The 8-Bit Survival Syndrome, Part 3



Considering the microcontroller market in terms of the data bus width (8-, 16- or 32-bit) it's too simple to say arbitrarily that 32BIT devices are the way forward, or that 8BIT devices are on their way out. Instead, there is a range of solutions balancing integration, power consumption, computational efficiency, robustness, and cost.

From a general perspective, the 32-bit microcontrollers are a better fit for applications that have a machine interface with calculation performance and software-centric designs with an RTOS or multitasking.

For hardware-centric applications that need deterministic behavior, low sleep power consumption, robust electrical characteristics, and a real-world interface, the 8-bit microcontroller is still the best technical solution.



There are a number of advantages to using this architecture. The modified architecture uses a dual bus arrangement, with data on the one and instructions on the other. This design executes instructions in a single cycle. The two-stage pipelining executes one cycle while the next one is being accessed. This combination of architectural efficiency and ease of use enables designers to be more efficient and get more done using a PIC MCU.

An ongoing advantage is that you can migrate from one PIC MCU to another when requirements change. Using the commonly used peripherals and pinouts and migrating a project from 6 - 100pins and from 384 Kilobytes to 128Kilobytes

While the debate on 8BIT relevancy will be ongoing, the fight is between the popularity of the 32BIT devices vs the advantages an 8BIT device continues to offer. With the world moving ahead and the tools for 32BIT development being either free or open-source, the 32BIT devices available are fully capable of replacing the 8BITs, however, they will put up a fight and fend them off.

True, the 8BIT handles hardware-centric applications better, and the 32BIT BIT devices handle the user interface, RTOS, or advanced applications with greater ease they do play their roles in different ways.

Therein lies the answer. They don't necessarily replace but rather complement each other and this is more evident in diverse applications that are systems. In single stand-alone applications, the 8BIT can supplant a 32BIT with the same ease that the 32BIT device supplants the 8BIT. Build a scaled system with delegated elements and the need for both 32BIT and 8BIT modules becomes apparent. 8BIT devices introduce scaled or delegated application capacity, cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and reduced programming complexity or density. The 32BIT devices are a better fit for applications that have a machine interface with high-performance requirements.