Atmel and IS2T Announce Java Support for AVR32 UC3 Flash Microcontrollers

Specifically targeted for AVR32 UC3 Microcontroller, MicroJvm Java platforms offer embedded developers a small memory footprint, high speed Java engine with optimized software library bundles. Total memory requirements for a typical application with graphic LCD display and connectivity is 64 KBytes of SRAM for data and 256 KBytes of flash for program memory. This makes the AVR32 UC3 family with its high memory density and high CPU performance an ideal platform for execution of Java programs.

The embedded Java platforms from IS2T provide an excellent alternative to platforms such as embedded Linux and Windows CE/MF as they meet the economical constraints of low cost and highly integrated systems while drastically reducing development costs. These Java platforms are ideal for designing devices with communication links, LCD displays and sensors. Application segments such as, but not limited to, machine-to-machine, e-metering, home automation and consumer will benefit from reduced maintenance costs due to binary-level application reuse across different device hardware configurations and remote dynamic updates.

New generations of processors such as the AVR32 UC3 series of microcontrollers provide developers with more CPU performance and larger memory densities at very attractive prices. As source code grows in size and becomes more complex, embedded developers are often looking for alternatives to the traditional C/C++ to reach higher software quality and better design productivity without sacrificing performance. One of the key benefits of using Java in an embedded system is the fact that the Java code can be reused throughout the lifetime of a product without having to re-develop the application software if the CPU is upgraded or the display supplier changes.

Optimized Java platforms – MicroJvm virtual machine implementations and the off-device Java class loader and optimizer called SOAR shrink program and data memory usage to fit to AVR32 UC3 single chip microcontroller configurations. IS2T also provide the IceTea Java accelerator technology that dramatically improves software library execution speed. Overall, complex applications running on MicroJvm virtual machine have less than 5ms starting time and are less than 15% slower than their C implementation counterparts.

High performance AVR32 UC3 Series - The AVR32 UC3 core is the first 32-bit microcontroller core in the industry to integrate single-cycle read/write SRAM with a direct interface to the pipeline that bypasses the system bus to achieve faster execution, better deterministic behavior and lower power consumption. The core today delivers up to 1.5 Dhrystone MIPS/MHz, running from on-chip flash memory. The AVR32 UC3 includes advanced features such as DSP arithmetic, single-cycle multiply and accumulate instructions and atomic bit or word read-modify-write instructions. The key benefits are high computational throughput, deterministic and real-time control, low power, lower system cost, high reliability and ease of use. In addition, a peripheral DMA controller and multi-layer high speed bus architecture, makes UC3 core ideal for high throughput applications. UC3 devices are perfectly suited for portable and battery-based applications thanks to its outstanding performance/power consumption ratio up to 1.08 DMIPS per mW. AT32UC3 microcontrollers rich feature set includes up to 512 KB Flash, up to 64 KB SRAM, Ethernet MAC, USB with OTG (on-the-go), 10-bit ADC, SPIs, SSC, two-wire interface (I2C compatible), UARTs, general purpose timers, pulse width modulators and a full set of supervisory functions.