Ultra Low Power Microcontroller With A Supercapacitor

This post is a follow-up to this blogs FRAM (ferroelectric random-access memory) post in June, and takes a look at a recently-introduced Texas Instruments (TI) FRAM LaunchPad development platform, as well as how to use FRAM effectively in a particular use case.

TI MSP-EXP430FR5969

First the FRAM development platform. It appears from a post on 43oh.com that the MSP430 ULP (ultra low power) FRAM board, MSP-EXP430FR5969, was soft-launched in February 2014, then rolled out with more fanfare and distributor partners in June 2014, per the Australian post, "element14 offers ultra-low power with Texas Instruments LaunchPad dev kit," and a number of other similar new product posts. The Australian post above says,

"Embedded FRAM, a non-volatile memory known for high endurance and high speed write access, together with ultra low power makes the MSP430 development platform suited for a wide variety of applications ranging from metering, wearable electronics, consumer electronics and the Internet of Things (IoT) to industrial and remote sensors, home automation and energy harvesting. The new development kit includes TIs new EnergyTrace++ technology, the worlds first debug system that enables developers to analyse power consumption down to 5nA resolution in real-time for each peripheral...Key features include MSP430 ULP FRAM technology-based 16-bit MSP430FR5969 MCU; 64KB FRAM/ 2KB SRAM; 16-Bit RISC architecture up to 8-MHz FRAM access/ 16MHz system clock speed; 5x Timer Blocks; Analogue: 16Ch 12-Bit differential ADC, 16Ch Comparator; Digital: AES256, CRC, DMA, HW MPY32; 20 pin LaunchPad standard leveraging the BoosterPack ecosystem. Various components including on-board eZ-FET emulation for programming, debugging and energy measurements have been provided in the evaluation kit for a fast start; on-board buttons and LEDs on the board enable quick integration of a simple user interface in addition to a SuperCap allowing standalone applications without an external power supply."

MSP430FR5969 LaunchPad Power Domain Block Diagram

The part that especially interests me is the SuperCap that enables a minimal level of operation without an external power supply (and without a battery?). Enabling MCUs to operate without external power sources was the topic of an earlier post on this blog, "Microcontrollers: Batteries Not Included. Or Needed." That post discussed getting the MCUs power from small energy harvesting devices. It would be nice if a supercapacitor turns out to be another no-batteries-needed option for MCUs. The boards Users Guide shows the power domain block diagram to the left and says, "The board is designed to support five different power scenarios. The board can be powered by eZ-FET or JTAG debugger, external power, BoosterPack power, or standalone super cap power." A bit of online research is needed, it appears, for me to totally understand just how much the MSP-EXP430FR5969 board can do using just the 100 mF capacitor and no external power. If Google and I cant figure that out, Ill check with Ed Smith to get my answer!

If youre interested in the MSP430FR5969 microcontroller (MCU) that powers the above development platform, consider reading the Electronics Weekly article, "Exploring FRAM microcontroller-based design – Texas Instruments." The graphic at the right from that article shows how flexible the memory configurations are in that MCU. Here are a few more resources to help you learn more about the MCU and its platform:

1. MSP430FRxx MCU overview page on TIs site.
2. MSP-EXP430FR5969 LaunchPad Evaluation Kit page on TIs site.
3. Overview of MSP430 Ultra-Low-Power MCUs PDF on TIs site.
4. MSP-EXP430FR5969 LaunchPad Development Kit Users Guide PDF on TIs site.
5. 6-part video tutorial on YouTube for the MSP-EXP430FR5969.

If you want to buy the MSP-EXP430FR5969 kit, Id suggest you consider either direct from TI ($24.00) or from Newark ($24.05). Octopart gives a good look at the price spread and availability of the kit, with costs ranging from TIs $24 up to more than $39 from Arrow. The 43oh post above shows one way manufacturers entice hardware developers to buy newly released components. For $5 extra ($29 for the kit instead of $24), when you ordered the MSP-EXP430FR5969 kit from TI when it first came out, you got both the kit and a "LS013B4DN04

SHARP Memory LCD display...1.35?...96×96 pixels wide...booster PCB has touch capability, with touch strips on either side of the LCD" which retailed for $18. I dont know if $5 for that LCD is a better deal than the small LCD Ed Smith had at the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting last week, but the touch strips would have made it an interesting component with which to experiment. Element14 also has a road kit for the board which includes the same LCD.

