UBC104 Embedded Systems

Comparison of Microcontrollers

8051 vs. AVR, 68HC12 and PXA250

The goal of this exercise is to get an overview of available microcontrollers, their
features, and application areas and to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of
the various variations.

You should familiarise yourself with the following families of microcontrollers:

Intel 8051 [1]
Atmel AVR [2]
Motorola 68HC12 [3]
Intel PXA250 [4]

Describe each family of microcontrollers in turn. Explain the intended application

area of the microcontrollers, their general use and the distribution that the individual
family of microcontrollers experiences today. Then compare the features and the
advantages and disadvantages of the families of microcontrollers with each other.

The information that you gain in the course of this exercise should be compiled in the
form of a short report. The report should describe the details of the individual types of
microcontroller, the advantages & disadvantages of a processor and application of the
controller. The description of each microcontroller family should feature the
description of two examples of applications and explain on these examples the
advantages & disadvantages the particular microcontroller family.

This is not an exercise in re-hashing the marketing brochures of the manufacturers.

The text should be your own and references should be made to quotations wherever
appropriate. The report should follow the IEEE templates for publications.

The report should be submitted via WebCT. The deadline for the submission is given
in WebCT. Late submission will cause a deduction of 10% for every day late from the
mark for this assignment.

References:

[1] Intel 8051 (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/microcontroller-faq/8051/)

[2] Atmel AVR (http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/)
[3] Motorola 68HC12 (http://www.freescale.com/)
[4] Intel PXA250 (http://www.intel.com/design/pca/prodbref/298620.htm)
[5] Microcontroller FAQ (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/microcontroller-faq/primer/)

Trinity College Dublin