Kirin3, MCF5225x family consists of highly integrated devices with on-chip USB, Ethernet, CAN bus and cryptographic functions. We can consider Kirin3 as a low cost and secure connected microcontroller platform. Kirin3 is an upgrade version for the MCF5222x USB controller (Kirin2u) and MCF5223x (Kirin2e) Ethernet controller. Additionally, Kirin3 has integrated most popular peripherals available in one package. The long feature list is very impressive.

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ColdFire Kirin3 and free RTOS MQX From
Freescale
By allankliu
Created Mar 19 2009 - 07:06
What is Kirin?
Kirin, the Japanese and Korean word for the Qilin, a mythical beast in Chinese culture and also the word
for giraffe in the Ming Dynasty. [Wikipedia] Many Asian products use Kirin as the trademarks. The famous
Japanese Kirin beer is one of them.
In this blog, Kirin stands for a specific product line of ColdFire 32-bit microcontroller from Freescale
semiconductors. Freescale has named its entire range of ColdFire processors (V1, 2, 3, , 4e cores) with
various nicknames including MiniMe, Kirin0, Kirin, Kirin2e, Kirin2u, Kirin3, DragonFire, DragonFire0,
Amadeus, RedStripe, Rigoletto, Celis. Usually these nicknames are dedicated for internal communication.
Sometimes these names are also trademarks as well, such as DragonBall and ColdFire. Anyway, Kirin3 is
the nickname for the MCF5225X. First of all, let us check out its features.
Kirin3, MCF5225x family consists of highly integrated devices with on-chip USB, Ethernet, CAN bus and
cryptographic functions. We can consider Kirin3 as a low cost and secure connected microcontroller
platform. Kirin3 is an upgrade version for the MCF5222x USB controller (Kirin2u) and MCF5223x (Kirin2e)
Ethernet controller. Additionally, Kirin3 has integrated most popular peripherals available in one package.
The long feature list is very impressive.?
Features:
V2 ColdFire core with 66MHz and 80MHz options
Complimentary Freescale MQX software solutions
Connectivity: USB 2.0 full-speed host/device/OTG controller; FlexCAN controller; 10/100
Ethernet controller (A full roles USB controller running on full speed is enough for an 80MHz
microcontroller. Integrated CAN bus and Ethernet make it a perfect choice in the automotive and
industrial applications. However, the design must include an external Ethernet PHY interface IC.)
External Mini-FlexBus interface (The design can use external bus to integrate more off-chip
memories and peripherals.)
Cryptographic Accelerator Unit (The CAU feature is very unique and powerful to achieve a
secure communication such as SSL.)
Up to 512Kbytes of flash memory (It is enough for a small footprint RTOS.)
Up to 64Kbytes SRAM
Timers, four 32-bit capture/output compare timers and four general purposes timers. (So many
timers.)
32kHz crystal for RTC
Two I2C bus interface modules and QSPI module (to interface EEPROM, SPI flash and
SDIO/MMC.)

2. Up to 56 GPIOs
3 on-chip UARTs
3V-3.6V operation
8 channel 12-bit ADC, PWM
A software watchdog timer and an independent watchdog timer
Clock module with 8 MHz on-chip relaxation oscillator and integrated phase-locked loop (PLL)
JTAG and BDM debug options
DMA
100/144 LQFP and 144 MAPBGA packages.
Target Applications:
Industrial Contrli
Industrial Networking
Human Machine Interface (HMI)
High End Lighting Contrli
Fire & Alarm System/ Applications
Security Panels
HVAC System/ Applications
Medical devices
Besides the recommended applications, we can use Kirin3 in many communication intensive applications.
For example, it can be designed in a general purpose programmer. We can build USB connected
SMBus/SPI/SDIO/JTAG/BDM debugger/programmer. On the other hand, USB host is very useful in a
general programmer. The CAU part is also very helpful in a secure programmer, the firmware can be
decrypted and programmed into the target device. We also can find the opportunities in bridge products,
such as USB over Ethernet, UART over Ethernet, CAN over Ethernet and RS485-Ethernet Bridge.
Additionally, we can use Kirin3 in PLC, remote DAQ module with USB stick and handheld POS terminal.
Since Kirin3 also has FlexBus for external peripherals, you can add support for PC card and CF card with
more features, such as WiFi. The CAU also make Kirin3 a perfect platform for OBU (on board unit) for high
way road toll. Don't limit your design, since Kirin3 offers so much peripherals and options for you.
What is MQX??
Kirin3 is a good product, good product requires good support. Software is a key factor of product success
with more complexity. Here comes the MQX. It is complementary software suite including RTOS, TCP/IP
and USB stacks accelerate software design for ColdFire family. MQX has been a commercial product
available for ColdFire for a long time. Freescale starts to offer MQX to particular ColdFire microcontroller
families (like Kirin3) with no additional charge. ?
Why not using commercial software? Indeed, you can find a lot of software components from the open
source communities, for example, open source RTOS (uC/OS-II, FreeRTOS), TCP/IP stacks (so many
options), GUI (MiniGUI/MicroWindows), file system (elfs). But the designers have to face to different APIs,
incomplete package, commercial-restricted license and integrate them into a unified application context
and port them to the target hardware platform. The open source is a good approach in some projects. But
in ColdFire, Kirin3 and MQX will bring another experience. Free of charge, open source (sort of), and well
documented support with rich demonstration projects. MQX really accelerates the design process in
software integrating phase. Additionally, MQX adopts commercial friendly license. It is very important since
the license of the open source RTOS is not commercial friendly (GPL). The derivate products have to open
source either, or pay commercial license fee as well in a dual license RTOS.

