TI’s New GPIO Packed FRAM Launchpad Showcases An Alphanumeric Segmented LCD For $13.99

TI added another FRAM development kit to its Launchpad family – the MSP-EXP430FR4133. It contains everything needed to start developing on the MSP430 FRAM-based technology, including on-board emulation for programming, debugging, and energy measurements. The board features on-board buttons and LEDs for quick integration of a simple user interface and a liquid crystal display (LCD) that showcases the integrated driver with flexible software-configurable pins.

The MSP-EXP430FR4133 is TI’s second FRAM Launchpad following the MSP-EXP430FR5969. The MSP430FR4133 device comes with 16-MHz system clock and 8-MHz FRAM access, two timer blocks and up to three serial interfaces, tons of GPIO – 60 to be exact, an integrated LCD controller, 10-channel 10-bit differential ADC and a cool IR modulation feature. The LCD controller can drive up to 256 segments to support displays used in smart meters as well as health equipment.

Launchpad Features:

MSP430 ultra-low-power FRAM technology based MSP430FR4133 16-bit MCU.

Rapid prototyping is simplified by the 20-pin BoosterPack™ plug-in module headers.

eZ-FET, an open-source onboard debugger that features EnergyTrace technology

technology On-board segmented LCD.

Two buttons and two LEDs for user interaction.

Backchannel UART through USB to PC

Important Links:

On-Board LCD Driver:

The FR41xx’s main feature is the LCD_E peripheral which boasts ~1uA power draw while keeping the LCD enabled and with a built-in charge pump running, and additionally the LCD function pins are software re-configurable.

Debug Support:

The MSP-EXP430FR4133 LaunchPad features EnergyTrace technology but does not have support for EnergyTrace++™ technology, which means CPU and peripheral state cannot be monitored. The eZ-FET also provides a “backchannel” UART-over-USB connection with the host, which can be very useful during debugging and for easy communication with a PC. The provided UART supports hardware flow control (RTS and CTS), although by default these signals are not connected to the target.

Out of Box Experience Examples:

The Stopwatch mode turns the LaunchPad into a stopwatch that counts upward from 0 to 100 hours. Minutes, seconds and milliseconds are displayed. At 60 minutes, the display shifts to show hours, minutes and seconds. Split time is also supported, where the display freezes while the stopwatch continues running in the background. In this mode, the MSP430FR4133 MCU operates primarily in a low-power mode and then wakes up to refresh the display.

In the Temperature mode, the MSP430FR4133 MCU uses the on-chip temperature sensor and displaying the value on the display. You can switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Launchpad Overview

You can join the discussion about the new MSP-EXP430FR4133 Launchpad in the “New Launchpad just dropped” forum thread. You can also follow a discussion on the MSP430FR4133 micro-controller in Spirilis’ thread.