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Introduction in Micro Controllers

The document discusses microcontrollers, specifically the PIC16F877A. It defines a microcontroller as a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a CPU, clock, memory, and I/O ports. Microcontrollers are used to control devices and processes digitally. The PIC16F877A was selected for experiments due to its availability, low cost, and support documentation. It has 40 pins and is part of the popular PIC16 family of microcontrollers. An LCD display was successfully interfaced with the PIC16F877A by initializing it, executing commands, and writing data to its memory locations.

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alzyoud
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39 views

Introduction in Micro Controllers

The document discusses microcontrollers, specifically the PIC16F877A. It defines a microcontroller as a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a CPU, clock, memory, and I/O ports. Microcontrollers are used to control devices and processes digitally. The PIC16F877A was selected for experiments due to its availability, low cost, and support documentation. It has 40 pins and is part of the popular PIC16 family of microcontrollers. An LCD display was successfully interfaced with the PIC16F877A by initializing it, executing commands, and writing data to its memory locations.

Uploaded by

alzyoud
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction in Microcontrollers

WHAT IS A MICROCONTROLLER?

The microcontroller definition from Wikipedia:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcontroller
"A microcontroller (also microcomputer, MCU or μC) is a small computer on a single integrated
circuit consisting internally of a relatively simple CPU, clock, timers, I/O ports, and memory.
Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a
typically small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for small or dedicated applications.
Thus, in contrast to themicroprocessors used in personal computers and other high-performance or
general purpose applications, simplicity is emphasized. Some microcontrollers may use four-bit
words and operate at clock rate frequencies as low as 4 kHz, as this is adequate for many typical
applications, enabling low power consumption (milliwatts or microwatts). They will generally have
the ability to retain functionality while waiting for an event such as a button press or other interrupt;
power consumption while sleeping (CPU clock and most peripherals off) may be just nanowatts,
making many of them well suited for long lasting battery applications. Other microcontrollers may
serve performance-critical roles, where they may need

to act more like a digital signal processor (DSP), with higher clock speeds and power consumption.
Microcontrollers are used in automatically controlled products and devices, such as automobile
engine control systems, implantable medical devices, remote controls, office machines, appliances,
power tools, and toys. By reducing the size and cost compared to a design that uses a separate
microprocessor, memory, and input/output devices, microcontrollers make it economical to digitally
control even more devices and processes. Mixed signal microcontrollers are common, integrating
analog components needed to control non-digital electronic systems."
We have selected the PIC16F877A microcontroller from Microchip Technology to be our main
MCU throughtout the experiments on the MCULab2.0. The PIC family series is very popular MCUs
due to their availability, low cost, simplicity to design and the great Internet based litreture to
support them.
The PIC16F877A is the superset MCU in the PIC16 family of MCUs, it has most of the features and
it was the highest end device in the PIC16 family untill the new PIC16F887 released, it is now
recommended by Microchip for new designs. The differences between both the PIC16F877A and
the PIC16F887 are very limited. We will update our experiments to the new one, however, this
manual still use the old PIC16F877A in its programs.
PIC16F877A pinout
The pinout of the PIC16F877A is:

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD-Displaytech


LCD Displaytech 162A consists of a LCD panel, a controlle
LED. The LCD module consists of total 16 pins in which, 2
Backlight LED, one pin for contrast adjustment, 3 pins are fo
pins. In order to display any data, we need to do certain initi
three steps in displaying any data in the LCD display.
1. Initializing LCD by sequence of instructions
2. Executing commands depending on our settings in th
3. Writing data into the DRAM locations of LCD in the

LCD was successfully interfaced with PIC16F877A

The circuit diagram

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