Microcontroller Projects

16x2 Char LCD with TI MSP430 Launch Pad

2011-12-01T14:16:00.001+05:30

Nokia 1100 LCD Interfacing with Microcontroller

2011-12-01T00:19:00.000+05:30

Displaying content on a normal alphanumeric display is very limited ,we have to be limited with the font size and we can't draw any graphics also. but convention Graphics lcd are really very expensive so here is the solution, you can use Nokia 1100 monochrome LCD to display your large font text and graphics . the reason behind using this LCD is ,it is really very cheap and can be powered with 3 volts supply. so it is really good for battery powered application.

Driver IC on this LCD panel is PCF8814 which even though has I2C protocol support - doesn't use it. Instead it uses simple bit-banging mechanism for communication.

Project Description

however you can use almost any microcontroller (need a little bit extra circuit to work with mcu who doesn't support 3v) do display content on this LCD, may be that micro controller is PIC , AVR or MSP 430 ,8051 but in this demonstration we will be using Microchip PIC 18F458 Microcontroller.

The software program for this project will be written in C with MPLAB IDE , This LCD has a resolution of 96 x 65 pixels

Nokia 1100 LCD Pinout

About LCD:-

Nokia 1100 Graphical LCD uses PCF8814 Controller chip From Philips. It is a chip-on glass(COG) with 9 pin (pin no 9 is not used) connector on the back side of the LCD . You can refer to its datasheet for more information about this controller. (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOADPCF8814 Controller DATA SHEET).we will discuss only few main points here for out project purpose.

This LCD has 96 x 65 pixels , which mapped directly in the ram memory of the LCD, as shown in the figure blow

The typical example of RAM is shown in the figure blow, The vertical axes area addressed form 0 to 8 with eight bits for each address when combining with x axes, it can be represented as bank.

The horizontal axes are addressed form 0 to 83 and each bit will refer the corresponding pixel in X direction.

Addressing Mode

There are two type of addressing mode in this LCD

Vertical addressing Mode

In vertical addressing Mode each write instruction will increment the address in Y direction and then return to starting address

Horizontal addressing

horizal addressing each wire instruction will increment the address of X direction and return to starting address

INSTRUCTION SET OF PCF8814

NOTE :- PLEASE REFER TO DATA SHEET of PCF8814 for more detailed instructions

Serial Communication

A byte is sent to The LCD as follows:-

1:- Set SC to GND

2:- Set SCLK to GND

3:- Put the D/C bit (Data or command) to SDA

4:- Set SCLK to 1

5:- set SCLK to 0

6:- put the data bit to to SDA

7:- set SCLK to 1

8:- Repeat step 5,6 and 7 for the remaining seven bits.

The initialization sequence of LCD

1. Pull CS line to Ground to Enable The LCD.

2 Set RST pin to Low

3. wait For a liitle while ~ 5mS.

4.Set RST pin to high.

5. Write Command 0x20 Byte to LCD on the serial Bus. Write Vop register

6. Write Command 0x90 Byte to LCD on the serial Bus.

7. Write Command 0xA4 Byte to LCD on the serial Bus. all on/normal display

8. Write Command 0x2F Byte To LCD on the serial Bus. Power control set(charge pump on/off)

9. Write Command 0x40 Byte To LCD on the serial Bus. set start row address = 0

10. Write the Command 0xB0 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. set Y-address = 0

11. Write the Command 0x10 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. set X-address, lower 3 bits

12. Write the Command 0x00 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. set X-address, upper 3 bits

14. Write the Command 0xC8 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. mirror Y axis (about X axis)

15. Write the Command 0xA1 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. Invert screen in horizontal axis

16. Write the Command 0xAC Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. set initial row (R0) of the display

17. Write the Command 0x07 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus.

18. Write the Command 0xF9 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus.

19. Write the Command 0xAF Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. display ON/OFF

20:- clear the LCD

21:- Write the Command 0xA7 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. Invert the display

22:-wait for 500 ms

23:-Write the Command 0xA7 Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. Normal the display

clearing the LCD, after initialization pull SCE pin to ground to enable the LCD.Set D/C pin to high to send the data to the LCD. Repeat "write byte 0x00" operation to the LCD for 864 times thi will turn off all the pixels in the LCD.

Assembling the Circuit

The circuit is very easy to understand. but the only precaution which need to be taken care is soldering the wire to the LCD is very complex job.and you can't supply more than 3 volts , please not that 5 volts may blow up the LCD My prototype image shown blow

Software
The software program is written in C with the help of MPLAB and Microchip C18 compiler

Click here to Download the software source code and ready to run firmware

if some body sill have any question please let me know

Begging MSP430 Microcontroller with Launch Pad

2011-11-10T10:01:00.001+05:30

introduction to the TI MSP430 low-power microcontrollers

Overview

The MSP430 is a very clean 16-bit byte-addressed processor with a 64K unified address space, and memory-mapped peripherals. The current family includes a variety of on-chip peripherals, and ranges from a 20-pin package with 1K of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM to 100-pin packages with 60K of ROM and 2K of RAM. Devices with greater RAM and ROM, and additional peripheral blocks are in development.