3. The MQX includes customizable RTOS, Real-Time TCP/IP Communication Suite (RTCS), MQX File
System (MFS), USB host/device stack and support many third party pre-integrated software components
such as web server, XML, email and much more. The pre-integrated software may not be free, the
developers have to contact the suppliers individually. The RTOS, MFS and USB were significantly
optimized for devices with limited RAM resources. I browse the feature lists of these software components.
MQX is a real complete RTOS solution for Kirin3. It features much attractive functionality, which can be
fully covered in this article. You can visit the reference pages to have a look.?
MQX also includes some sample applications for your reference. These demos are very informative and
helpful, such as HVAC controller, Telnet and FTF operation, Web-enabled HVAC controller, Ethernet to
Serial bridge, CAN bus, USB HID class with HUB support, USB MASS class, HID class device, HTTP
(supports CGI callback and ASP place hold callback), RTCS and more. Due to code size limitation placed
on the CodeWarrior Special Edition, enabling of the RTCS and USB together will exceed the code size
restriction (128KB). Task-Aware Debugging is only available in the CodeWarrior- Professional Edition.
Boards, Compilers and Debuggers
Freescale offers two boards for Kirin3 and MQX. One is a demo board (49USD), the other one is an
evaluation board (299USD). The evaluation board includes external MRAM, expansion CPLD and PC card
slot. Both boards have integrated the USB debugger on board. You don?t bother to use your old BDM and
JTAG debugger. It is a plug and play solution.
Freescale recommends its CodeWarrior Development Studio and IAR Embedded Workbench for ColdFire
in the development of MQX. The ready-to-run project files and project stationery are available enabling
developers to create the project quickly. CodeWarrior and IAR feature IDE, high productive compiler and
MQX task aware debugging. They are tailor-made for Kirin and MQX. Of course, both CodeWarrior and
IAR are commercial products. However, they offer 30 evaluation and code-size versions for your choice.
You can use CodeSourcery G++ or other GCC for ColdFire as alternative solution if you insist on a free
compiler.?
Register using this form[1]
and you'll have a special discount for M52259DEMOKIT and M52259EVB. (only for the first 20
registered)
NOTE: this is valid ONLY for Companies or Customers based in Italy and working in the Italian area.
Conclusion
The ColdFire is a mature platform. Its Kirin3 is a low cost, high performance product family features many
popular connectivity options. Freescale also offers low cost demo boards and complementary market
proven total solution for the software part, including RTOS, drivers, USB and TCP/IP stacks, file systems
and more third party value-added software component. This turn-key solution approach reduces the total
investment in R&D, so the developers can focus on the applications.
References
MCF5225X Product Summary [2]
MCF52259 Demo Kit, 49 USD [3]
MCF52259 EVB, 299 USD [4]

4. Freescale MQX Introduction [5]
CodeSourcery G++ compilers for ColdFire [6]
Read the Italian version: ColdFire Kirin3 e MQX da Freescale [7]
CONTACT REQUEST
If you want to know more about this Freescale product, please submit your request to Arrow Italy using
this form [1].
NOTE: this form is valid ONLY for Companies or Customers based in Italy and working in the Italian area.
Microcontrollers ColdFire Kirin MQX
Trademarks
Source URL: http://dev.emcelettronica.com/coldfire-kirin3-and-free-rtos-mqx-freescale
Links:
[1] http://it.emcelettronica.com/contact/freescale
[2] http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MCF5225X&tid=m32Gel2850
[3]
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=M52259DEMOKIT&parentCode=MCF5225X&fpsp=1&n
[4]
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=M52259EVB&parentCode=MCF5225X&fpsp=1&nodeId
[5] http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?code=MQX_HOME
[6] http://www.codesourcery.com/sgpp/lite/coldfire
[7] http://it.emcelettronica.com/coldfire-kirin3-e-mqx-da-freescale