integrated hardware cryptographic acceleration unit (CAU)
* Random number generator accelerator (RNGA)
* Low voltage detection and a Computer Operating Properly (COP) module
* 12-channel, 12-bit analog-to-digital converter
* 2x SCI, 2x I2C, 2x SPI; 8-channel KBI
* 16-bit timers: 1 x 2-channel, 1 x 6-channel
* 80-pin LQFP, 64-pin QFP, 44-pin LQFP and 64-pin LQFP package options
* -40°C to 105°C operation

Jump start your design with Flexis USB evaluation systems
Freescale offers two evaluation kits for the Flexis JM family to help ease the design process. The cost-effective DEMOJM demonstration kit features 8- and 32-bit Flexis JM daughter cards, enabling developers to experience true 8- to 32-bit compatibility. The full-featured EVB51JM128 evaluation system for the JM128 devices allows developers to take advantage of the additional performance and integration offered by the 32-bit solution. The DEMOJM demonstration kit and the EVB51JM128 evaluation system are planned to be available in March at suggested resale prices of $99 and $325 (USD), respectively.

Both development kits ship with a DVD featuring a Special Edition of CodeWarrior tool suite and the complimentary USB stacks. Code examples, walkthroughs and application notes also are available to help developers become productive right out of the box.

Pricing and availability
Samples of the Flexis JM devices are available now. The 8-bit Flexis JM60 devices are currently available in volume quantities. Volume production for the 32-bit Flexis JM128 devices is planned for September 2008. The suggested resale price (USD) for 10,000-piece quantities of the 32-bit JM128 MCUs starts at $3.65, and $2.90 for the 8-bit JM60 devices.