Compiler suite delivers support for microcontroller

Paul Boughton

Altium Limited’s new release v2.2r1 of its TASKING C compiler suite for the RH850 architecture from Renesas Electronics, delivers support for new RH850 microcontroller variants, code optimisation improvements, and an integrated on-chip debugger.

Altium saw strong interest from its automotive customers to support the high performance Renesas RH850 microcontroller family through its robust and efficient TASKING VX compiler technology.

The TASKING compilers have industry leading code optimisation techniques and proven-in-use track records in automotive applications like powertrain, body control, chassis control, including safety critical applications. TASKING’s multi-core support implementation was jointly developed with a leading Tier-1 supplier in the powertrain area and is regarded as one of the most well-respected and advanced solutions.

The new release of the TASKING toolset brings support for the RH850/C1x, RH850/D1x, RH850/E1x, RH850/P1x and RH850/R1x device variants in addition to the RH850/F1x series that was supported already. While Renesas continues to widen its scalable range of RH850 products, Altium will work with Renesas to add support to the toolset for future RH850 variants, including specialised solutions for new on-chip modules.

A major addition to the new release of the toolset is support for the Renesas E1 On-Chip debugging emulator, next to the Instruction Set Simulator debugger. The debugger’s graphical user interface is seamlessly integrated into the Eclipse-based IDE and accessible through the debugger perspective. This brings to the developer a single coding and debugging front-end for RH850 application development, which is both comprehensive and very cost-effective compared to separate solutions.

New code generation optimissations have been added to this new compiler release, such as MIL linking and code compaction (reverse inlining), techniques that have proven to be highly effective in TASKING’s compilers for automotive microcontrollers. Measurements on a wide range of different application sources, including powertrain applications, show improvements up to 40% in code compactness.