No. 6, November/December 2009
Technology Highlight
CEA Leti, Gemalto and Raisonance Win Top Smart Card Industry Award
10 Mbps contactless protocol research project wins SESAME for "Hardware" category"
In a very exciting development at Cartes 2009, the Very High Data Rate (VHDR) protocol and technology received this years SESAME award in the "Hardware" category. In demonstrations VHDR already achieves data rates nearly 10 times faster than current contactless card technology. This new technology has the added advantages of cost adapted for use in smart cards and backward compatibility with current ISO 14443 technology.
VHDR was demonstrated on the stands of project partners - Raisonance, Gemalto and CEA Leti - where visitors were able to see working implantations in a prototype smart card and a mobile appliance. Many were astounded by the rapid transfer of high resolution medical images (X-rays, MRI scans) that downloaded from a contactless smart card with total transfer times ranging from a fraction of a second to up to 3 seconds depending on file size. The Raisonance STM32 Primer2 was also used to demonstrate implementation in a mobile appliance to simulate the possibilities for easy download of media such as MP3 files. The new technology holds great promise for a range of applications ranging from data rich identity information on e-passports to diagnostic images on health care cards.
The technology was presented by the project members, which include research team from the CEA Leti - a French research institute, Gemlato for implementation and integration and Raisonance on the technology validation with the design of a complete test bench for VHDR. Raisonance's objective for these tools is their integration in the current line of tools for test and certification to include signal emulator, signal capture and protocol analyser, reference PICC and antenna assembly.
STM32 Primers: Fun Invades Cartes'09!
Immediately after the 2009 SESAMES award ceremony, I was approached by several visitors who were curious about the mysterious handheld system they had seen in the "hardware" award presentation. Was it a card reader, a mobile phone, a game, a toy, ...? Well, they were not the only ones to notice these little orange invaders at Cartes '09. So what are these things?
The STM32 Primer2 is a portable, low-cost tool for creating microcontroller applications. However, thanks to a great user interface, a powerful and versatile STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 processor and an easily extendible hardware platform, the Primer2 proves to be an ideal demonstrator for many technologies. Components that have been demonstrated as complements to the STM32 range from RF communication ICs to MEMs devices, sensors and captors of every sort. Primer-based multimedia and game applications at Cartes '09 included demos for new VHDR technology (see first article), as well as, e-ticketing and AuKey authentication technology from STMicroelectronics.
The attraction to the Primer tools (aprx. 15,000 units sold), is in part about human nature. With a bright color touch screen and quality audio, the Primer2 is very simply stated... fun! Users like it so much that more than 11,000 are register users. Many also contribute to the tool's dedicated web site - www.stm32circle.com. Which brings us to the second thing that users like about Primers... their community that shares its expertise and inspiration while users explore new technology and its applications.
New smart card technologies lead us to explore some very probing and serious issues about privacy, security, consumer behavior and business. But, in the end, what is interesting to most of us is what we can do with that technology. At events like Cartes, Primers provide accessible demonstrations of how passive RF technologies might impact us in the near future - From managing service delivery for games, music and other media, to exchanging photos, or gathering information about things we want to do or buy. The possibilities pose some serious questions... but they can also be quite fun.
ARM Core-based Families
Patches for RKit-ARM toolset
Two patches are available to correct limitations discovered in the RKit-ARM toolset installation version 1.22.09.0254. These are:
- patch RKit-ARM version 1.22.09.0254 - 13 Oct 2009, Corrects ARM7_pgm.exe for NXP LPC ARM7TDMI core-based devices (Recommended install for LPC users only)
- patch2 RKit-ARM version 1.22.09.0254 - 10 Nov 2009, Corrects the PDKGEN peripheral view for STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 based devices (Recommended install for STM32 users only)
Both patches are available as free downloads at the Raisonance microcontroller web site.
STM8 & ST7 Families
New RKit-STM8 for Windows7 and STM8 "Low Power" devices
The latest version of the STM8/ST7 toolset (version 2.26.09.0317) operates under Windows7 and extends support to recent STM8 variants, as well as offering many other improvements and fixes to known limitations.
Newly supported STM8 variants include low power devices STM8L152x4, x6, STM8L151x4, x6. In addition to supporting STM8S208, support has also been added for future REva daughter boards including STM8L152, STM8S105 and STM8S903. Board support has also been extended to STM8 low power evaluation boards from STMicroelectronics.
For complete information about improvements and fixes to known limitations, please refer to the software release notes. All software, documentation and patches are available fro free download on the Raisonance internet site.
Patch for RKit-STM8
A patch is available correcting limitations discovered in the RKit-STM8 toolset installation version 2.26.09.0317. The patch file is:
- patch RKit-STM8 version 2.26.09.0317 - 14 Dec 2009, Corrects erroneous output that occurred in rare situations when using peephole optimization, inverted bit numbers generate by bit initialization in ST7 mode, makes it possible to debug when using inline assembly and ST Visual Develop.
(Warning: this patch can only be installed on version 2.26.09.0317. It is recommended for this version even if the user has not encountered a problem. For all other versions of RKit-STM8, please ignore this patch.)
This patch is available as a free download at the Raisonance microcontroller web site.
SPC56xx PowerPC Families
New Ride7 available for SPC56xx automotive MCUs
It is here, Ride7 supporting the STMicroelectronics SPC56xx PowerPC core-based families. Ride7 and the RFlasher programming interface allow users to program and debug certain SPC56xx devices. The tools are currently only available for use with the RLink-PPC-Pro. For pricing and availability please send e-mail requests to Raisonance.
PowerPC user can also try the tools while exploring the SC56xx automotive devices with the SPC563 Primer. This special introductory tool is available directly from STMicroelectronics marketing and sales. The SPC563 Primer specifically allows users to explore the implementation of the CAN and LIN peripherals and to program the included SPC563x microcontroller. If you already have a primer, the latest version of the dedicated software package is available for free download at www.mcu-raisonance.com.
MCU Development Tool News is a bi-monthly publication containing news and information about microcontroller development tools from Raisonance. It includes notifications of the latest software downloads, including Ride7 development environment and Raisonance C compilers for 8051, ARM, STM8 and ST7 cores. It is sent to users and visitors registered on the Raisonance internet site, www.mcu-raisonance.com.
