Microcontroller

There is hardly any consumer electronics device on the market which does not contain at least one microcontroller. Ranging from rather simple chips for some cents to sophisticated devices which perform such complex tasks as driving a DVD player, these processors are highly flexible, relatively inexpensive, often field upgradable and frequently allow a whole family of products to be based on the same technology.

Developing hard- and software for embedded platforms requires both experience and system knowledge in order to create a competitive product. We at telos have successfully designed, implemented and verified microcontroller applications, related circuit boards and accompanying software for most of the ICs which are popular today.

Examples of such platforms are:

• AVR is an 8 bit architecture with a rich set of peripherals and conveniant development tools available. These chips come in handy if no extra RAM or ROM is desired on the board since it is already integreated into most AVRs. Latest models even feature a 32 bit CPU
• ARM is a 16/32 bit architecture used by many microcontroller vendors to create ICs with numerous peripherals, RAM and ROM/Flash sizes and speeds
• NIOS II is a powerful 32 bit softcore which is used in conjunction with an FPGA to create a dedicated hardware which includes a versatile CPU, all on one chip
• MIPS is a popular 32 bit architecture particularely used in consumer devices and as part of ICs which contain specialized peripherals for certain applications e.g. DSL and networking interfaces for broadband routers
• Coldfire is the name of a controller family made by freescale. Its roots are the famous 68k CPUs but meanwhile this device has advanced into a competitive 32 bit architecture offered with a comprehensive set of peripherals including CAN, ethernet and USB
• and last but not least the whole range of 8051 derivatives and Microchip PIC devices which are still widely used, regardless - and sometimes even because - of their age, they are known and robust

Normally, the programs are developed in C and Assembler. However, latest compilers technologies featuring C++ enable us to use C++ even for microcontroller-based applications.