Low cost MCUs offer 32-bit processing for electrically harsh environments
8 April 2014, London – As part of its growing development kit offering, Premier Farnell has today announced that it is expanding its Freescale Freedom Kinetis E Development Kit range with the new KE0240Z, KE04Z and KE06Z Freedom boards. The KE series is designed to provide a low cost, ARM based, 5V development platform for increased EMI robustness and motor control applications.
Developed for use in electrically noisy environments, the Kinetis E series features a 6 channel 16-bit Flextimer optimised for motor control. It also includes eight high drive pins with each supporting 40mA. These features make the kit ideal for cost sensitive projects that require various motor control applications as well as a reduced pin count. Typical examples of these applications could include the development of appliances such as DC fans and BLDC Motors, as well as offline UPS and analogue power management systems.
The Freescale Freedom KE02 and KE06 boards are now available through Newark element14 in North America, Farnell element14 in Europe, and element14 in Asia Pacific and the KE04Z will be available from 15th April. The boards will be priced at KE02 £7.99, KE04 £7.99 and KE06 £9.23.
Key Features include:
- Either the KE02 40 MHz, KE04 or KE06 microcontroller
- Accelerometer
- Thermistor (KE04Z only)
- IR
- CAN Communication (KE06Z only)
- RGB LED
- OpenSDA
- Capacitive touch slider
- Arduino compatible header footprint
Other features include the system’s ARM Cortex-M0+ Core, multiple power modes, 12-Bit ADC analogue peripherals, as well as 16bit Flex timers. The KE series also includes Robust 5V MCUs for harsh environments and offers up to 256B EEPROM with 500K endurance cycles.
Discussing the announcement, David Shen, Group CTO at Premier Farnell said: “The new KE series represents another valued addition to Premier Farnell’s extensive offering of over 7,000 Development Kits. The product marks a significant step forward in the performance available to those looking to develop within electrically noisy environments. Thanks to the increased EMI robustness, the Kinetis E series will offer a far greater degree of control to designers who are looking to save on costs.”
“The Freescale KE Series is the latest in our ever-expanding range of solutions, offering everything from starter kits to complete development boards, including the newest releases and exclusive bundles.”