Introduction

The openMSP430 is a synthesizable 16bit microcontroller core written in Verilog. It is compatible with Texas Instruments' MSP430 microcontroller family and can execute the code generated by an MSP430 toolchain in a cycle accurate way.

The core comes with some peripherals (16x16 Hardware Multiplier, GPIO, TimerA, generic templates) and most notably with a Serial Debug Interface supporting the MSPGCC(4) GNU Debugger (GDB) for in-system software debugging.

Download

Design

The complete tar archive of the project can be downloaded here (OpenCores account required).

The following SVN command can be run from a console (or GUI):

svn export http://opencores.org/ocsvn/openmsp430/openmsp430/trunk/ openmsp430

ChangeLog

• The Core's ChangeLog lists the CPU updates.
• The Tools' ChangeLog lists the Software development tools updates.
• Subscribe to the following RSS feed to keep yourself informed about ALL updates.

Documentation

The online documentation is available as pdf.

Features & Limitations

Features

• Core:
  • Full instruction set.
  • Interrupts: IRQs (x14), NMI (x1).
  • Power saving modes functionality.
  • Configurable memory size for both program and data.
  • Scalable peripheral address space.
  • Serial Debug Interface (Nexus class 3, w/o trace) with GDB support.
  • FPGA friendly (single clock domain, no clock gate).
  • Small size (Xilinx: 1650 LUTs / Altera: 1550 LEs / ASIC: 8k gates).


• Peripherals:
  • 16x16 Hardware Multiplier.
  • Basic Clock Module.
  • Watchdog.
  • Timer A.
  • GPIO (port 1 to 6).
  • Templates for 8 and 16 bit peripherals (under BSD license).

Limitations

• Core:
  • Instructions can't be executed from the data memory.


• Peripherals:
  • Basic clock module doesn't offer the full functionality of a real MSP430.

Links

Development has been performed using the following freely available (excellent) tools:

• Icarus Verilog : Verilog simulator.
• GTKWave Analyzer : Waveform viewer.
• MSPGCC4 : GCC toolchain for the Texas Instruments MSP430 MCUs.
• ISE WebPACK : Xilinx's FPGA synthesis tool.

Discussion group:

• Subscribe to openMSP430

  Email:

  Visit this group

A few MSP430 links:

• Wikipedia: MSP430
• TI: MSP430x1xx Family User's Guide
• TI: a list of available MSP430 Open Source projects out there on the web today.

Legal information

MSP430 is a trademark of Texas Instruments, Inc. This project is not affiliated in any way with Texas Instruments. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.