Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced that Oscium has selected the PSoC® 3 programmable system-on-chip for its new WiPry™ family of products for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. The WiPry family is the first RF test equipment for iOS devices. It turns an iOS device into a spectrum analyzer, dynamic power meter or both. The PSoC 3 device in the WiPry seamlessly manages a Cypress WirelessUSB LP transceiver, and handles Apple’s proprietary MFi protocol to communicate with iOS devices.
The WiPry from Oscium is the first ever RF test equipment that leverages Apple’s ubiquitous iOS devices. It is the ideal solution for IT professionals and RF engineers, as well as hobbyists and students. The low power WiPry family includes the 2.4 to 2.495 GHz WiPry-Spectrum Analyzer, the 100 MHz to 2.7 GHz WiPry-Power Meter, and the WiPry-Combo, which combines all the features of both WiPry-Spectrum and WiPry-Power. WiPry-Spectrum, a spectrum analyzer accessory, delivers real-time views of RF activity. WiPry-Power, a power meter accessory, graphically displays RF data and has the ability to capture, trigger and record the actual power output of RF amplitude. An optional accessory kit that boosts the products capabilities by giving the user the ability to make conducted measurements is also available. The third product, the WiPry-Combo, along with its WiPry iOS app, utilizes an attractive and mobile package while offering a modern interface that PC-based instruments can’t match. More information is available at www.oscium.com.
All three units are available for purchase. WiPry-Spectrum is $99.97, WiPry-Power is $149.97, and WiPry-Combo is $199.97. The WiPry iOS app is available for download from the Apple App Store.
Oscium engineers were able to interface to iOS devices using Cypress’s CY8CKIT-023 PSoC Expansion Board Kit For iPhone & iPod Accessories – a plug-in board to Cypress’s CY8CKIT-001 PSoC Development Kit. The kit streamlines design of innovative mobile accessories using the flexible PSoC architecture, and helped Oscium be first to market with iOS test products. It leverages Apple’s iOS operating system and its corresponding SDK (Software Development Kit) to provide a two-way communication interface between apps and connected accessories. Details on the new kit and a video demonstration are available at http://www.cypress.com/go/cy8ckit-023.
“This new category of test equipment that we at Oscium call ‘iOS Test™’ has the potential to change the benchtop-dominated landscape by establishing the touchscreen-based iPad (or iPhone, iPod touch) as the new standard in ease of use,” said Bryan Lee, President of Oscium. “Cypress’s PSoC and MFi development platform has once again helped Oscium be the first to market in this exciting new market for test equipment.”
“It is refreshing to see PSoC 3 not only continue in the footsteps of PSoC 1, but to advance to a higher level of functionality across many different products and markets, “said Gahan Richardson, Vice President of Cypress’s PSoC Business Unit. “By embracing the PSoC vision, many other companies will develop great products such as the ones that Oscium creates.”
“Apple’s iOS and MFi developer programs continue to be a platform for innovation to occur,” said Leon Tan, Marketing Manager for Cypress’s MFi and mobile accessories solutions. “We’re excited to see that because of the power and programmability of PSoC, Cypress is a significant catalyst of this momentum.”
PSoC devices employ a highly configurable system-on-chip architecture for embedded control design, offering a flash-based equivalent of a field-programmable ASIC without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC devices integrate configurable analog and digital circuits, controlled by an on-chip microcontroller, providing both enhanced design revision capability and component count savings. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions saving customers design time, board space and power consumption while improving system quality and reducing system cost.
The new PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 architectures include high-precision programmable analog capability (up to 20-bit resolution for an Analog to Digital Converter) and expanded programmable digital resources integrated with powerful, industry-standard MCU cores and ample memory and communications peripherals. PSoC 3 devices are based on a high-performance 8-bit 8051 processor, while PSoC 5 devices include a powerful 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor. The products provide designers with a seamless, programmable design platform, enabling easy migration from 8 to 32 bits. The robust features of these new solutions dramatically expand the applications and markets that PSoC can address, including automotive, portable medical, industrial and many more. The PSoC 1 family is based on a cost-optimized 8-bit M8C core.
