Designing with Microcontrollers

Course Description:

Microcontrollers are simply microprocessors that include program and data memory and peripherals such as general-purpose input/output ports, timers, serial communications controllers, analog-to-digital converter, etc.

The course entitled "The Basics of Microcontrollers" discusses the architecture of microcontrollers.  It shows how the central processing unit fetches instructions (or a program) from memory and decomposes the instructions into components that the control unit and the arithmetic logic unit can use to perform the desired operation or function. This course will discuss how to design a simple circuit incorporating a microcontroller with a small footprint, small pin count, and a small amount of internal memory (both program and data memory). Program examples will be given using the C programming language.

The purpose of this course is to describe a portion of the architecture of a simple microcontroller (namely the Atmel ATtiny2313A microcontroller) and to provide simple examples written in the C programming language that use an LED and a pushbutton. The examples utilize the timer circuit and the port registers and incorporate a timer interrupt and an external interrupt.

The Atmel ATtiny2313A microcontroller used for these exercises is packaged in a 20-pin DIP package. It is small compared with other microprocessors available, but there are other smaller devices available. For example the Atmel ATtiny10 is packaged in a 6-pin SOT-23 package, making this device ideal for small projects such as an electronic candle to simulate the flicker of the flame or a child's shoe that has LEDs that light up when he or she walks.

Although the Atmel AVR series of microcontrollers is a great product offering many features with a powerful core, this course is not meant to be an advertisement for the Atmel AVR series of microcontrollers. There are many similar microcontrollers available on the market, such as the Microchip PIC, Texas Instruments MSP430, Intel 8051, STMicroelectronics STM8, Freescale 68HC11, and multiple versions of the ARM core from many vendors.

Microcontrollers today can be designed and programmed to control and monitor almost anything. They have become an integrated part of our society, industry and culture.

Learning Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• What needs to be considered when designing a microcontroller-based system
• The significance of a vector table
• The function of an interrupt controller
• How to access an address in the processer’s memory map
• How to use a timer peripheral
• How to use a timer interrupt
• How to use an external interrupt for a pushbutton event
• The difference between a timer overflow and a timer compare match
• How to configure a port pin as either an input or an output