A Quick Start Guide to PIC16F877 microcontroller And Microchip Development Environment A Quick Start Guide to PIC16F877 microcontroller And Microchip Development Environment De Silva C. R.

About PIC 16F877 Microcontroller A single 40 pin IC that include A Microcontroller Unit (MCU) 8kB of Flash Memory (Program Memory) 384 Bytes of RAM (Data Memory) Several Pheripheral devices that include Digital IO ports Analog to Digital Coverters Serial Communication Ports Programable Timers Interrupt Controller

A Simplified Block Diagram MCU Unit Analog I/O Timer Comm. Data Memory FLASH Program Memory Digital I/O PORT A PORT B PORT D PORT E Multiplexed via PORT A PORT E Complete product documentation available at

Development Tools (software) Microchip MPLAB –An IDE –Built in assembler MPASM –Support 3 rd part tools –Available FOC at HiTech Pic C Compilar –ANSI C Compatible –Run inside MPLAB –60 day evaluation version available at

Development Tools (Hardware) Programmer Debugger In Circuit Emulator Your Design (PIC16F877)

Example Design …. Tracking position of a Joystick PIC16F877 +5v GND Output

Example Design …….. +5v GND Output GND PIC16F877 PortA_1 PortC_0 PortC_1 PortC_2 PortC_3 PortC_4 PortC_5 PortC_6 PortC_7

Program Flowchart …. Setup Ports/ AD converter Start Conversion Complete ? Convert ADC output to LED values Output LED values

Some Useful ideas ….. Data RAM is a limited resource in MCU’s, use them only when needed. Try incorporate most functionality into the resources available in the MCU reducing the component count Wherever possible keep signals and values in digital form. Do not overload outputs Document your programs Neat wiring and good component layout becomes helpful when debugging Always read component datasheets before you use them