CASE STUDY ON PIC MICROCONTROLLER

TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS

Abstract - As intelligent cores for many dedicated application systems,

microcontrollers found themselves embedded, performing different forms of
control and monitoring. Some of these systems are microwave ovens, washing
machines, automobiles, telephones and different kinds of weapons. PIC
microcontroller (from Microchip) is one of the most popular microcontroller
brands. Hundreds of PICs are available from different families having different
features with some of their datasheets in hundreds of pages too, making it difficult
for a novice or an individual to select one for a particular application.
Furthermore, even professionals need to be abreast of the latest developments in
PIC microcontrollers, as Microchip keeps increasing the functions and
performance of its devices with each successive generation. However, there isn’t
any report on simple documentation attempting to address the aforementioned.
This paper presents the trends in the development of 8-bit PIC microcontrollers
and their applications. It starts with an overview of the PIC microcontroller and
family. New developments in PIC microcontrollers then follows. Finally, PIC
microcontroller applications are highlighted. Microchip offers smooth migration
within its PIC devices making it flexible for design modification and
enhancement.

INTRODUCTION

Since microprocessor conception, microcontroller, “a computer on a chip”

has been a significant development in electronics [1]. It is a special class of
microprocessors [2], principally self-sufficient and low cost in nature [3]. A
microcontroller is conventionally not meant to be utilized as a computing device
(data processing machine), having a high power of computation, large memory
size, or great speed, but instead as an intelligent core for a specialized “dedicated”
system [3]. It contains and not limited to a processor, program and data memory,
input / output ports, and a clock [2]. Figs.1 and 2 gives a generic microcontroller
block diagram and a chipform, respectively. Microcontrollers are found
embedded in most monitoring and control systems. Though some of these
systems are general purpose, they are mostly found in systems that are
application-specific, such as microwave ovens, washing machines, automobiles,
telephones and different kinds of weapons [3]. Among others, PIC
microcontroller (from Microchip) is one of the most popular microcontroller
brands [3]. Hundreds of PICs are available from different families or groups from
Microchip having different features. Meanwhile, some of the datasheets for the
PICs are in hundreds of pages too [14], making it difficult for a novice or an
individual to select a PIC microcontroller for a particular application. Even
professionals need to be abreast of the latest developments in PIC
microcontrollers, as Microchip keeps increasing the functions and performance
of its devices with each successive generation [16]. However, there isn’t any
report on simple documentation attempting to address the aforementioned.
Therefore, this paper presents the trends in PIC microcontroller development and
applications. The remaining sections of this paper manifests an overview of PIC-
microcontroller and families. New developments in PIC microcontrollers then
follows. Finally, PIC microcontrollers’ applications are highlighted. However,
this paper doesn’t cover PIC Microcontroller programming and simulation.
OVERVIEW OF PICMICROCONTROLLER

Though PICmicro, being preferred as the brand name, PIC,

“Programmable Intelligent Computer”, “Peripheral Interface Controller” or
“Programmable Interface Controller” is a microcontroller family from Microchip
Technology. It is based on Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and
Harvard architecture. PIC comes as an 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit device. Moving from
the low-end PICs to the high-end devices, PICs utilizes an instruction set of length
ranging from 35 to 70 above, with the working register (accumulator) taking part
in many of the instructions. PICs are programmed in both low (assembly) and
high (C, BASIC and others) level languages. It is worth mentioning that
Microchip provides a lot of free and low-cost support for PICs’ users on the
company website Microchip has divided PICs into three categories: baseline,
mid-range, and highperformance. Meanwhile, as more families are developed,
this classification tends to lose its prominence. Within each category are different
PICs’ families, classified using the first two digits of each family type. For
instance, the PIC10F200 and PIC12C518 are from PIC10 and PIC12 family of
the baseline category, respectively. However, the sub-categories are not strictly
due to some overlap found between the baseline line and midrange categories as
in 16X designations of PICs. The character (alphabetic) following the first two
digits of a family type indicates the technology used as seen in PIC10F200 and
PIC12C518 (i.e. C for CMOS technology and F for Flash memory technology,
using CMOS as the core technology). While the one after the numbers (e.g., letter
A in PIC16F84A) indicates an upgrade in the technology of the device first
issued, that is from PIC16F84 to PIC16F84A. Details on this classifications are
referred to [2] and [3]. Hence, the next section introduces PIC families.
PIC FAMILY

This section discusses some of the main characteristics of baseline, mid-

range and the highperformance PICs.

Baseline PIC Family

The baseline category includes members from the PIC10, PIC12, and
PIC16 families. Members of this group have 12-bit words (program), pins
packages ranging from 6-40, low power consumption and flash program memory.
This makes them find applications in devices utilizing batteries, such as security
systems and transmitters / receivers (remote).

