Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe and UNIS introduce high speed in-system Flash programming solution for Fujitsu Microcontrollers

(PRWEB) March 12, 2001

March 8th 2001. Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe GmbH, a world leading semiconductor supplier and UNIS, an embedded systems development tools vendor, have introduced the Flash-kit programmer, a high-speed, in-system programming solution for all Fujitsu Flash microcontroller families.

Fujitsu’s Flash-based microcontrollers are highly successful with today’s massive demand for reliable devices featuring in-built re-writable memory. The re-writable memory function offers a big advantage due to the frequent need for changing programs at each stage of development, evaluation and mass-production, and also because of slight changes in software specifications for each type of equipment. Since the guaranteed number of erase cycles for all Fujitsu Flash microcontrollers is well over the 10,000 range, these devices are also perfectly suitable in cases when the application requires non-volatile storage for data acquired during application run-time.

To make Flash programming as easy as possible, the Flash-kit programmer solution allows in-system programming of target CPUs, which means that no additional Hardware is needed for programming on user target boards. In comparison with the old RS-232 based in-system programming utilities, the Flash-kit programmer also greatly reduces programming time by exploiting the synchronous serial programming mode of Fujitsu CPUs, which enables transfer of user data at speeds of up to 500 Kbit/s.

The Flash-kit programmer consists of an MS Windows 9x/NT/2000 compatible PC software front-end and a small programming box, which is needed for high-speed synchronous programming. This box can communicate with the PC via serial or parallel ports. Moreover, the PC software front-end can also be used without the box in asynchronous serial programming mode.

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Other additional features of the Flash-kit include:

Batch mode programming (interactive or non-interactive) provided for multiple microcontroller programming

Supported CPUs: 8L family, 16LX family and FR families

Both 5V and 3V CPUs are supported by the programming box

The box firmware can be easily updated using the PC serial port

Programming box can provide supply to the target system

Dimensions of programming box: 126mm x 90mm x 22mm

About UNIS and the collaboration with Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe

UNIS was established in May 1990 as a company providing solutions for control and automation systems. In 1997, UNIS started the development of the award-winning environment for designing embedded systems applications – Processor Expert™.

In 1999, Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe decided to adopt Processor Expert™ as a tool, which would provide its customers with a way of starting application development very quickly, without the need for initial time consuming studying of microcontroller hardware manuals. Since then, UNIS has became one of the key providers of software solutions for Fujitsu. The Flash-kit serial programmer is just one of the results of the co-operation between the two companies.

In September 2000, UNIS was awarded the “European Oscar for IT companies” – The 2001 European IST Prize – which recognised UNIS and Processor Expert™ as a technology breakthrough in the “development tools for embedded systems” marketplace. The award clearly highlighted the key features of Processor Expert™, which is considered to be the first component based application builder for embedded systems providing a unified approach to system design. For more information visit the UNIS website at http://www.processorexpert.com.

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About Fujitsu Microelectronics

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe is a major supplier of semiconductor products to the European and global market. The company’s main business focus is on providing systems solutions to the networking/telecommunications, mobile communications, automotive and multimedia markets.

This integrated solutions approach is supported by a broad range of semiconductor devices, including ATM telecommunications ICs, RF devices, PLLs and SAW filters, microcontrollers and microprocessors, FCRAMs and Flash memory. The company is also a leader in colour plasma display panels. For more information visit Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe’s website at http://www.fujitsu-fme.com

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