Describe the main criteria or factors for choosing a microcontroller for an application.

Question 1

What are 4 major 8-bit microcontrollers?

Answer 1

• Freescale’s 6811
• Intel’s 8051
• Zilog’s Z8
• PIC 16x from Microchip Technology

Question 2

What do you need to know when choosing an 8-bit microcontroller?

Answer 2

Every microcontroller:
- has a unique instruction set specifically
made for each one.
- has a register set.
- is not compatible with each other.

Question 3

What is the 1st criteria to consider when choosing a microcontroller?

Answer 3

1. Meeting the computing needs of the task
   at hand efficiently and cost effectively.

Question 4

What is the 2nd criteria to consider when choosing a microcontroller?

Answer 4

2. Availability of software development
   tools such as compilers, assemblers, and
   debuggers.

Question 5

What is the 3rd criteria to consider when choosing a microcontroller?

Answer 5

3. Wide availability and reliable sources of
   the microcontroller.

Question 6

What do you need to factor in when considering the 1st criteria?

The following is the 1st criteria:

1. Meeting the computing needs of the task
   at hand efficiently and cost effectively.

Hint: There are 9 factors. Name at least 5.

Answer 6

• meet the task at hand efficiently and cost effectively.
• 8-bit / 16-bit / 32-bit depending on the needs of a microcontroller based project.
• Speed
• Packaging
• Power consumption
• The amount of RAM and ROM on-chip.
• The number of I/O pins and the timer(s) on the chip.
• How easy it is to upgrade to higher-performance or lower-consumption versions.
• Cost per unit.

Question 7

What do you need to factor in when considering the 2nd criteria?

The following is the 2nd criteria:

2. Availability of software development
   tools such as compilers, assemblers, and
   debuggers.

Hint: There are 6 factors. Name at least 4.

Answer 7

• Availability of an assembler
• Debugger
• A code efficient C language compiler
• Emulator
• Technical support
• Both in-house and outside expertise

Question 8

What do you need to factor in when considering the 3rd criteria?

The following is the 3rd criteria:

3. Wide availability and reliable sources of
   the microcontroller.

Answer 8

• a large number of diversified suppliers like Intel, Atmel, and Siemens