The other part of this post was going to be on an ideal use case for the MSP430FR5969 MCUs FRAM. However, I wrote more about the TI development kit than I planned on, and Im being mindful of feedback I got that said (at least some of) my posts were too long. So for people interested in reading about that use case right away, heres a link to the article about the FRAM-MCU application I mentioned at the start of this post. Ill discuss that use case in tomorrows post, and maybe have a couple other examples of good applications for an MCU that doesnt pull much amperage and has FRAM. If you read the FRAM-MCU application article, send me your comments and questions regarding that article -- arcatabob (at) gmail {dott}com. Thanks!

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Musicians Microcontroller Magic

Todays post takes a look at using microcontrollers in musical instruments, the subject of a couple recent online articles, as well as the topic of a discussion last night about building a laser harp (see the June 27 post about laser harps). Using microcontrollers to create, control or modify music, as well as converting the music or the performers inputs into a visual experience of light and motion could be a tool for interested creative people in Humboldt to bring new sensations to audiences here and elsewhere.

Nomis -- a music-light instrument

A pretty cool way to use MCUs in a musical instrument is Nomis, as shown in the recent PSFK article, "Musical Instrument Interface Displays Complex, Layered Composition." Along with showcasing great pictures of the unique sound-light machine, the article explains Jonathan Sparks creation this way:

"Nomis by Jonathan Sparks makes loop-based music an expressive and visual experience. Created by Brooklyn, New York-based artist, musician and maker Jonathan Sparks, Nomis is a new musical instrument interface that aims to make loop-based music more complex, expressive and visually-entertaining through gestures and lights. Sparks...combined Arduino, Max/MSP, and Ableton Live to allow the musical instrument to loop and display MIDI sounds across two light towers and a polyphonic octagonal interface. The light towers and polyphonic octagonal interface respond to gestures to create layered melodies. The

melodies are illustrated via colorful lights, with each sound represented by a different color. What results is a stunning musical and light show."

Watch the Nomis video embedded in the designboom article, "jonathan sparks invents loop-based instrument using color and gesture." When I watched it, I started wondering what type of captivating performances could be given by a four or five-person band if each person in the band had a different but complementary audio-visual instrument which gave the audience a sensory-overload experience with music, light and motion. Those instruments could also explore a variety of new and traditional musician inputs, such as touch-panels with haptic feedback, keyboards, foot pedals, and movement of the fingers, hands, torso, head and feet,  that generate the audio-visual compositions. As John H said at the July 10 Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting when we were discussing a group project to build a laser harp, a band with MCU-controlled audio-visual instruments could truly be called the Electric Light Orchestra, or some takeoff on that name.

The designboom article explains the music-light interaction this way:

"nomis is a musical instrument by jonathan sparks that reinvents the way that producers and artists interact with MIDI boards...MIDI sounds are played and repeated to pass across the machine as a way of illustrating how songs are created and how they fit within an overall composition...they are displayed through the first of two polychromatic light towers, indicating that they are available to be played from the polyphonic octagonal interface in the middle made of black and frosted plexiglass. the interior edge of the construct allows the composer to play the individual tones of his or her choosing. as the interface is spun counterclockwise, the loops are then transferred through to the second tower where each set can be turned off and on again to create a dynamic harmony."

Another MCU music project was covered in a July 10 Gizmag article titled "Tele Servo Bender emulates a lap steel sound using servos." The Tele Servo Bender seems to be more an MCU-controlled instrument to generate close to the same sound that a human-played traditional lap steel guitar gives, as compared to a wildly different musical-light experience from the Nomis.

As I read this article, it made me wonder if the Servo Bender or something very close to it in design will result in AI-played steel guitar concerts with computer generated hologram performers. Concerts that teenagers 25 years from now will walk away from and not fully realize that similar performances used to be only given by a skilled live person. Sort of in the same way that most of todays teenagers might intellectually know that milk comes from a cow, but would find it hard to visualize that real world process of a dairy farm and have never been exposed to a cow being milked in person.

For people interested in the Servo Bender programming, the Gizmag article said the instruments designer, Dean Miller, has made the MCU code available to anyone who wants to build a similar instrument.

If *you* might like to help design, build or play instruments involving MCUs, come to the next Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting on July 24 or contact me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com.

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