11-02-2013, 02:33 PM
PIC Microcontrollers
[attachment=50504]
INTRODUCTION
PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller given by Microchip Technology to identify its single-chip microcontrollers. These devices have been very successful in 8-bit microcontrollers. The main reason is that Microchip Technology has continuously upgraded the device architecture and added needed peripherals to the microcontroller to suit customers' requirements. The architectures of various PIC microcontrollers can be divided as follows.
Low - end PIC Architectures :
Microchip PIC microcontrollers are available in various types. When PIC microcontroller MCU was first available from General Instruments in early 1980's, the microcontroller consisted of a simple processor executing 12-bit wide instructions with basic I/O functions. These devices are known as low-end architectures. They have limited program memory and are meant for applications requiring simple interface functions and small program & data memories. Some of the low-end device numbers are
12C5XX , 16C5X , 16C505
Mid-range PIC Architectures
Mid-range PIC architectures are built by upgrading low-end architectures with more number of peripherals, more number of registers and more data/program memory. Some of the mid-range devices are 16C6X , 16C7X , 16F87X
Program memory type is indicated by an alphabet. C = EPROM , F = Flash , RC = Mask ROM
Popularity of the PIC microcontrollers is due to the following factors.
1. Speed: Harvard Architecture, RISC architecture, 1 instruction cycle = 4 clock cycles.
2. Instruction set simplicity: The instruction set consists of just 35 instructions (as opposed to 111 instructions for 8051).
3. Power-on-reset and brown-out reset. Brown-out-reset means when the power supply goes below a specified voltage (say 4V), it causes PIC to reset; hence malfunction is avoided. A watch dog timer (user programmable) resets the processor if the software/program ever malfunctions and deviates from its normal operation.
4. PIC microcontroller has four optional clock sources.
o Low power crystal
o Mid range crystal
o High range crystal
o RC oscillator (low cost
CPU Architecture:
The CPU uses Harvard architecture with separate Program and Variable (data) memory interface. This facilitates instruction fetch and the operation on data/accessing of variables simultaneously.
PIC Memory Organisation:
PIC microcontroller has 13 bits of program memory address. Hence it can address up to 8k of program memory. The program counter is 13-bit. PIC 16C6X or 16C7X program memory is 2k or 4k. While addressing 2k of program memory, only 11- bits are required. Hence two most significant bits of the program counter are ignored. Similarly, while addressing 4k of memory, 12 bits are required. Hence the MSb of the program counter is ignored.
The program memory map of PIC16C74A is shown in Fig.2. On reset, the program counter is cleared and the program starts at 00H. Here a 'goto' instruction is required that takes the processor to the mainline program.
When a peripheral interrupt, that is enabled, is received, the processor goes to 004H. A suitable branching to the interrupt service routine (ISR) is written at 004H.
PIC Microcontroller Clock
Most of the PIC microcontrollers can operate upto 20MHz. One instructions cycle (machine cycle) consists of four clock cycles.
Instructions that do not require modification of program counter content get executed in one instruction cycle.
Although the architectures of various midrange 8 - bit PIC microcontroller are not the same, the variation is mostly interns of addition of memory and peripherals. We will discuss here the architecture of a standard mid-range PIC microcontroller, 16C74A. Unless mentioned otherwise, the information given here is for a PIC 16C74A microcontroller Chip.
[attachment=50504]
INTRODUCTION
PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller given by Microchip Technology to identify its single-chip microcontrollers. These devices have been very successful in 8-bit microcontrollers. The main reason is that Microchip Technology has continuously upgraded the device architecture and added needed peripherals to the microcontroller to suit customers' requirements. The architectures of various PIC microcontrollers can be divided as follows.
Low - end PIC Architectures :
Microchip PIC microcontrollers are available in various types. When PIC microcontroller MCU was first available from General Instruments in early 1980's, the microcontroller consisted of a simple processor executing 12-bit wide instructions with basic I/O functions. These devices are known as low-end architectures. They have limited program memory and are meant for applications requiring simple interface functions and small program & data memories. Some of the low-end device numbers are
12C5XX , 16C5X , 16C505
Mid-range PIC Architectures
Mid-range PIC architectures are built by upgrading low-end architectures with more number of peripherals, more number of registers and more data/program memory. Some of the mid-range devices are 16C6X , 16C7X , 16F87X
Program memory type is indicated by an alphabet. C = EPROM , F = Flash , RC = Mask ROM
Popularity of the PIC microcontrollers is due to the following factors.
1. Speed: Harvard Architecture, RISC architecture, 1 instruction cycle = 4 clock cycles.
2. Instruction set simplicity: The instruction set consists of just 35 instructions (as opposed to 111 instructions for 8051).
3. Power-on-reset and brown-out reset. Brown-out-reset means when the power supply goes below a specified voltage (say 4V), it causes PIC to reset; hence malfunction is avoided. A watch dog timer (user programmable) resets the processor if the software/program ever malfunctions and deviates from its normal operation.
4. PIC microcontroller has four optional clock sources.
o Low power crystal
o Mid range crystal
o High range crystal
o RC oscillator (low cost
CPU Architecture:
The CPU uses Harvard architecture with separate Program and Variable (data) memory interface. This facilitates instruction fetch and the operation on data/accessing of variables simultaneously.
PIC Memory Organisation:
PIC microcontroller has 13 bits of program memory address. Hence it can address up to 8k of program memory. The program counter is 13-bit. PIC 16C6X or 16C7X program memory is 2k or 4k. While addressing 2k of program memory, only 11- bits are required. Hence two most significant bits of the program counter are ignored. Similarly, while addressing 4k of memory, 12 bits are required. Hence the MSb of the program counter is ignored.
The program memory map of PIC16C74A is shown in Fig.2. On reset, the program counter is cleared and the program starts at 00H. Here a 'goto' instruction is required that takes the processor to the mainline program.
When a peripheral interrupt, that is enabled, is received, the processor goes to 004H. A suitable branching to the interrupt service routine (ISR) is written at 004H.
PIC Microcontroller Clock
Most of the PIC microcontrollers can operate upto 20MHz. One instructions cycle (machine cycle) consists of four clock cycles.
Instructions that do not require modification of program counter content get executed in one instruction cycle.
Although the architectures of various midrange 8 - bit PIC microcontroller are not the same, the variation is mostly interns of addition of memory and peripherals. We will discuss here the architecture of a standard mid-range PIC microcontroller, 16C74A. Unless mentioned otherwise, the information given here is for a PIC 16C74A microcontroller Chip.