The CY7C531x0 Neuron chip implements a node for LonWorks distributed intelligent control networks. It incorporates, on a single chip, the necessary communication and control functions, both in hardware and firmware, that facilitate the design of a LonWorks node. The CY7C531x0 contains a very flexible five-pin communication port that can be configured to interface with a wide variety of media transceivers at a wide range of data rates. The most common transceiver types are twisted-pair, powerline, RF, IR, fiber-optics, and coaxial. The CY7C531x0 is manufactured using state-of-the-art 0.35-m Flash technology, providing to designers the most cost-effective Neuron chip solution. Services at every layer of the OSI networking reference model are implemented in the LonTalk firmware-based protocol stored in 10-KB ROM (CY7C53120E2), 12-KB ROM (CY7C53120E4), or off-chip memory (CY7C53150). The firmware also contains 34 preprogrammed I/O drivers, greatly simplifying application programming. The application program is stored in the Flash memory (CY7C53120) and/or off-chip memory (CY7C53150), and may be updated by downloading over the network.