Embedded Computing
  • About
  • Blog
  • Hardware
    • Which Platform?
    • Controller Platforms >
      • Adafruit Platform
      • Arduino Plaform
      • BBC micro:bit
      • Espressif Platform
      • LaunchPad Plaform
      • Microsoft Azure IoT DevKit
      • Seeeduino Platform
      • Teensy Plaform
    • Computer Platforms >
      • BeagleBone Platform
      • Mediatek Platform
      • UDOO Platform
    • Legacy Platforms >
      • chipKIT Plaform >
        • chipKIT Uno32 and uC32
        • chipKIT WF32 and WiFire
        • Compatibility
        • chipKIT PGM Programmer-Debugger
        • 4D Systems PICadillo-35T
        • Shields for chipKIT Uno32
        • 4D Systems Platform >
          • 4D Systems PICadillo-35T
          • 4D Systems gen4-IoD-28T
      • Cosa, an Alternative Framework for AVR Boards
      • DFRobot Platform >
        • DFRobot BLuno
        • DFRobot Wido
      • Digistump Platform >
        • Digispark
        • Oak
      • Intel Platform >
        • Intel Curie with Neural Network
        • Intel Edison
      • LightBlue Bean
      • Little Robot Friends
      • Maple Plaform >
        • LeafLabs Maple
      • Microduino Plaform >
        • Microduino
      • Particle Platform >
        • Particle Core
        • Particle Photon
        • Particle Tools
      • Protostack Platform >
        • Protostack Boards
      • RedBear Platform >
        • RedBearLab CC3200
        • RedBearLab WiFi Mini
        • RedBear Duo
      • Wiring Plaform >
        • Wiring S
        • Wiring Play Shield
    • Boards and Plugs
    • I²C Logic Level Converter
    • Peripherals >
      • BoosterPacks for LaunchPads
      • Shields
      • Grove System
      • Ten Years with the Grove System
      • Sensors
      • Actuators
    • Displays >
      • Pervasive Displays e-Paper Screens
      • FRAM-based E-Paper Screen Controller
      • The 2.8" HY28A LCD Screen
      • High-Definition 480x320 3.5" Screen With Touch and Fonts
      • Kentec 3.5" LCD SPI with Touch BoosterPack
      • 4D Systems Intelligent Screens
      • East Rising 5" LCD with RA8875, Touch, Fonts, Flash and SD-card
      • East Rising 5" LCD with SSD1963, Touch, Flash and SD-card
  • Software
    • The IDE Question >
      • The Battle of IDEs
      • More IDE Options
      • Looking for a Better IDE
      • Assessing the Next Generation of IDEs
    • Exploring RTOS with Galaxia >
      • Event Library
      • Semaphore Library
      • Mailbox Library
      • Timer Library
      • Clock Library
      • SWI Library
      • Task Library
    • Ultra-Low Power with EnergyTrace >
      • Ultra-Low Power with MSP430
      • Ultra-Low Power with Energia MT and Galaxia
    • Using Integers Instead of Reals
  • IoT
    • IoT Platforms: Which Hardware?
    • IoT Services: Which Solution? >
      • Recommended IoT Solutions
      • Platform-Specific IoT Solutions
      • Other IoT Solutions
      • Not tested IoT Solutions
      • Notification Solutions
    • Get Date and Time from Internet with NTP
    • Fast and Easy WiFi Connection with QR-Code
  • Tools
    • How to Start?
    • Reference >
      • Asking for Help
      • LaunchPad and BoosterPack Boards Pins Maps
      • Ruler
      • Standards for Connectors
    • Training >
      • Texas Instruments Workshops
      • Embedded Systems: Shape The World — MOOC edX UTAustinX UT.6.02x
      • Embedded Systems - Shape The World: Microcontroller Input/Output — MOOC edX UTAustinX UT.6.10x
      • Embedded Systems - Shape The World: Multi-Threaded Interfacing — MOOC edX UTAustinX UT.6.20x
      • Real-Time Bluetooth Networks: Shape the World — MOOC edX UTAustinX UT.RTBN.12.01x
      • Systems Thinking with Texas Instruments Robotics System Learning Kit
    • Books >
      • Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad
      • Getting Started with Arduino
      • Arduino Cookbook
    • IDEs >
      • Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio 6
      • Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio Cloud
      • Energia
      • Tools for Documentation
    • Equipment >
      • Saleae Logic Analyser
      • Rigol DS1102E Oscilloscope
      • XDS110 Debug Probe with EnergyTrace​
      • Segger J-Link Programmer-Debugger
  • Projects
    • Libraries >
      • Master I²C Software Library
      • Date and Time Library
      • highView Library Suite
      • LCD_screen Library Suite
      • Others Libraries
    • smartDevices >
      • I²C smartColours Smart Sensor
      • I²C smartRFID Smart Sensor
      • I²C smartLED Display
      • I²C smartControls Smart Device
      • I²C smartWiFi Smart Device
      • I²C smartBLE Smart Device
      • I²C smartNode Smart Device
    • IoT Projects >
      • Remote e-Paper Messages Panel
      • Industrial IoT Project
      • Remote Contactless Temperature Monitor
      • Using Node-RED for IIoT
      • Low Power Home Network Weather Monitoring
      • Updated Low Power Home Network Weather Monitoring
      • Weather and Security Station with Blynk
      • SensorTag to Blynk Using Node-RED
      • Pervasive Reporting
    • AI Projects >
      • Colour Recognition with Neural Network
    • Other Projects >
      • Portable Particulate​ Matter Monitor
      • FRAM-based E-Paper Screen Controller
      • General Purpose 3.5" Screen
      • Colour Recognition with Neural Network
      • A Low Power Weather Station
      • Digital Volt-Amp-Watt Meter
      • Mobile Measurement with LCD Display
      • Screen with SRAM for GUI
      • Volt-Amp-Watt-Meter for Grove
      • Multi-Touch Project with CapTIvate

LaunchPad MSP432: RTOS for Everyone

How to combine the best of ultra-low-power from the MSP430 family and high performance from the Cortex-M4-based TM4C family?