PIC10 family
Members of this family include 10F200, 10F202, 10F204 and 10F206.
Table 1 gives a summary of PIC10 family characteristics. 10F220 and 10F222
are two other members of this family, featuring 4- I/O pins, 2-ADC channels,
program memory (256-words on 10F220 and 512 on 10F222) and Data memory
(16 bytes on 10F220 and 23 on 10F222).
PIC12 family
PIC12 family members include 12CXXX and 12FXXX series. The
12CXXX series are EPROM/ROM/EEPROM-based CMOS devices, while
12FXXX used flash memory (program). Other members with the flash program
memory are 12F510, 16F506, 12F629 and 12F675. Incorporating ADC in 12F675
differentiated it from 12F629. 12F635/636/639/683 devices feature nanowatt
technology (a special power management characteristic requiring extended
battery life).
Mid-range PIC Family
This category has its members from the PIC12 and PIC16 families.
Members here, featured 14-bit words (program), program-memory (flash or OTP)
and 8-64 pins count. Some other members are interrupts-support, USB, USART,
LCD, A/D converters and I2C. Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of 16F87X
mid-range family.
High-Performance PIC Family
PIC18 family forms the high-performance category of PICs. Members of
this family feature 16-bit words (program) and flash memory (program).
Members of this family includes 18F222, 18F2455, 18F2580, 18F4580 and
18F8622. PIC18 devices have up to 2-MB space of linear memory, interrupts
(both internal and external), facilities for communication (protocol-based) and
“larger” instruction set. Others are equipped with 32 leveldeep stacks, 18-100
pins with 8x8 hardware multiplier. Table 3 summarizes the features of some
members of PIC18 family.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PIC MICROCONTROLLERS
With each new generation, Microchip keeps increasing the performance
and devices functionality, by adding features that enabled embedded system
design simplification. PIC microcontrollers’ new developments include the
enhanced mid-range PICs, J and K series of the PIC18 family (high performance
PICs), PIC16(L)F161X family and PIC16(L)F153XX family.
Enhanced Mid-Range PIC Family
Members of this group include PIC12F1XXX and PIC16F1XXX families
[16]. PICs devices in the enhanced mid-range family are built upon the best
members of the mid-range family. Enhanced mid-range devices features include
50% increase performance, 40% reduction in code size, 8-64 pins, flash Program
Memory (up to 56 KB), data memory (up to 4 KB), enhanced Hardware Stack
(16 Level) with optional RESET Capabilities, automatic interrupt with low power
nanoWatt XLP Technology. Others are additional support for peripherals are
ADCs, comparators (comparators), multiple SPI/I2C, Capture/Compare/PWM,
USART, mTouch “sensing” solutions and capability to drive segmented LCD.
PIC18J and PIC18K families (high performance PICs)
The PIC18 family now has two additional series to the traditional ones: J-
and K. The PIC18 J-series in additional to the traditional features of the PIC18,
offers peripherals for USB, Ethernet, touch sensing, LCD, advanced ADC, low
power performance and 12 MIPS performance. While the PIC18 K-series
additionally offers eXtreme Low Power technology, high endurance Flash
program and data memory and 16 MIPS performance. PIC18 found applications
in industries (e.g. metering, alarm systems), appliance (e.g. refrigerators
controls), medical (e.g. portable medical meters) etc.
PIC16(L)F161X family
Members of this family includes 16(L)F1613, 16(L)F1614, 16(L)F1615,
16(L)F1618 and 16(L)F1619. Devices in this family feature 8- 20 pins, flash
memory (up to 14kb), RAM (1kb), 10-bit ADC (up to 28 channel), DAC (8-bit),
2x Comparators and PWMs (2 x 10-bit). Others are New Core Independent
Peripherals - Angular Timer, Math Accelerator, 2 x High Current I/Os (100 mA),
Peripheral Pin Select (PPS); Feature eXtreme Low Power Technology - Sleep
Current(20nA), Active Current (29uA / MHz). Introduction of the Core
Independent Peripherals features relieves the CPU as work is done in hardware.
PIC16(L)F161X devices find applications in motor control, home appliance,
industrial & automotive, etc.
PIC16(L)F153XX family
PIC16(L)F153XX microcontroller family offers Intelligent Analog, Core
Independent Peripherals (CIPs) and communication peripherals combined with
eXtreme Low-Power (XLP) for a wide range of general purposes and low-power
applications. Others are PWMs, multiple communication, temperature sensor,
memory features (such as Memory Access Partition (MAP) and Device
Information Area (DIA)) and pin count of 8-48. Table 4 summarizes the
characteristics of the PIC16(L)F153XX family.
PIC MICROCONTROLLER APPLICATIONS
PIC Microcontroller applications includes:
i. Medicals: eXtreme low power PICs such as the PIC16(L)F153XX family are
used to effectively designed wearable-fitness and medical devices as these
devices always aimed at achieving highperformance designs with low-power and
cost (http://www.microchip.com). Midrange PICs are also used in achieving
other medical devices such as digital thermometer as seen in [5][6].
ii. Agriculture: PIC microcontrollers are used in digitizing agricultural activities.
PIC based system are automatically used in taking soil data such as temperature
and soil moisture level and then send it to experts for further processing [7][8].
iii. Home automation: PIC microcontrollers serve as hearts of most systems
used in the remote control of electrical home appliances such as TV, fans, heaters,
AC [9][10][11]. Others include Auto‐Switch Power Controller [12] incorporating
countdown timer to prevent energy wastage and fire hazard (electrical). Other
System with PIC as the brain or heart is smoke detector [13].
CONCLUSION
This paper presented the trends in the development of 8-bit PIC
microcontrollers and their applications. Microchip offers smooth migration
within its PIC devices. Being able to migrate easily between various PIC MCUs
allows flexibility to react to changing design requirements and feature
enhancements. Microchip preserved investments in both hardware and software
by maximizing the re-used of PIC microcontrollers for future development. It is
recommended that this research is extended to capture both 16 and 32 bits PIC
microcontrollers.