Evatronix introduces the R8051XC2 to supply SoC designers with the world’s highest performance 8051 8-bit microcontroller IP core

The latest improvements to this industry standard guarantee the fastest average instruction execution in the 8051 market.

Gliwice & Bielsko-Biala, Poland -- January 26, 2009 - The Silicon Intellectual Property (IP) provider, Evatronix SA, announced today the next generation of its highly successful 8051 configurable IP core – the R8051XC2. Architectural improvements implemented in this release have significantly increased the microcontroller’s performance while other critical factors such as gate count have remained at the same level.

It’s been only 5 months since the 3.000 gates of the T8051 microcontroller’s CPU set the new standard for the low gate count in the 8-bit world. Now the R8051XC2 adds highest available performance to an already wide range of configuration options of the previous generation IP core (R8051XC) and thus reaches as much as 0.114 DMIPS/MHz.

The significant performance increase has been achieved by applying sophisticated mechanisms that raised the speed of operations executed by the standard 8051 instruction set. Changing the implementation of the 8051 ISA’s most important features like the register bank pushed the IP core to the 8051 architectural limits that yet can be achieved without making it a 16-bit core.

When sustaining the same DMIPS/MHz ratio as the last-generation R8051XC, the R8051XC2 is undeniably more power-efficient, and executes the program in a far lower number of CPU clock cycles.

The overall IP core performance measured in DMIPS/MHz is 0.088 when the core is set to be 80C51 compliant only, and 0.114 with all implemented enhancements. This can be also put as 9.4 and 12.1 times more performance, respectively (when compared to the original architecture at the same clock frequency).

“The R8051XC2 is the ultimate result of over a decade of work on 8051 Instruction Set Architecture cores”, said Wojciech Sakowski, Evatronix President. “Every one of over 200 of our successful 8051 designs has contributed to this success and made us the leader in 8051 IP. The R8051XC2, like its predecessor, is a milestone for 8-bit IP industry.”

“It is impressive how, step by step, our 8051 IP cores have finally become what we’ve always wanted,” said Maciej Pyka, 8051 Product Line Manager. “With the T8051 being the smallest implementation of this architecture, and the R8051XC2 being the most powerful and configurable, we can offer the best of both worlds to our customers.”

Availability and customization options

The R8051XC2 IP core is available for licensing now. With a variety of pre-defined configurations, every one of which is downward compatible, the user can adjust the IP core to his exact needs at a reasonable price.

For off-the-shelf compatibility with Intel™ 80C51 and Siemens® SAB80C515 (80C517) chips architectures, pre-configured A and B versions of the R8051XC2 are available. For even more flexibility, both are now downwards configurable.

The R8051XC2 will also be soon available as the main part in the Evatronix USB, Ethernet and HDLC Development Platforms. These hardware and software integrated solutions provide SoC designers with a fast and easy way to develop robust applications.

For FPGA evaluation purposes the R8051XC2 free demo will be available for download through Evatronix website and famous SoC engineering portals on February 9th.

About Evatronix 8051 Series Microcontrollers

Developed as early as in 1997, Evatronix 8051 compliant IP cores have always reflected the market needs for robustness and configurability, starting from replacements of Intel™ 80C51 chip, through Siemens® SAB80C515 (80C517) to such 8-bit power horses like R8051XC and now R8051XC2. The list of available peripherals include such functional blocks as SPI, I2C, WDT, UARTs, timers (with PWM), DMA, RTC and others.

About Evatronix

Evatronix SA, headquartered in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, founded in 1991 develops electronic virtual components (IP cores) along with complementary software and supporting development environments. The company also provides electronic design services. Product lines cover a multitude of solutions from interface controllers through microprocessors to integrated System-on-Chip development platforms.

Evatronix IP cores are available directly or through the sales network of its strategic distribution partner CAST, Inc. (New Jersey, USA – www.cast-inc.com). To find out more about the product portfolio please visit the company’s web site at www.evatronix.pl or send an e-mail to ipcenter@evatronix.pl.