Blending into the project

Every embedded application contains at least one microprocessor and, in many cases, the entire control system can be created using one powerful microcontroller with the necessary peripherals. As is often the case, the large number of microcontrollers available means developers are spoiled for choice. In its search for an affordable microcontroller that can be used in a range of applications, EBV Elektronik took a look at its product range and selected the ARM based LPC23xx microcontroller family from NXP. With a range of communications interfaces, LPC23xx microcontrollers are flexible enough to be regarded as the new embedded workhorse, thanks to the family’s 32bit processing power and its wide range of peripherals. In order to reduce the time to market and to make the developers’ work easier, EBV has developed the ChameleonARM reference platform. Although designed specifically for the LPC23xx microcontroller family, this platform can also act as a ‘superset board’, facilitating the move to smaller ARM7 controllers from NXP. ChameleonARM can be used as part of the development process, but can be integrated directly into a design. A circuit diagram and software demo projects are included in the board’s delivery package. Developers already use this option with EBV’s other boards – such as SnakeBytes or DragonFire. In many cases, the ChameleonARM board will be used in the first prototype, whilst the production version will use a more compact variant. In this way, EBV is helping its customers to cut time to market because a ChameleonARM based design can be implemented quickly.