Today I conclude my countdown of top reasons to use i.MX RT1010, and I wanted to end the blog series in the same way that it began – by talking about how to get started. It is has been  2 weeks since my first post, so hopefully by now you have found the $10.10 in your couch cushion to order your i.MX RT1010 EVK. Maybe you even already have the EVK on your desk and followed the instructions on the Getting Started webpage which leads you to download the software and tools. But what is MCUXpresso and how much does it cost?

Listen up everyone. We are winding down the countdown and my blog today is about audio. Many consumer products and embedded devices support various digital audio functions, and more and more engineers are looking for the MCU to support these functions, rather than needing to add a DSP or other dedicated solution.  The good news is that many MCUs now have the capabilities to support these basic audio tasks. But how do you choose an MCU that will give your product the price, performance, and design flexibility you need?

So you want to add a display to your product? You look at the i.MX RT series table and see that the i.MX RT1010 device does not have an LCD interface, so you immediately write it off. Not so fast!  Did you know that you can add a display to your i.MX RT1010 design through the I2C module? What’s great about the i.MX RT1010 is that we didn’t skimp on peripherals to hit that $1 price point. Even the pin muxing takes into account maximum usability for a variety of applications. But say you are working on a thermostat application and need the I2C module to connect to a variety of sensors instead. Based on yesterday’s blog, hopefully you immediately think of the FlexIO module.

Say for example, you are working on your industrial application using the i.MX RT1010 MCU and have everything designed out. You are using two UARTs for sensor interfaces, one UART for camera, and the fourth UART will be used for development and future debug. Then, your product marketer comes by and asks you to add Bluetooth to the product.

What can you do?  The i.MX RT1010 only supports 4 UARTs. Do you move to an i.MX RT1050 MCU since it has 8 UARTs? Do you add another external UART to your design?

Don’t fret! FlexIO to the rescue!