塔和其他開發(fā)平臺(tái)提供應(yīng)用程序和MCU靈活性。

　　評估板和套件的開發(fā)是設(shè)計(jì)工程師的工具箱中的一個(gè)重要組成部分，這樣的產(chǎn)品在微控制器（MCU）空間更加重要的一種方式，了解新的處理器架構(gòu)和助推發(fā)展。雖然大多數(shù)板和套件是基于一個(gè)特定的單片機(jī)和經(jīng)常瞄準(zhǔn)一個(gè)特定的應(yīng)用如電機(jī)控制，飛思卡爾塔系統(tǒng)允許設(shè)計(jì)者不同的MCU及應(yīng)用實(shí)驗(yàn)。事實(shí)上，該平臺(tái)可用于開發(fā)基于觸摸的應(yīng)用程序、電機(jī)控制系統(tǒng)、機(jī)器人技術(shù)以及其他許多應(yīng)用。讓我們來看看通用開發(fā)包的目的，塔的概念，以及一些允許MCU和應(yīng)用程序靈活性的塔產(chǎn)品。

　　在深入了解塔式系統(tǒng)的細(xì)節(jié)之前，讓我們考慮一下開發(fā)產(chǎn)品的廣闊前景，因?yàn)閷τ谌绾伍_發(fā)和提供這樣一個(gè)工具，沒有一個(gè)正確的答案。有些工具包是專門開發(fā)，以達(dá)到一個(gè)非常低的價(jià)格點(diǎn)。例如，意法半導(dǎo)體公司剛剛推出了其最新的試劑盒，該STM32F4探索套件，使幾乎任何人都可以買得起。該試劑盒是基于集成了一個(gè)ARM Cortex-M4內(nèi)核的MCU的stm32f407vgt6。該套件包括基于MEMS的運(yùn)動(dòng)傳感器和外圍設(shè)備在方便的音頻應(yīng)用。

　　Texas Instruments （TI） offers a good example of an application-specific kit in its Evalbot robotics kit. The kit is based on an ARM Cortex-M3 MCU and includes some small motors and operates from battery power. There are several versions of the kit based on a different set of third-party software-development tools included in the kit.

　　Now let‘s move on to the Tower concept. The mechanical basis of the Tower System is formed by two PCBs that Freescale calls Elevator modules （Figure 1）。 The Elevator modules form the walls of a modular system and as many as four MCU， microprocessor， or peripheral modules mount between the walls. The Elevator modules handle power and ground distribution and host PCI connectors into which the MCU and peripheral modules are inserted. One of the Elevator walls is called the Dummy Elevator as it only provides ground connections and mechanical stability. The Functional Elevator distributes power and connects the four modular slots.