Difference between 8051, ARM, AVR, And PIC Microcontrollers

July 15, 2021February 21, 2022 Rajasri Mundrathi

Hello guys, welcome back to my blog. In this article, I will discuss the difference between 8051, ARM, AVR, and PIC microcontrollers, what is 8051 microcontrollers, what is AVR microcontroller, what is ARM microcontroller, what is PIC microcontroller, and I will also discuss applications of all these microcontrollers.

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Difference between 8051, ARM, AVR, And PIC Microcontrollers

Microcontrollers may be called computers on-chip. A combination of a controller, internal ROM, RAM, parallel and serial ports is a Microcontroller. Microcontrollers are dedicated devices embedded within an application. Ex:- as an engine controller in automobiles, as an exposure and focus controller in cameras. On-chip peripheral is selected depending on the specifics of the target application.

As we know that the Microcontrollers are powerful digital processors, the degree of control and programmability in which they provide significantly enhances the effectiveness of the application. Intel designed the first microcontroller and this is known as the 8051 microcontrollers. This microcontroller was developed in the late 1970 and in 1981 it was developed by Intel.

What Is 8051 Microcontroller?

8051 microcontroller is an 8-bit microcontroller. 8051 microcontroller has the ability to read, write and process 8-bit data. It is widely used in embedded systems, consumer electronics, robotics, etc. The peripherals of this microcontroller are integrated into a single chip, and the overall system cost is very low.

The size of the product is small as compared to the microcontroller-based system thus very handy. All features are available in 40 pin IC of the 8051 microcontrollers.

Applications of 8051 microcontrollers:

Home appliances like Microwave Oven, Washing machines, etc.
Light sensing and controlling devices like audio systems.
Temperature sensing and control devices.
Fire detection and safety devices such as home security systems.
Other devices like calculator, ATM machine, etc.

What Is ARM Microcontroller?

Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) this microcontroller was introduced by Acron Computer Organization. It is manufactured by Apple, Qualcomm, Motorola, etc. The Processor of the ARM microcontroller belongs to the family of CPUs which are based on Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and also ARM Microprocessor. Mostly ARM microcontrollers are of 32-bit bus width and also 64 bit is available. The speed of the ARM microcontroller is 1 clock cycle per machine cycle and the power consumption is low.

The popular microcontroller of ARM includes ARM Cortex-M0 to ARM Cortex-M7, etc. Flash, EEPROM, SDRAM memory is used in ARM microcontroller. ARM consists of an Arithmetic logic unit, booth multiplier, barrel shifter, control unit, register file.

Features of ARM Microcontroller:-

It consists of a three-stage pipeline.
It must have the ability to control different types of software.
It is compatible with the sleep mode of operation.

Three-stage pipeline

01. Fetch: The instruction is fetched from memory and placed in the instruction pipeline.

02. Decode: The instruction is decoded and the datapath control signals are prepared for the next cycle. In this stage, the instruction owns the decode logic but not the datapath.

03. Execute: The instruction owns the datapath; the register bank is read, an operand shifted, the ALU register generated and written back into a destination register.

Applications Of ARM Microcontroller

ARM microcontroller is used in space and aerospace.
Used in medical devices such as MRI Machines, ultrasound machines.
Used in accelerators, nuclear reactors, and X-ray machines.

What Is AVR Microcontroller

It is an electronic chip which is manufactured by Atmel. This microcontroller is the advanced version of a microcontroller. It contains a chip CPU, ROM, RAM, input/output unit, interrupts controller, etc. This microcontroller is used for high-speed signal processing operation which is connected inside an embedded system.

Features Of AVR Microcontroller

32×8 general working function registers.
32k bytes of in-system self-programmable flash program memory.
2k bytes of internal SRAM.
1024bytes of EEPROM.
Available in 40pin DIP, 44lead QTFP, 44-pad QFN/MLF.
32 programmable I/O lines.
8 channel, 10bit ADC.
Harvard architecture.
UART, I2C, SPI protocol support.

What Is PIC Microcontroller

PIC stands for Programmable Interface Controllers. These are electronic circuits that can be programmed to carry out a vast range of tasks. It consists of memory structure, input/output ports, timers, A/D Converter, Oscillators, CCP module. PIC Microcontrollers are relatively cheap. PIC devices are familiar with both industrial developers and hobbyists due to their low cost, wide availability, large user base, extensive collection of application notes, serial programming, free development tools, and reprogrammable flash memory capability.

Features of PIR Microcontroller

Flash memory
Watchdog Timer
Sleep mode
EEPROM memory

Difference between 8051, ARM, AVR, And PIC Microcontrollers

	AVR	ARM	8051	PIC
Speed	1 clock/instruction cycle	1 clock/instruction cycle	12 clock/instruction cycle	4 clock/instruction cycle
Bus width	8/32 bit	32 bit mostly also available in 64 bit	8 bit for the standard core	8/16/32 bit
Manufacturer	Atmel	Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and TI	NXP, Atmel, Silicon Labs, Dallas, Cyprus, Infineon, etc	Microchip Average
Memory Architecture	Modified	Modified Harvard Architecture	Von Neumann Architecture	Harvard Architecture
Power Consumption	Low	Low	Average	Low
Community	Very Good	Vast	Vast	Very Good
Communication Protocols	UART, USART, SPI, I2C, (special purpose AVR support CAN, USB, Ethernet)	UART, USART, LIN, I2C, SPI, CAN, USB, Ethernet, 12S, DSP, SAI (serial audio interface), IrDA	UART, USART, SPI, I2C	PIC, UART, USART, LIN, CAN, Ethernet, SPI, I2S
Popular Microcontrollers	Atmega8, 16, 32, Arduino Community	LPC2148, ARM Cortex-M0 to ARM Cortex-M7, etc	AT89C51, P89v51, etc	PIC18fXX8, PIC16f88X, PIC32MXX
Memory	Flash, SRAM, EEPROM	Flash, SDRAM, EEPROM	ROM, SRAM, FLASH	SRAM, FLASH
Families	Tiny, Atmega, Xmega, Special purpose AVR	ARMv4, 5, 6, 7, and series	8051 variants	PIC16, PIC17, PIC18, PIC24, PIC32