Microchip announces the PIC32 family of 32-bit microcontrollers. The family is supported by Microchip’s free MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Launching with seven general-purpose devices, the PIC32 family operates at up to 72 MHz and offers ample code- and data-space with up to 512 KB Flash and 32 KB RAM. The PIC32 family also includes a rich set of integrated peripherals including a variety of communication peripherals and a 16-bit Parallel Master Port supporting additional memory and displays. The PIC32 family is based on the industry-standard MIPS32 architecture. The MIPS32 M4K core can achieve 1.5 DMIPS/MHz operation, due to its efficient instruction-set architecture, 5-stage pipeline, hardware multiply/accumulate unit and up to 8 sets of 32 core registers.
In addition the PIC32 supports the MIPS16e 16 bit ISA – enabling code-size reductions of up to 40%. All PIC32 products are supported by Microchip’s development tools, including the MPLAB IDE, the new MPLAB C32 C compiler, the MPLAB REAL ICE emulation system, the MPLAB ICD 2 in-circuit debugger and the Explorer 16 development board. The PIC32 is also launching with broad MIPS-based tool support throughout the industry. Complete tool chains are available from Ashling, Green Hills and Hi-Tech—including C and C++ compilers, IDEs and debuggers. RTOS support is available from various vendors including CMX, Express Logic, FreeRTOS, Micrium, Segger and Pumpkin. In addition, graphics display tools providers include EasyGUI, Segger, RamTeX and Micrium.
The PIC32 Starter Kit comes with USB-powered MCU board, MPLAB IDE and the MPLAB C32 C compiler, documentation, sample projects with tutorials, schematics, and 16-bit compatible peripheral libraries. Application expansion boards are also being made available. The Starter Kit is available for $49. The first devices in the PIC32 family come in 64- or 100-pin TQFP packages. The family has been sampling into early adopter designs, and is now available for general sampling. Volume production for all seven initial devices is expected in Q2 2008.
