PEmicro's Cyclone FX programmers are powerful, in-circuit, stand-alone programmers that support devices from many manufacturers. They are versatile tools that offer on-board storage of programming images, provide power to the target, support manual or automated programming, and have an easy-to-use touchscreen interfaces.

Programming may be launched by a single button press without a PC or automatically from a PC via the automated control SDK. The Cyclone series of programmers may also be used as debug probes during development and is supported by many IDEs.

The Cyclone FX series of stand-along programmers also offers many high end features such as extremely fast programming speeds, extended security, test and calibration capabilities, as well as barcode scanning/programming.

The Cyclone FX production programmers are powerful, fast, and feature rich in-circuit programming solutions. PEmicro offers two models which have the same feature set and only vary by the devices supported.

NOTE: PEmicro updated Cyclone part numbers in July 2019. The old names and part numbers are listed beneath the new, for convenience. Please order using the new part numbers. The hardware itself has not changed. 

The CYCLONE FX ARM (part# Cyclone-FX-ARM) supports a wide variety of  ARM Cortex flash devices.
(formerly called CYCLONE ACP FX, part# CYCLONE_ACP_FX)

The CYCLONE FX UNIVERSAL (part# Cyclone-FX-UNIV) supports ARM Cortex devices as well as the following 8/16/32 bit device families: NXP's: Kinetis, LPC, S32, Qorivva (MPC5xxx), MPC5xx/8xx, Coldfire, DSC, S12Z, RS08, S08, HC08, HC(S)12(X), STMicroelectronics STM8 (with STM8 adapter) and SPC5 MCU's, and Renesas H8 and H8S/Tiny, MC16C and M16C80, M32C, R8C, RH850, RL78, RX600 with Renesas adapter.
(formerly called CYCLONE UNIVERSAL FX, part# CYCLONE_UNIVERSAL_FX)

Those working with certain Power Architecture families can take advantage of pipelined programming algorithms that dramatically increase programming speed.

Those working with STMicroelectronics' STM8 devices can use the Cyclone Universal FX's 6-pin connector (PORT F), and we also offer an STM8 adapter (sold separately) that converts the 6-pin signals from the Cyclone PORT F to a 4-pin ERNI connector. 

Those working with supported Renesas devices will require the Renesas adapter, which plugs into Ports C & E and connects to the target via the 14-pin ribbon cable.  

Don't see your device? We are adding new support all of the time. Let us know!

The Cyclone FX Universal is the next generation design which replaces the older Cyclone Pro and Cyclone Max programmers(see transition guide).

The Cyclone FX series of stand alone programmers can program target processors independently of a PC. Connecting to a PC allows a Cyclone programmer to be automatically controlled and also allows configuration of the Cyclone (such as adding more programming images). The Cyclone connects to the PC via USB, Ethernet, or Serial connections and all three cables are provided. For Ethernet connectivity, the Cyclone can either be assigned a fixed IP or can dynamically acquire one via DHCP.

The Cyclone FX programmer connects to the debug header of your target via a ribbon cable suitable for the architecture being programmed. The Cyclone comes with ribbon cables for all supported architectures. For direct wiring into test fixtures, where there is not defined connector, there are several headers on the Cyclone with 0.1" spacing which are easily wired to.

In addition to manual launch via the start button, stand-alone programming can be automatically controlled from a PC using the included Cyclone Control Suite.

The goal is to allow full control of one or more Cyclones from the PC, either from within a GUI, a custom application, or from the command-line. This includes launching programming, recovering results, managing images resident on a Cyclone, adding unique programming data for each target, and more. All of these things are possible in an automated way without an operator. The simplest fundamental control of programming looks like this :

1. Host PC Command Packet Launches Programming
2. Cyclone Image Programmed To Target
3. Cyclone Recovers Successful Result Or Error To PC

The three components of the Cyclone Control Suite allow you to automate control of a stand-alone programming image from a PC in several ways:

1. Cyclone Control Console (command-line utility). Launch programming, recover the result, and optionally change a programming image in a Cyclone from the command-line or within a batch file.
2. Cyclone Control SDK (.dll) . Allows programming control to be integrated into user applications. Allows programming to be launched and results to be recovered from a Cyclone directly from the user's own application.
3. Cyclone Control GUI (graphical interface). Allows the user to add and remove a SAP image, access Cyclone and image settings and properties, add additional licenses to the Cyclone, and more.

