Expert Opinion
Expert opinion
In many ways the LPC4300 is a breakthrough product – it is the first asymmetrical, dual-core digital signal controller featuring Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0. So to help you to get a grip on this powerful solution we asked some leading microcontroller experts from the embedded world to create some test code and see what they thought about the LPC4300.
Most of the experts also discussed their LPC4300 projects in a short video interview. You can see these videos by simply clicking through to their individual download page.
Panel of Experts
Dirceu RodriguesNon standard PWM generation using SCT
Author Bio:Dirceu Rodrigues is a computer engineer with a Masters in Electrical Engineering. He has worked for a power utility company as a manager and researcher and also as a professor of electrical engineering. He is currently an independent consultant, testing new products for manufacturers. Dirceu’s areas of interest include wireless sensor networks, ARM processors, DSP, motor control, and medical applications. The project focused on evaluating the SCT peripheral with the Hitex LPC4350 board and included the generation of non-standard PWM signals for use in power electronics. I then compared some results with solutions based on the LPC1100. My first idea was to apply a concept that I had used when developing a universal controller for laser printer fuser. Subsequent projects would be controllers for a stepper motor and a 16-column dot matrix printer. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Brewster LamacchiaExperimentation with NXP’s LPC4350 ARM Cortex M4 for filtering of I2S (audio) data
Author Bio:Brewster LaMacchia’s back ground has included hardware, DSP, and software development for real time applications ranging across industrial, military, and consumer fields. Brewster has worked for Momentum Data Systems for the past 10 years and been involved in the development of consumer audio and video systems. Being new to the Keil tools, the LPC4350, and the Cortex M4 ecosystem, I chose a simple I2S audio processing project in order to get some experience before tackling the “real” project. However that initial project expanded in scope, so it became the focus of my evaluation. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Larry JohnsonDemonstrating the ARM CMSIS DSP Software Library on an LPC4350 processor
Author Bio:Larry Johnson has developed real-time, embedded, and DSP software for various applications, including high-performance computer networking and computer telephony. He holds an M.Sc. Degree in Computer Science from Michigan State, and is a long-time member of the Association for Computing Machinery. When a colleague told me about an opportunity to evaluate the NXP LPC4350 development system, my main interest was to examine the processor’s potential for signal processing application. My colleague was also interested in this and had already done some work in that area, so he encouraged me to continue along this line. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Richard ManPorting “Chan’s FatFS” to the LPC4350
Author Bio:Richard Man has been writing embedded C compilers since 1985. From the 8-bit HC11 to the 32-bit ARM Cortex, the problems of writing good compilers and the issues of an excellent compiler product remain much the same. With two ARM Cortex cores and many other features, it also sports SD/MMC hardware. Without dedicated SD/MMC support, the firmware typically must use bit banging code which is timing sensitive and adds to the complexity of the code. This example demonstrates how simple it is to port a well known FatFS to work with the LPC4350. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Steve SabramReal-time acoustic FIR filter suite using the LPC4350
Author Bio:A pioneer of the mobile platform application development, Steve Sabram has a track record covering capital equipment, robotics, mobile systems architecture, embedded systems, instrumentation, low power DSP and smart Internet client devices. As semiconductors have become faster and more power efficient, the implementation of DSP algorithms go back full circle to the original research implementations on general purpose CPU circuits. This example project implements acoustic range, finite infinite response (FIR) filters using the LPC4350 demo board and the ARM CMSIS DSP library. And for mobile DSP solutions this combination could challenge dedicated DSP integrated circuit hardware on cost and performance. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
George RomaniukTesting performance of SPIFI interface and selected DSP library functions
Author Bio:George Romaniuk has a wealth of experience using MC6800, Z80, MC68020, PowerPC and now is using ARM. He has also designed ASICs and used DSP or FPGA to meet system performance requirements and many of his designs are still being manufactured in volume. The SPI interface has the lowest pin count, but handling the data transfers between the SPI port and the application requires a lot of code and the latency may be a problem for some control applications. I was hoping to find a quad SPI interface and an intelligent SPI controller with FIFO and DMA but I couldn’t find such thing until I got NXP slides showing the LPC4350. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Jerry DurandTesting LPC4350 Floating Point Performance
Author Bio:With a specialty in embedded programming and marrying software and hardware into small, cost-effective, reliable systems, Jerry Durand, Durand Interstellar, Inc. has designs that are used world-wide and range from inexpensive entertainment and audio equipment through leading-edge medical, control, telecom, aerospace, pyro and test systems. When I discovered that the M4 core in the LPC43xx series could be used as a hardware Floating Point Unit (FPU) while the actual code ran in the M0 core, I immediately thought of an application—a standalone 4-axis CNC control box for use with table-top milling machines. Currently these machines are almost exclusively controlled by software running on very old PC hardware that has a parallel port and either MS-DOS or Windows XP for an operating system. Control of these milling machines entails tasks such as receiving g-code commands in ASCII text and a large number of high-precision floating point operations, which calls for an FPU. This all has to occur rapidly and continuously as each of the four motors has to be updated thousands of times per second. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Jack GanssleDual-core partitioning – comparing M4 and M0 core performance
Author Bio:Jack Ganssle started developing embedded systems in the early 70s using the 8008 and has written over 600 articles and six books about embedded systems. The industry has increasingly embraced the notion of using multiple processors, often in the form of multicore. A recent example is ARM’s big.LITTLE approach, which is specifically targeted to smart phones. NXP’s LPC43xx also has two ARM cores: a capable Cortex-M4 and a smaller M0. Since power constraints are hardly novel to phones, my question was: "if we mirror the big.LITTLE philosophy, what is the difference in performance between the M4 and the M0?" |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Massimo MancaCortex-M4/M0 cooperating – Blue River Parking Meter
Author Bio:In the last 20 years Massimo Manca, Micron Engineering, has worked with more then 30 different microcontroller families designing a lot of disparate applications. The LPC43xx has so many interesting new peripherals that it’s difficult for an engineer not to succumb to the temptation to try a project that uses all of them. I’ve only scratched the surface of this NXP powerhouse but I am very impressed by the LPC4350 and will continue to use it and learn. Included in the starter kit are some interesting features that I will certainly use on future projects such as the dual-core cooperation and SPIFI. A sample application I designed was a simple parking meter that works like those you find in Italy and nearby countries. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
Cam ThompsonWeb data logging
Author Bio:Owner and principal engineer at Micromega Corporation, Cam Thompson has over 35 years experience in the computer hardware and software industries and amongst his successes is the GQL (Graphical Query Language) product. Originally the idea behind the project was to develop a simple data logging example that would take readings from various sensors, and log the information to a storage device of some type. However with the dual-core capabilities of NXP’s LPC4350 meant it was possible to have the Cortex-M4 core collect and process the data while the M0 core managed a web server for supplying data to web clients. This would allow data to be viewed on any web browser, including portable devices. |
| Simply complete the form to download the full review and link to code on LPCware |
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