FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT
Of interest to: Electronics, Embedded
Computer, Design, Motor control, Motion Control, Process Control, Robotics,
Sensors and Software Editors
IsoPod™
TINY CONTROLLER IS NEW^3; NEW
PROCESSOR, NEW LANGUAGE, NEW PARALLEL PROCESSING PARADIGM
Dallas, TX -- 3 June 2002 -- The new
IsoPod™, a tiny 1.2" x 3.3" controller board, ships this month from
New Micros, Inc. The IsoPod™ is a complete system with a built in
high-level-language and parallel processing operating system, IsoMax™.
Hardware
features on this new processor include 16 General Purpose Digital I/O lines, 2
serial channels, RS-232 and RS-422/485, CAN BUS, an SPI Interface, 8 channels
of 12-bit A/D, 8 General Purpose Timers, 12 Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
outputs which can be used individual to control R/C Servos control, or grouped
to control up to 2 3-phase Brushless DC motors, and 2 channel Quadrature
Decoder to read motor position encoders.
The
IsoPod™ was made as small as possible, while still maintaining large enough
connectors for easy human access. All connectors have .1” spacing. About 3/5’s
of the board is covered with connectors.
The
new programming language, IsoMax™, is based on state machine programming
concepts. Programming real time tasks amounts to describing virtual machines
that will sense conditions, take actions, and move to new states. The machine
construction is very English readable. Development is interactive through the
RS-232 and will typically be done on a PC, laptop, PDA, or any serial device,
even dynamically by another microprocessor. Programming in IsoMax™ means
interactively creating new processor tasks, each being a state machine, and
testing that machine.
Virtually
Parallel Machine Architecture (VPMA) is a new programming paradigm possible
with IsoMax™. VPMA allows more than one of these machines to be installed into
background process. All these installed machines run independently in a
virtually parallel fashion. All the tasks are handled on the same level, each
running like its own separate little machine. VPMA on the IsoPod™ can be
compared to running dozens of stamp-like microcomputers in parallel.
When
the programmer is satisfied with performance of a new machine, he installs it
into a chain of machines. The machines installed in the machine chain become
background features of the IsoPod™ until removed or replaced. Machines don’t
come and go, like tasks do in multitasking.
The
IsoMax™ language is inherently “multitasking” without the overhead or
complexity of a multitasking operating system. A useful single state machine
can be written with as little as three lines of code. The interactive
foreground remains always available for further interactive development, and
interactive checking on the running machines.
The
combination of IsoMax™ software, VPMA structure, and diverse hardware makes
IsoPod™ very versatile. IsoPod™ is ideal for dedicated control of DC motors,
BDCM, stepper motors, solenoids, and motion control applications in general. It
also works well for data collection and many networked control applications.
The CAN BUS
opens the possibility of distributed processing networks, so parallel hardware
can be combined with parallel software.
The IsoPod™
is expected to meet the needs of robots very well, with its many R/C servo
outputs. Particular promise applies to robot walkers. The ability to treat
joints as tasks, and communicate between tasks to created higher-level
architectural functions such as leg behavior, then again gates from groups of
legs behavior. VPMA lets many tasks work together.
The VPMA
structure enables advances in Neural Net Processing simulation, and AI
applications as well. Robots using this new paradigm may appear more “thinking”
than their predecessors.
The IsoPod™
brings an amazing amount of computing and control function to a very small
space at a very reasonable cost. A single unit is $99.
About New Micros, Inc.
New Micros,
Inc. of Dallas, TX, has designed and manufactured chips, Single Board Computers,
peripherals, and custom electronics, for over 20 years. New Micros, Inc.
products have been used in a wide range of projects: in space shots, such as
ignition and separation control on the first Pegasus Rocket, the HF radio
controller on the ARRIANE rocket, to deep ocean probes such as Alice, to robot
arms and displays. In 1987 New Micros, Inc. became the first company ever to
offer a stand-alone single chip computer with a High Level Language built
inside. New Micros, Inc. continues this trend today with this development of
high-level-language “intelligent” embedded controllers.
High
resolution digital photos available.
CONTACT:
Sales Manager
New Micros, Inc.:
Charlie
DeBelen, (214) 339-2204, nmisales@newmicros.com,
New Micros,
Inc. 1601 Chalk Hill Road, Dallas, TX 75212
Overview: http://www.newmicros.com/cgi-bin/store/order.cgi?form=prod_detail&part=IsoPod
Comparison: http://www.newmicros.com/store/product_details/isopod_comparison.html
IsoPod™
manual: http://www.newmicros.com/store/product_manual/IsoPod.zip