Advanced Features (included on Cyclone FX) :Allows multiple SAP images to be added/removed/updated, allows programming to be launched on multiple cyclones, programming results to be recovered, dynamic data to be programmed along with the image's data, image management (add, delete, verify, etc), and more directly from the user's own application. Allows remote control and "touch" of Cyclone screen via GUI application.

For PC based debugging, the Cyclone is compatible with the In-Circuit Debug Software available from PEmicro, PEmicro’s GDB Server for ARM Devices, as well as many industry standard IDEs and debuggers, as well as many industry standard IDEs and debuggers listed under compatible Software below.

The Cyclone can store a number of Stand-Alone Programming (SAP) Images in its non-volatile encrypted memory. Once an image is added to the Cyclone, it remains in the memory of the Cyclone until it is erased. Images may be individually added and removed from the Cyclone.

A Stand-Alone Programming (SAP) Image is totally self-contained and stores within itself all of the binary data, algorithm information, settings, and programming steps for programming. In encodes any addition information needed such as serial numbers and how they count.

When generating an image, the user specifies all programming steps, settings, and binary files used for programming. The generated image can be stored directly to a Cyclone or to the disk of the PC for later download to the Cyclone. Data within an image is encrypted but the settings used to generate the image can be viewed.

Images generated for use with the Cyclone FX additionally can specify programming count limitations as well as limit the date range the image may be used (the Cyclone FX has an internal clock). In this way, an image will disable itself after a certain number of programs or a period of time.

The Cyclone FX also features an SDHC port which allows SD memory cards to be used for expandable memory. SD cards are formatted in an encrypted fashion specific to the individual card. The card can then store programming images and associated data (such as serial numbers, programming counts, etc). SD Cards can be moved between Cyclones. PEmicro offers certified, tested SD Cards for encrypted expandable memory.

When producing a microcontroller- or microprocessor-based product, it is often useful to program a unique serial number into the permanent memory (FLASH) of the product. PEmicro has developed a Serialization mechanism to automate this process. Shared serial numbers are also supported. Different programming images can use the same set of serial numbers.

Cyclone users often encounter situations where they need to ensure the security of their intellectual property. The Cyclone FX includes a number of enhancements to improve security and keep data safe. These include the ability to:

Limit # of programming operations

Limit image programming to a date range

One or more restrictions on a specific programming image can be set when the image is created in the Cyclone Image Creation Utility. Once configured, even if restricted programming images are deleted from Cyclone’s internal memory or an SD card, the Cyclone platform has a persistent memory that continues to tie security restrictions to that programming image. Thus, if an image is removed and re-added to a Cyclone, the image counts are maintained and would continue counting from where it left off. Also, if the SD Card is moved from Cyclone to Cyclone, the count is maintained in both Cyclones as well as the SD Card.

Every time an image is generated by the Cyclone Image Creation utility, it is encoded with a unique image ID number. All counts are stored relative to this unique ID number. So, when an image is regenerated in the Cyclone Image Creation utility, it will have its own counts which will not conflict with the previously generated image, even if the images are otherwise exactly the same. In this way, the user can regenerate an image to allow a new batch of targets to be programmed.

Cyclone Security: A Video Overview

Cyclone FX includes the ProCryption Security Activation License. ProCryption Security enables Cyclone FX users to keep their valuable IP safe. It allows them to:

1. Create RSA/AES encrypted programming image