Jingxi Zhang's Handheld Multifunction Scope Wins First Design Contest Utilizing ARM® Cortex™-M3 Microcontrollers with ARM RealView Tools

AUSTIN, TX, USA - April 3, 2007 - Luminary Micro (www.luminarymicro.com), a fabless semiconductor company that designs, markets, and sells award-winning ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor-based microcontrollers, together with Keil (an ARM company) and Circuit Cellar magazine, names Jingxi Zhang the winner of the $10,000 DesignStellaris2006 design contest for the Stellaris® family of microcontrollers - the world's first silicon implementation of the ARM Cortex-M3 processor.

The US $3000 first prize went to Zhang's Handheld Multifunction Scope project based on the Stellaris EKK-LM3S811 evaluation board. The Handheld Multifunction Scope can be operated in standalone mode with three AAA batteries. It can also be powered through a PC USB port, and in this mode, the PC screen is used to show the oscilloscope display and the measurement values. Zhang's flexible tool functions as a dual channel trace oscilloscope; an AC/DC Voltmeter, Ohmmeter, capacitance, and inductance meters; frequency counter; a logic probe; and a pulse generator.

"I enjoyed using Luminary Micro's wonderful Stellaris chip for the Circuit Cellar DesignStellaris2006 contest," said Jingxi Zhang, Senior System Architect of Jupiter Systems. "The rich on-chip peripherals and plentiful GPIO pins of the LM3S811 make it possible to build this multifunction tool with few external components."

Second place went to Thomas M. Alldread's "RF NimbleSig," an RF signal generator and power meter, which is a compact direct digital synthesizer (DDS) generator / RF power meter module that provides a frequency agile RF output signal source and a low level RF power measurement. Jake Gunderson captured the third prize for his "Squawk Box," a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) user instrument that interfaces the widely accepted Asterisk open source soft telephone switch.

Honorable mentions were awarded to: Ilya Mamontov (Stroboscopic Pocket Tuner), Alexandre Guimaraes (Not Just Another SMD Reflow Controller), James Koehler (Audio Noise Figure Meter), Lindsay Meek (Uninterruptible Solar Power Supply), Naubert Aparicio (ArmExe: an RTOS for Luminary Micro Stellaris Cortex-M3 microcontrollers), Jeffrey Berezin (Bicycle Simulator), Fabian de la Fuente (Timecode generator), Henry Pfister (Multitone Music Keyboard), Peter Baston (AIS Decoder), Alex Wolfing (PGKey), Benjamin Wolpoff (Shock-N-Awe), Andrew Sterian (Coil Gun Controller), Hoa Phan (Automatic Antenna Positioner), Fernando Jordan (Swissjazz), Robert Papp (StellarisGfx), and Sylvain Davaine (Large LCD Screen Driver).

Thousands of Engineers Competed for the Top Prize. To win the top prize, Zhang competed against top embedded engineers worldwide for more than US $10,000 in cash prizes using Luminary Micro's Stellaris family of ARM Cortex-M3 processor-based controllers with the ARM RealView® Microcontroller Development Kit. To enable designers to develop applications for the contest even more quickly, Luminary Micro and Keil specifically developed the Stellaris LM3S811 Evaluation Kit with RealView Microcontroller Development Kit evaluation software (ordering part number EKK-LM3S811). Thousands of engineers worldwide responded to the call and obtained evaluation kits for the contest.

"We are very impressed with the diverse and creative designs that poured in from around the world," said Jean Anne Booth, Chief Marketing Office of Luminary Micro. "With the ARM architecture and development support, the Stellaris family provides the entry into the industry's strongest ecosystem, with code compatibility ranging from $1.00 to 1 GHz. These inventive applications certainly demonstrate that Stellaris is indeed the performance product for serious microcontroller applications."

"The response to the DesignStellaris2006 design contest was phenomenal," said Steve Ciarcia, Editorial Director and Circuit Cellar founder. "So many design engineers around the globe were excited about working with Luminary Micro MCUs and Keil tools that I knew right away this contest would be a hit."

"ARM has been very impressed with the number and quality of entrants for the DesignStellaris2006 competition," said Alistair Greenhill, director of mass market tools, ARM. "We believe that this illustrates the strong momentum within the marketplace to move to next-generation ARM 32-bit microcontrollers based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, with devices that deliver outstanding performance and ease-of-use at competitive pricing points."

Developed specifically for microcontroller applications, Luminary Micro's implementation of the Cortex-M3 processor in the Stellaris MCU family includes the following features:

• Always single cycle flash accesses for maximal performance
• Deterministic, fast interrupt processing - never more than 12 cycles, only 6 cycles with tail-chaining
• Entire software code base is written in C/C++ - no assembly language required, even in startup code and interrupt service handlers, making the devices easy to program
• Occupies as little as half the flash code size of ARM7™ family-based MCU applications
• Real embedded MCU GPIOs - all can generate interrupts, all have programmable drive strength and slew rate control
• No functional pin multiplexing - pins are dedicated to one peripheral, backed by GPIO, and simultaneous use of on-chip peripherals is not limited by pin sharing, so engineers are no longer forced to choose between on-chip peripherals

The Stellaris LM3S811 Evaluation Kit used for DesignStellaris2006 is both an evaluation platform for the Stellaris LM3S811 and a serial in-circuit debug interface for any Stellaris microcontroller-based target board, spanning the design spectrum from evaluation to prototyping to application-specific design. The kit also includes an evaluation copy of the RealView Microcontroller Development Kit software tools on a CD packed with datasheets, schematics, applications notes, and programming examples. The board is powered over USB (cable included), and also contains silk-screened through-hole-mount pin headers that can be user populated with pin stake headers for use in hardware prototyping.

Ordering Information
The RealView Microcontroller Development Kit is available through Keil's global sales channel listed at www.keil.com/distis/. Stellaris microcontroller development and evaluation kits, including the EKK-LM3S811 Evaluation Kit, are available through Luminary Micro's global sales channel listed at www.luminarymicro.com/sales.

About Luminary Micro and Stellaris
Luminary Micro, Inc. designs, markets and sells ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers (MCUs). Austin, Texas-based Luminary Micro is the lead partner for the Cortex-M3 processor, delivering the world's first silicon implementation of the Cortex-M3 processor. Luminary Micro's introduction of the award-winning Stellaris® family of products provides 32-bit performance for the same price as current 8- and 16-bit microcontroller designs. With entry-level pricing at $1.00 for an ARM technology-based MCU, Luminary Micro's Stellaris product line allows for standardization that eliminates future architectural upgrades or software tools changes. Contact the company at +1-512-279-8800 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

About ARM
ARM designs the technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM's comprehensive product offering includes 16/32-bit RISC microprocessors, data engines, graphics processors, digital libraries, embedded memories, peripherals, software and development tools, as well as analog functions and high-speed connectivity products. Combined with the company's broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.

ENDS

Stellaris is a registered trademark and the Luminary Micro logo is a trademark of Luminary Micro, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. ARM and RealView are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. Cortex, CoreSight, NEON and Embedded Trace Macrocell are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS Design Automation Inc.; AXYS GmbH; ARM Embedded Solutions Pvt. Ltd.; and ARM Physical IP, Inc.; and ARM Norway AS.

Luminary Micro Contacts
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