How future proof is UDB support in the PSOC family?

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cross mob
dk
Level 1
Level 1
5 questions asked First comment on blog 5 likes given

Hi there,

we're developing sensors for environmental analysis. We found that the UDB components provide exactly what we need to quickly prototype controls of our instrument. It is the perfect solution for our needs and the psoc creator visual composer even allows me to contribute (not an embedded dev).

Based on discussions I have read about the lack of UDB support in ModusToolbox and potentially dropping UDB support altogether, I am not really sure if we should invest the effort to switch over to psoc and get good in UDB design. I mean it's great that the community offers export tools for import of UDB components from Creator to Modus, but feels risky to base our product development  on the work of a couple of enthusiasts.

Will UDB support be around in 5 years or so? Will it be a first class feature? From our perspective it's the one really awesome thing that differentiates the psoc family from all the other microcontrollers out there.

If you were to design a sensor instrument with tight timing requirements / ion shutters that really benefit from tight hardware implementations, would you choose psoc as your production platform today?

Thanks!

Dirk

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1 Solution
odissey1
Level 9
Level 9
First comment on KBA 1000 replies posted 750 replies posted

Dirk,

Instead of P4200 family, I recommend using PSoC5LP

https://www.cypress.com/documentation/development-kitsboards/cy8ckit-059-psoc-5lp-prototyping-kit-on...

It has significantly larger UDB/PLD space, which makes it easier to develop. PSoC4 was intended for price-sensitive applications, which 10kV TOF spectrometer system is definitely not.

> CE95272 example

The PSoC biult-in opamps are rather pathetic, it is better of using an external ones with better specs.

> UDB peak detection of the amplified and de-noised signal before feeding to the ADC

There might be some misconception of the UDB usage. UDB is a digital block, which can perform some logic functions. Peak detection does not need UDB blocs. See e.g. this AN:

https://www.cypress.com/documentation/application-notes/an60321-peak-detection-psoc-3-and-psoc-5lp

> UDB based digital filters

PSoC5 has built-in dedicated 24-bit hardware digital filter. See, for example this link

https://www.cypress.com/documentation/component-datasheets/filter

and this demo

ADC_SAR - Filter - VDAC streaming demo using DMA

The UDBs can potentially be used for some digital filtering, but it is not very common. See, for example

https://www.cypress.com/comment/377736#comment-377736

Typically, PSoC should be used for data collection, while signal processing (Hadamard transform) and WiFi interface should be done by the external processor, like Raspberry Pi, etc. This way each system will work to its best potential. The speed of development will be also faster this way. Alternatively, if the price of processor is not an issue, for long-term development (and job security) I recommend XILINX Zynq SoC platform.

/odissey1

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4 Replies
Ekta_N
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
750 replies posted First like given 250 solutions authored

Hi Dirk,

  • Currently we do not have any plan to include support for UDB in ModusToolbox.

  • Could you share more details regarding your application? This will help us to provide you with some alternate solution.

  • Kindly let us know which PSoC device are you currently using.

Best Regards

Ekta

dk
Level 1
Level 1
5 questions asked First comment on blog 5 likes given

Thanks for your response.

I found the CE95272 PSoC4 example, and that describes a major part of what we'd like to to.

We use a current to voltage amplifier to detect ion packets that are sliced by an ion shutter and then accelerated in a drift tube. At 10^9 current to voltage amplification, we get a 50-100mV output signal.

- The two opamps are useful as a second amplifier stage.

- The SAR ADC is good enough with 1MSPS and 12bit. The hardware averaging feature is great.

- UDB based state machine to operate the ion shutter and time measurement. Here timings are important, especially dead time configuration as we're switching FETs with everything floated up to 10-15kV.

- Computing power for Hadamard transforms and additional de-noising if possible

- Wireless connection to the outside world to make development easier (10kV near USB, yeah needed to replace my mainboard.)

What we want to look into:

- UDB based digital filters

- UDB peak detection of the amplified and de-noised signal before feeding to the ADC

- Signal compression

So there are many applications of UDB components, and if UDB remains a feature of the PSOC family we're excited to take the deep dive.

Right now I have a CY8CPROTO-063-BLE and a CY8CPROTO-062-4343W to get started. I was not aware that the 4343 is not supported by Creator. I realize that the PSoC 4200 family would also be a good fit. I was hoping that there would be a solution with BT+Wifi but I guess we'd have to add an external wifi module. The CY8CKIT-042-BLE-A would be a good start into that family, right?

Greetings,

Dirk

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odissey1
Level 9
Level 9
First comment on KBA 1000 replies posted 750 replies posted

Dirk,

Instead of P4200 family, I recommend using PSoC5LP

https://www.cypress.com/documentation/development-kitsboards/cy8ckit-059-psoc-5lp-prototyping-kit-on...

It has significantly larger UDB/PLD space, which makes it easier to develop. PSoC4 was intended for price-sensitive applications, which 10kV TOF spectrometer system is definitely not.

> CE95272 example

The PSoC biult-in opamps are rather pathetic, it is better of using an external ones with better specs.

> UDB peak detection of the amplified and de-noised signal before feeding to the ADC

There might be some misconception of the UDB usage. UDB is a digital block, which can perform some logic functions. Peak detection does not need UDB blocs. See e.g. this AN:

https://www.cypress.com/documentation/application-notes/an60321-peak-detection-psoc-3-and-psoc-5lp

> UDB based digital filters

PSoC5 has built-in dedicated 24-bit hardware digital filter. See, for example this link

https://www.cypress.com/documentation/component-datasheets/filter

and this demo

ADC_SAR - Filter - VDAC streaming demo using DMA

The UDBs can potentially be used for some digital filtering, but it is not very common. See, for example

https://www.cypress.com/comment/377736#comment-377736

Typically, PSoC should be used for data collection, while signal processing (Hadamard transform) and WiFi interface should be done by the external processor, like Raspberry Pi, etc. This way each system will work to its best potential. The speed of development will be also faster this way. Alternatively, if the price of processor is not an issue, for long-term development (and job security) I recommend XILINX Zynq SoC platform.

/odissey1

dk
Level 1
Level 1
5 questions asked First comment on blog 5 likes given

Hello, thanks for all the great points.

We do want to aim for a mobile low-cost device, but the Xilinx solution is indeed something we are looking at. Our academic partners are using FPGAs all the way, but not always in the most efficient way. 

We will test with the PSoC5LP. If I get a working solution I'll post here to discuss.

Dirk

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