Here comes the MSP432 from Texas Instruments!

Hardware

The MSP432 LaunchPad features the MSP432P401R with 256 KB of Flash and 64 KB of RAM running at 48 MHz. As always, the programmer-debugger connects through USB. 

The board also features one red LED and one RGB LED, one reset plus two user-buttons, and connectors for a 40-pin BoosterPack. 

There is an extra connector J5 on the bottom of the LaunchPad for all the pins not already used. This is a great idea, similar to the Connected LaunchPad Tiva C Series TM4C129.
Picture

Software

Texas Instruments offers a wide choice of IDEs: CCS, IAR, Energia.

The Arduino-compatible IDE or integrated development environment is called Energīa. 

It is derived from the Wiring framework and is compatible with the popular Arduino 1.0. As Processing-based Wiring-derived, it is platform-agnostic and runs on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.  

Code Composer Studio has been updated to version 6.1 and is now also available on the cloud with CCS Cloud. CCS Cloud runs virtually everywhere. I've tested it successfully on Mac OS X with Safari and Chrome. An extension is required to upload the executable to the LaunchPad.


Picture
The real surprise comes from Energia with a major new release: Energia MT.  

Energia MT stands for Energia Multi-Tasking and is based on Texas Instruments RTOS, aka. Real Time Operating System. Real-time means each task is completed within a determined period of time, and RTOS is an operating system built on it.

Texas Instruments RTOS features, among many other features, 
  • Clock: Time-triggered functions.
  • Task: Independent threads of execution that can yield the processor.
  • Event: Wait on any combination of multiple RTOS or custom events.
  • Gate-Mutex: Binary mutex with priority inheritance.
  • Semaphores: Counting semaphores.

The Galaxia library provides an easy access to the tasks and synchronisation elements.

The MSP432 LaunchPad is now fully supported  by embedXcode, embedded computing on Xcode. The support includes debugging.
Picture

RTOS for Everyone

Let's take an example: we'd like to blink 3 LEDs, each one at a different speed. 

Managing the 3 LEDs in one single sketch is doable, but difficult.

With Energia MT, each LED is managed by a task defined in a separate sketch. Each sketch includes the standard setup...() and loop...() functions. 

So we have 3 different sketches, one per LED:
  • BlueLed.ino for the blueLED with setupBlueLed() and loopBlueLed(),
  • GreenLed.ino for the green LED with setupGreenLed() and loopGreenLed(),
  • and RedLed.ino for the red LED with setupRedLed() and loopRedLed().
Picture
One sketch per task
Picture
Picture
Picture
Energia identifies the setup...() and loop...() functions and proceeds with the compilation as usual. 

Developing standard sketches remains possible. In this case, they are considered as a mono-task projects. The real-time operating system fits into less than 46 KB out of the 256 KB available in the MSP432. 

Pins Maps

I've designed two pins maps:
  • one general for the BoosterPack connectors  J1...J4,
  • one specific for the additional J5 connector.
Picture

A Perfect Introduction to RTOS

At less than USD13, the MSP432 is the perfect kit to start with embedded systems and explore real time applications with the easy-to-use Energia IDE based on the Wiring / Arduino framework.

As usual, Energia MT comes with different multi-tasking examples, and Texas Instruments provides great learning material for the real time operation system. 

Chapters include an introduction to RTOS, hardware interrupts, software interrupts, tasks, semaphores, timers, ... 

Also, tutorials are available for the new CCS Cloud.

The Galaxia library provides an easy access to the RTOS element  including tasks and synchronisation elements.
Picture

The MSP432 LaunchPad Turns Red

The MSP432 LaunchPad has been updated.

The most notable change is the new colour, red, now consistent with the standard colour for LaunchPad and BoosterPack boards.


Picture
The board features three interesting improvements.
  • The RESET button and the user buttons are now vertical.

This allows to use the button even when a BoosterPack is stacked on the LaunchPad.
Picture
Picture
  • The silk-screen offer a better readability, especially for the power-related pins, as +5V, +3.3V and GROUND, on the BoosterPack connector as well as on the additional ports. 

The +3.3V mark on pin 1 serves as a reference when plugging in a BoosterPack. 
Picture
Picture
  • The board now features two 2x5 0.05" connectors for the XDS100 programmer.

The programmer part of the LaunchPad, labelled XDS100 Out, can be used as a stand-alone XDS100 programmer, while the MSP432 part of the board, labelled MSP432 In, can be connected to an external emulator. Remove all the jumpers before.
​
Picture
Picture
The document Moving From Evaluation to Production With MSP432P401x MCUs details all the modifications.

Pros

  • Large offer in IDEs: 3 professional IDEs from Texas Instruments, and Arduino-like Energia
  • Real-time with Energia MT and Galaxia library
  • All MSP432 pins available on the LaunchPad

Cons

  • Learning curve to RTOS concepts and development

Wrap-Up

  • Great value
  • Perfect introduction to real-time applications
  • Real-time with Energia MT and Galaxia library
  • Energia can be used in standard mode with one single sketch.

Links

  • MSP432 Product Page
  • TI-RTOS: A Real-Time Operating System for TI Devices
  • Wikipedia pages for Real-time and RTOS
  • Energia
  • CCS Cloud
  • Galaxia library
Picture
Picture
This board is supported by embedXcode, embedded computing on Xcode.

Posted: June 18, 2015 — Updated: Sept 02, 2016
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.