8 Channel Quiz Buzzer Circuit Using Microcontroller
8 Channel Quiz Buzzer Circuit Using Microcontroller
Microcontroller
APRIL 3, 2018 BY ADMINISTRATOR 12 COMMENTS
In this project, I’ll show you the design and working of an 8 Channel Quiz Buzzer Circuit
using Microcontroller (8051), which tells us which team has pressed the button first in a
quiz or game show.
Quiz buzzers are used often at places like educational institutions and game shows,
where it is required for the organizers to know who pressed the button first.
Conventional systems require human intervention to decide which team has pressed
the button and this system can be erroneous and even biased.
Another problem arises when two members pressed the button at a negligible interval
and it is difficult to guess who has pressed the buzzer first.
Here in this project, I designed an Automatic Quiz Buzzer System in which, when more
than one team presses the buzzer, the delay between the two button presses is
accurately taken into account and the corresponding number is displayed.
I have designed the circuit using 8051 microcontroller, which scans the input from push
buttons and displays the corresponding number on a display device (7-Segment
Display). It is a simple circuit with minimum number of components and sans any
complexities. Even though this system is designed for only for 8 teams, more teams can
be added by using another set of 8 push buttons.
Table of Contents
Principle Behind the Quiz Buzzer Circuit
Circuit Diagram of 8 Player Quiz Buzzer using Microcontroller
Components Required
Design Process
Quiz Buzzer Circuit Design
How Quiz Buzzer Circuit Works?
Applications of Quiz Buzzer Circuit
Components Required
AT89C51 (8051 Microcontroller)
7 Segment Display (Common Anode is used in this project)
Push Buttons – 10
10KΩ Resistors – 2
100Ω Resistors – 8
470Ω Resistors – 2
2N2222 NPN Transistors – 2
5V Buzzer
1N4007 Diode
10μF Capacitor
33pF Capacitors – 2
11.0592 MHz Crystal
8051 Programmer
5V Power Supply
Design Process
The whole design process involves five steps.
Reset Circuit Design: The reset resistor is selected such that the voltage at the reset
pin, across this resistor is at minimum of 1.2V and the width of the pulse applied to this
pin is greater than 100 ms. Here we select a resistor of 10KΩ and a capacitor of 10μF.
Oscillator Circuit Design: The oscillator circuit is designed using a crystal oscillator of
11.0592 Mhz and two ceramic capacitors each 33pF. The crystal is connected between
pins 18 and 19 of the microcontroller
Microcontroller Interfacing Design: The set of 8 push buttons are interfaced to port
P1 of the microcontroller and a buzzer is interfaced to the port pin P3.3. The 7 segment
display is interfaced to the microcontroller such that all the input pins are connected to
port P2.
1. Create a new project on Keil window and select the target (microcontroller).
2. Create a new file under the project and write the code.
3. Save the code with .c extension and add the file to the source group folder under
the target folder.
4. Compile the code and create the hex file.
Once the code is compiled and a hex file is created, next step is to dump the code into
the microcontroller. This can be done with an 8051 Microcontroller Programmer.
How Quiz Buzzer Circuit Works?
Once the circuit is powered, the compiler will initialize the stack pointer and the
variables having the non-zero initial values and perform other initialization process and
then calls the main function. It then checks if any of the buttons is pressed.
In other words the microcontroller scans for any of its input pins at port P1 to be zero or
at logic low level. In case a button is pressed, the display function is called by passing
the corresponding number. The microcontroller then sends the relevant signals to the
port connected to the 7 segment display.
The microcontroller will turn on the buzzer for a second and turns it off but the number
will be continously displayed on the 7 segment display until the RST button is pressed.