The R8051XC - tracing the untraceable

Fingerprint Cards AB (Fingerprints) has developed electronic systems that determine personal identity by analyzing the unique fingertip patterns of individuals. The systems comprise microchips with algorithms that scan, store and compare fingertip patterns without the help of any PC processor. Technical development is essential to Fingerprints' position, where it is particularly strong in the arena of small and cost effective embedded systems. The silicon technology and the biometric methodologies at the core of Fingerprints' offering are not only innovative, but well-protected, offering a trustworthy foundation for progressive business development. 

While the previous generations of fingerprint readers were highly successful, market demand together with ever going forward technology motivated Fingerprints to develop even more advanced solution – smaller, but yet more powerful than former editions. 

What Fingerprints needed was a very small, highly configurable microcontroller to provide their solution with the best power-to-gates number ratio within a limited amount of the latter. The business plan assumed quick release of the ASIC and thus required the controller to be silicon-proven to guarantee seamless introduction to the market. 

A very detailed investigation into microcontroller market made it clear Evatronix’ R8051XC microcontroller was what Fingerprints was looking for. Its high level of customization, low power consumption and first-class computing power outstood any potential rivals. 

“The R8051XC perfectly fitted into our idea of a technologically advanced fingerprint reader. Thanks to the microcontroller’s versatility our solution is easily applicable into every environment the customer wants,” said Peter Svensson, Vice President Technical Operations at Fingerprints. “As for reliability, we know our customers’ most important data are guarded by our solutions, so each component involved in the ASIC must be extremely trustworthy. The R8051XC certainly is.” 

“We are glad we were chosen to help Fingerprints develop their solution,” said Wojciech Sakowski, Evatronix President. “Our IP is as advanced as it can be, and thus matches SoC designers’ expectations. With data security solutions both reliability and technological advancements must be of highest quality.” 

The extensive Evatronix technical support was crucial in development of application-specific algorithms. 2 additional SPI interfaces, hardware-supported bootloader as well as special function register acknowledge were fruit of hardware modifications. Software enhancements covered development of a PC application that allowed for change of the board parameters, loading new firmware, and interpretation of received results. Prototyping environment, with the Evatronix EB-5 Tiny Development Board, played an important role in testing process of the Fingerprints’ solution. 

“Evatronix’ expertise cannot be underestimated. Their understanding of our situation and comprehensive support greatly contributed to both broad functionality and quick launch of the FPC2020,” Peter Svensson added. “If it wasn’t for them, we would probably be forced to sacrifice some features to fit the tight schedule or arrive later and miss the profits.” 

FPC2020, despite its very recent release, has already turned out to be very successful. The built-in identification methods are applicable in a vast variety of appliances, like door locks, card readers and safes or other applications where there is a need for an embedded biometric solution. 

“We are happy to fill the gap for small, fast and low cost fingerprint biometric processors,” Peter Svensson said. “The heart of our system, the R8051XC, gives us the confidence every our customer will be satisfied with performance he/she gets. The idea of always having the password with you, or more precisely, on you, is appealing to everyone bothered with a number of secure passes in everyday life.”.