Development Tools News

IAR Systems Introduces New Development Kit for the Renesas R8C/Tiny Microcontrollers

UPPSALA, Sweden - November 21, 2003 - IAR Systems (Stockholmsbörsen: IAR) today announced its embedded development toolkit for the new R8C/Tiny series of microcontrollers from Renesas Technology Corp. The low pin-count of R8C/Tiny devices, with future devices going down to only 20 pins, will make them well suited for home electronic appliances, security devices and industrial equipment thus creating an excellent mapping with IAR's key customer segments.

The IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C is a completely integrated development environment, based on IAR Systems' latest compiler and debugger technology. It includes the project manager, editor, C/Embedded C++ compiler, assembler, linker, library tools and C-SPY debugger with support for the Renesas ROM-monitor, allowing developers to create embedded applications and test them on hardware from within the IAR Embedded Workbench.

Since the R8C/Tiny is closely related to the popular M16C microcontroller, the IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C is entirely derived from the IAR Embedded Workbench for M16C and takes advantage of its advanced technology.

This makes it very easy for developers who port their applications between R8C and M16C since the same source code can be used for both targets. Users can rest assured that although the IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C is a new product, it follows exactly the same path as the mature and well-established IAR Embedded Workbench for M16C.

"IAR Systems has provided us with excellent support on M16C and H8 and I am extremely pleased to have have them with us as a partner for the R8C launch", says David Noverraz,  Product Manager Support Tools, Renesas Technology Europe.

Since the first R8C/Tiny devices have a limited 8-16 KB of on-chip flash memory, a code size-efficient compiler is extremely important. The IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C/Tiny actually offers 22 KB in a 16 KB device, taking into consideration the efficient optimization of the IAR C/Embedded C++ compiler as compared to the alternatives.

The IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C has the following key features:

• Supports R8C/10 and R8C/11
• Embedded C++
• R8C-specific speed and size optimizations
• Multi-byte support
• Efficient layout of stack/static/global variables
• ELF/DWARF output
• Breakpoints can be set directly in the source code
• Single-stepping at function-call level
• Continuous tracing and logging of arbitrary C-SPY expressions such as variables and register values
• Highly optimized code can be debugged
• Profiling and code coverage
• Backstep via call stack
• USB ROM-monitor support
• Professional edition with UML design tools
• Runs on a PC with Microsoft Windows

"Although the current IAR Embedded Workbench for M16C already supports the R8C/Tiny, we are happy to introduce a dedicated set of development tools for the first low-end low pin-count flash microcontroller launched by the recently founded Renesas Technology", says Mats Ullström, IAR Embedded Workbench Business Unit Manager. "Our objective is to help developers reduce time to market, and the IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C really proves how easily code and entire projects can be moved between targets, thereby significantly reducing time to market."

Pricing and availability
The IAR Embedded Workbench for R8C is available from IAR Systems and its distributors worldwide. Pricing starts at 695 USD for the 16K baseline edition. An evaluation version is availble. For additional product information, please contact any IAR Systems office.

About IAR Systems
IAR Systems is the leading supplier of software development tools for embedded microcontrollers. The tools today consist of C and EC++ compilers in the IAR Embedded Workbench, the device driver wizard IAR MakeApp for graphical configuration and initialization of the chip, the IAR visualSTATE graphic tool to generate validated and small production-ready code and tools for development of Bluetooth® applications. IAR Design Services injects engineering expertise and experience into embedded system projects. It contributes to IAR's mission to reduce the development time for embedded systems and accelerate time-to-market. IAR Systems has offices in the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden