Chandler, Ariz.&#1 51;Microchip Technology Inc. is offering the MPLAB Starter Kit for dsPIC DSCs (part # DM330011), which comes with complete development software and hardware for $59.98.

The development system includes the USB-powered Digital Signal Controller (DSC) board with integrated debugger and programmer, the MPLAB IDE and MPLAB C30 C complier software, and sample programs and hardware for demonstrating speech and audio applications.

The board is populated with a 40 MIPS dsPIC33FJ256GP506 DSC, which has 256-Kbytes of flash program memory and 16-Kbytes of RAM, a 12-bit A/D converter and peripherals that support audio pulse-width modulation (PWM). Additionally, the board has 4-Mbits of serial flash memory to store audio messages and a 16-/24-/32-bit audio codec with sampling frequencies up to 48 kHz.

The demo board also includes a 100 mW headphone amp, and microphone and line level inputs, along with a sample program for recording custom audio content. All of these features demonstrate the power and potential of dsPIC DSCs, while showing how easy it can be to add high-fidelity audio to embedded designs.

Microchip Technology, www.microchip.com