 | This article is missing information about RTX2000, RTX2001A, RTX2010 without RH (rad hardening). Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (April 2023) |
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1988; 36 years ago (1988) |
| Common manufacturer | |
| Performance | |
| Max. CPU clock rate | 8 MHz |
| Data width | 8 and 16 |
| Address width | 20 |
The RTX2010, manufactured by Intersil, is a radiation hardened stack machine microprocessor which has been used in numerous spacecraft.
Characteristics
It is a two-stack machine, each stack 256 words deep, that supports direct execution of Forth. Subroutine calls and returns only take one processor cycle and it also has a very low and consistent interrupt latency of only four processor cycles, which lends it well to realtime applications.
History
In 1983, Chuck Moore implemented a processor for his programming language Forth as a gate array. As Forth can be considered a dual stack virtual machine, he made the processor, Novix N4000 (later renamed NC4016), as a dual-stack machine. In 1988, an improved processor was sold to Harris Semiconductor, who marketed it for space applications as the RTX2000.
Example spacecraft that use the RTX2010
- Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)
- NEAR/Shoemaker
- TIMED
- Rosetta's lander - Philae
References
- US Expired 5070451A, Moore, Charles H. & Murphy, Robert W., "Forth specific language microprocessor", issued 1991-12-03, assigned to Intersil
External links
- "HS-RTX2010RH". Intersil. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-02-11. Intersil's product page.
- "HS-RTX2010RH Data Sheet" (PDF). Intersil. March 2000. 3961.3.
- Rash, James. "Space-Related Applications of Forth". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 2011-02-04.
- Hand, Tom. "The Harris RTX2000 Microcontroller" (PDF). The Journal of Forth Application and Research. 6 (1): 5–13. ISSN 0738-2022. Retrieved 2013-08-12.
- Koopman, Philip (1989). "4.5 Architecture of the Harris RTX 2000". Stack Computers: the new wave. Ellis Horwood. ISBN 978-0138379230. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
- Koopman, P.; Schuldt, M. (2018) . "RTX2000 Simulator: Linux port of MSDOS original". GitHub.
while loading an image of Rick VanNorman's AppForth.