Interview with Michi Yoneda about Cypress’ PSoC 6

Cypress and SparkFun PSoC 6 Wireless Network IoT Dev Platform

I have been excited about the PSoC 6 MCU since Cypress announced it. I was just as excited when I had the opportunity to interview Michi Yoneda, Cypress Staff Product Marketing Engineer, about the PSoC 6 BLE Pioneer Kit. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

JG (Jason Gums): What kind of applications is the PSoC 6 MCU designed for?

MY (Michi Yoneda): PSoC 6 MCUs are purpose-built for the Internet of Things (IoT), enabling IoT applications such as wearables, portable medical, Smart Home, Industrial IoT, and Smart Audio.

JG: What kind of interest is out there for the PSoC 6 MCU?

MY: With industry leading ultra-low power, flexibility, and hardware-based security features, PSoC 6 has created quite the stir. We have many customers asking to evaluate and prototype with this part, because they can deliver longer battery life, a unique and compelling design, and also help protect their customers’ IoT systems against cyberattacks, all with a single chip.

JG: What are the most important special features of the PSoC 6 MCU?

MY: Industry-leading ultra-low power, flexibility, and built-in security are what make PSoC 6 MCUs unique.

The ultra-low power of PSoC 6 MCUs:

• 150-MHz and 100-MHz dual-core Arm® Cortex®-M4 and Arm Cortex®-M0 ultra-low-power 40-nm architecture
• Industry-leading ultra-low-power design that consumes as little as 22-μA/MHz in an active power mode
• A dual-core architecture, where the Cortex®-M0+ can be used as an offload engine for power efficiency, allowing the main Cortex®-M4 core to sleep

  The flexibility of PSoC 6 MCUs:

• Various analog and digital software-defined peripherals: you can create custom analog front ends to interface with sensors or create custom digital interfaces (such as SDIO) to suit your needs
• Multiple wired and wireless connectivity options: the architecture offers Bluetooth 5.0, FS USB, WiFi (via UDBs), and we plan to support other connectivity options in future PSoC 6 lineups (such as CAN, HS USB).
• Industry-leading CapSense: with our 4^thgeneration capacitive-sensing technology, CapSense, you can create sleek, next-generation user interfaces
• Dual-core Arm Cortex-M: this provides flexibility to choose what tasks you want a core to do, and enables you to optimize your system power consumption and performance.

  The built-in security of PSoC 6 MCUs:

• Dedicated security co-processor for multiple Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)
• Industry-standard cryptographic algorithms such as elliptical-curve cryptography (ECC) and advanced encryption standard (AES)
• Provides a secure environment for internal storage of firmware, applications, and secure assets (such as cryptographic keys)

JG: What are special considerations for designing with the PSoC 6 MCU?

MY: With PSoC 6 MCUs, we’ve introduced a dual-core Arm Cortex-M architecture. These dual-cores allow for optimizing power and performance. You can use the M0+ as an auxiliary core and use it for low power tasks such as BLE/CapSense or as a security coprocessor, and use the M4 for heavy duty processing, such as RTOS support, running a graphical display, or sensor fusion. Both cores can access all the peripherals and system resources, but the key to designing with PSoC 6 is to intelligently use each core for certain tasks, while balancing out power consumption and performance.

JG: Are there special partnerships with the PSoC 6 MCU to know about?

MY: Yes, the PSoC 6 Wireless Sensor Network IoT Dev Platform. Cypress, SparkFun, and DigiKey have partnered to deliver this joint platform enabling makers and engineers of all kinds to prototype sensor to cloud solutions easily and quickly.

• The PSoC 6 BLE Pioneer Kit (CY8CKIT-062-BLE): A Cypress Dev Kit featuring the dual-core PSoC 63 MCU with BLE 5.0 connectivity
• The SparkFun Pioneer IoT Add-On Shield compatible with any PSoC MCU Pioneer Kit
• The Arduino-compatible IoT Add-On Shield leverages:
  • SparkFun Qwiic Connect System allowing PSoC MCUs to interface with a wide range of Qwiic Sensors
  • XBee Module interface to support any wireless upload protocol
  • Micro SD Card slot for data logging
  • Breakout of all available PSoC MCU I/O for easy user access
• A Smart Home Monitoring example project with full source code from sensor to cloud

More information on this IoT Dev Platform is available here.

JG: What is the easiest way to get started with the PSoC 6 MCU?

MY: Visit the DigiKey PSoC 6 BLE Pioneer Kit page (CY8CKIT-062-BLE) and purchase a kit. Then visit the PSoC 6 Product page, www.cypress.com/psoc6 to download datasheets, app notes, and other collateral to get started.