School of Computer Science and Engineering

BCSE305L – Embedded Systems

Module ~ I – Introduction
Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC)
Presentation by
Dr.K.Ragavan
Assistant Professor Senior Grade I
Department of IOT
School of Computer Science and Engineering
VIT University,
Dr.K.Ragavan, Vellore
SCOPE, VIT
 PIC MICROCONTROLLER
• PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller.
• PIC microcontroller was developed by microchip technology in 1993.
• It was developed for supporting PDP computers to control its
peripheral devices and that’s why it was named Peripheral Interface
Controller.
• PIC microcontrollers are of low cost, very fast and easy for the
programming and execution of program when we compare
other microcontrollers like 8051.
• Their interfacing with other peripherals is also very easy.
• PIC Microcontrollers from Microchip Company are divided into 4
large families.
• First family: PIC10 (10FXXX) called Low End
• Second family: PIC12 (PIC12FXXX) called Mid-Range
• Third family: PIC16 (16FXXX)
• Fourth family: PIC 17/18 (18FXXX)
Dr.K.Ragavan, SCOPE, VIT 2
• Each family has a variety of components along with built in special
features. It offers a lot of memory sizes and pin packages and different
clock ratings.
• PIC Microcontroller architecture is based on Harvard architecture and
supports RISC architecture (Reduced Instruction Set Computer).
• PIC microcontroller architecture consists of memory organization
(ram, rom, stack), CPU, timers, counter, ADC, DAC, serial
communication, CCP module and I/O ports.
• PIC microcontroller also supports the protocols like CAN, SPI, UART
for interfacing with other peripherals.
• PIC (Programmable Interface Controllers) microcontrollers are the
worlds smallest microcontrollers that can be programmed to carry out a
huge range of tasks.
• These microcontrollers are found in many electronic devices such as
phones, computer control systems, alarm systems, embedded systems,
etc.
Dr.K.Ragavan, SCOPE, VIT 3
PIC MICROCONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE

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CPU:
• CPU is not different from other microcontrollers CPU.
• PIC microcontroller CPU consists of Arithmetic logic unit
(ALU), memory unit (MU), control unit (CU), Accumulator etc.
• ALU mainly used for arithmetic operations and taking the logical
decisions
• memory used for storing the instruction which is to processed
and also storing the instructions after processing
• Control unit is used for controlling the all the peripherals which
are connected to the CPU both internal peripherals and external
peripherals.
• Accumulator is used for storing the results and used for further
processing.

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• PIC micro controller supports the RISC architecture that is
reduced instruction set computer
– RISC has very few instructions (approx. ~ 35) which are used in the
program.
– Length of the instruction is small and fixed and takes same amount
of time for processing.
– As the instruction is small it will take less time to process another
words CPU will be fast.
– Compiler need not be complex and debugging will be very easy in
the programmer point of view.

Memory:
• Memory module in the PIC consists of RAM, ROM and STACK

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• RAM: RAM (Random Access Memory) is a volatile memory used
for storing the data temporarily in its registers. RAM memory is
divided in to Banks, in each banks we have number of registers. The
RAM registers is divided into 2 types. They are
• General purpose registers (GPR)
• Special purpose registers (SPR).

• GPR: general purpose registers as the name implies for general usage.
For example if we want to multiply any two numbers using PIC we
generally take two registers for storing the numbers and multiply the
two numbers and store the result in other registers. So general purpose
registers will not have any special function or any special permission,
CPU can easily access the data in the registers.

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SPR:
• Special function registers are having the specific functions, when
we use this register they will act according to the functions
assigned to them. They cannot be used like normal registers.
• For example you cannot use STATUS register for storing the
data, STATUS registers are used for showing the status of the
program or operation.
• User cannot change the function of the Special function register;
the function is given by the vendor at the manufacturing time.

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• ROM: we know that ROM (Read Only memory) is a non volatile
memory used for storing the data permanently. Rom is also called
program memory in this memory user will write the program for
microcontroller and save it permanently and get executed by the CPU.
According to the instruction executed by the CPU the PIC
microcontroller will perform the task.
In ROM there are different types which are used in different PIC
microcontrollers.
– EEPROM: In the normal ROM we can write the program for only
one time we cannot reuse the Microcontroller for another time
where as in the EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable
Read Only Memory) we can program the ROM for number of
times.
– Flash Memory: flash memory is also PROM in which we can read
write and erase the program more than 10,000 times. Mostly PIC
microcontroller uses this type of ROM.

Dr.K.Ragavan, SCOPE, VIT 10

• Stack: when an interrupt occur PIC has to first execute the
interrupt and the existing process address which is being
executed is stored in the stack. After completing the interrupt
execution, PIC will call the process with the help of address
which is stored in stack and get executing the process.

• Bus: Bus is mainly used for transferring and receiving the data
from one peripheral to another. There are two types of buses.
– Data Bus: It is used to transfer/receive only the data.
– Address Bus: is used to transmit the memory address from
peripherals to CPU.
– I/O pins are used for interfacing the external peripherals,
UART and USART is serial communication protocol which is
used for interfacing serial devices like GPS, GSM, IR,
Bluetooth etc.
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Advantages of PIC Microcontroller:
• They are reliable and malfunctioning of PIC percentage is very
less. performance of the PIC is very fast because of using RISC
architecture.
• Power conception is also very less when compared to other micro
controllers. When we see in the programmer point of view
interfacing is very easy, also we can connect analog devices
directly with out any extra circuitry and use them. Programming
is also very easy when compared to other microcontrollers.
Disadvantages of PIC Microcontroller:
• The length of the program will be big because of using RISC (35
instructions).
• Program memory is not accessible and only one single
accumulator is present.

Dr.K.Ragavan, SCOPE, VIT 12