I would like to help my clients move off PIC. Many seem to like the low cost of entry, use it to get started, and then come to us asking us to finish. The PIC platform is not the best for what they need. What would be some good alternatives?
Bob,
Your best bet for low power / low cost is a product based on the Cortex-M0+ architecture.
There are over 200 MCUs that use that architecture.
Suppliers include Atmel (SAMD20), Freescale (Kinetis L family), ST (STM32L0), NXP (LPC810M021FN8), and SiLabs EFM32ZG (Zero Gecko).
What other requirements do you have?
To echo the previous comment, yes, there are a myriad of boards available from a number of vendors, some costing less than the shipping fee )
I'd also highlight programs such as mbed (http://mbed.org/) enabling online tools with a variety of platforms (http://mbed.org/platforms/).
Let me know if you need more info.
There were several new boards announced at Embedded World this week as well. For more info on the Microchip SAM D20, Atmel released a new video this week
In addition to the Freescale Kinetis KL02 CSP by Freescale L family, I'd also look at the Kinetis K family. Kinetis K Series MCUs: High Performance and Rich Integration. To hear about the KL03 that was announced this week, here is Geoff Lees, GM of MCUs at Freescale and andyframe
Andy Frame's blogs has more news and videos about boards and announcements from STMicroelectronics NXP and Silicon Labs
The Internet of Things Runs on ARM - Embedded World 2014 Day 1 and
The Internet of Things and ARM at Embedded World - A perfect match at EW2014, Day 2
Good luck
Hi Bob,
STMicroelectronics has just announced a new reference in Ultra Low Power MCUs : the STM32 L0 serie, featuring a 32MHz ARM® Cortex™ M0+ core.
- World’s lowest consumption
- World’s ultra-low-power standard devices up to 125°C
- World's lowest consumption ADC
- USB 2.0 full speed with link power management
Watch Hakim talking about STM32L0 at EW2014
The SM32L Ultra Low Power serie is supported by the new STM32Nucleo open development board compatible with Arduino connectivity and ARM's MBED Platform.
Watch Laurent talking about the STM32Nucleo at EW2014
STM32Nucleo boards with STM32L1 are available today.
STM32L0 flavor coming soon ...
Cool ,so many low power consumption products with ARM Cortex-M series core. I think one of them can help you.
I like these from STM. You can get them in LQFP32/0.8mm pitch, quite small and fairly easy to solder. I can already think of a few things I want to use them for. I'll probably even modify my bicycle-computer and replace the iternals to use this low-power MCU, so I won't have to switch battery so often. Well done, ST!