The MSP430 excels where low power consumption is important. Many applications, such as water meters, are currently achieving more than 10 years operation from a single button cell battery. If low power is not critical, well, the MSP430 is a nice elegant device to use, anyway. It programs very well in C, making assembly language programming unnecessary. There is no memory bank switching to make the compiler's life difficult; it uses normal RAM for its stack; it has a clean 16 bit instruction set. In fact, it is somewhat like an ordinary desktop RISC processor, but requires very little power.

Flashing the two on board led alternately :- the adventure begin

so now without wasting let's start by step 1

Step 1 – Installation of Code composer studio (IDE for TI mcu)

Download and install Code Composer Studio. code composer studio is free up to 16 KB for flash mcu. because all MSP430 value line parts have max 16 KB flash so free version is best for us

Step 2:- Creating the project under CCS (Code composer studio)

Run CCS and you will be prompted where you want to put your workspace. Within one workspace you can have multiple projects so I recommend making a directory where you will keep all your different projects code. I chose to use this directory as default but you don’t have to.

Now click Project-> New CCS project

Now you will see the New CCS Project Dialog box

in this dialog you have to give specify two things

1:- Project name :- project name may be anything you like

2:- Device :- Device is actually nothing but the microcontroller we are using ,, in our project we will be useing MSP430 device family's MSP430G2211 (which is supplied with MSP430 Launchpad).

after selecting all this just click Finish

Now your new project is created , you will see your project as Active in the Project explorer window at the left side of IDE.

in this active project just double click on main.c file , this file will be opened for editing at the center of the screen as shown in the figure blow. actually main.c is the file where you will write all of your source code.

Step 3 – Writing the code

now we will start writing our code in the main.c file under the line //code goes here

There are tow LED on the board Red on PORT1 .0 and Green on PORT1.6

we will flash them alternately

#include <msp430g2211.h>

void main(void)

{

//code goes here

volatile unsigned int i;

P1DIR = 0xFF; //set port p1 as output

P1OUT = 0x00; // set Port p1 as low

P1OUT ^= BIT6; // invert the green led

while(1)

{

P1OUT ^= BIT0; //to invert the led on port P1.0 (Red)

P1OUT ^= BIT6; //to invert the led on port P1.6 (Green)

for(i=0;i<=30000;i++); //to generate some delay

}

your code is ready to go now take your launch pad out of the box

The Launch pad LED

Running the Code :-

to run the code click on the green bug in the tool bar

as shown in the figure blow.

this will take you to debug prospective of the CCS IDE

The Debug Prospective

when you enter debug prospective the ide will automatically load the firmware file to the launch pad

Now just click on the Resume button

now led will start flashing alternately .

you can also execute the instruction step by step by clicking setp into button on the debug toolbar.

view in oscilloscope

Download the source code

click here to download

Domain Changes

2011-11-05T09:26:00.003+05:30

Hi! Friend

i m very happy to inform you ..microembeded.blogspot.com is now

www.circuitvalley.com

Nokia 3315 LCD Based Temperature Meter

2011-11-03T13:59:00.001+05:30

Introduction

This is General purpose Temperature meter for measuring Temperature from -55 ºC to 150 ºC ..It is a very useful bench test equipment for testing and finding out the temperature of various devices with unknown temperature such as room temperature , cpucabinet, etc. The meter provides very stable readings and has excellent input sensitivity thanks to LM 35 Temperature sensor from National Semiconductor , so it can even measure small temperature change.

The LM35 is three terminal temperature sensor which gives output in the form of analog voltage. LM35 linear to the whole temperature range it generate 10 mV/ºC. this analog voltage is feed to the internal 10 bit analog to digital convertor of the PIC 18F458 which convert it into temperature and then display to the NOKIA 3315/3310 LCD.

Circuit / Schematic

The electrical schematic is very simple, given that most of the functions are implemented by the microcontroller. the Temp Sensor is connected to the internal ADC of the PIC18F458 , and The LCD is totally controlled by the PIC18F458 from its internal SPI Peripheral.

Download Firmware and Source Code

Click here to download Firmware and Source code

PIC 18F4550 USB IO (Input / Output) Board with Analog

2011-09-13T22:28:00.003+05:30

USB Interface Board Using PIC18F4550

About PIC18F4550 Input /Output Board

USB Input / Output Board is a quick little development board which replace parallel port . USB IO Board is compatible with Windows computers on HID class which means direct plug like USB mouse or keyboard . When attached to Windows IO board will show up as Found new hardware "Microembeded USB IO" and get installed automatically. You can control 16 individual microcontroller I/O pins by click of a button or entering the hex value of the two 8 bit ports. USB Input / Output Board is self-powered by USB port and can provide up to 500mA for electronic projects. USB IO Board is breadboard compatible. Simply solder included 8-PIN headers on PCB and the board can be plugged into a breadboard for quick prototyping.

These are potential use of USB IO Board

USB Relay Controller (turn ON/OFF lights or appliances in the house)
Control LEDs, toys, electronic gadgets, wireless control, etc
USB LCD Controller
USB Volt / Ampere / Wattage Meter
USB CNC Controller
USB Temperature Meter
USB Humidity Meter
USB Stepper Motor Controller
USB RC Servo Controller

USB IO Board Schematic

Assembling

Pin out

Download PC software, Schematic

Click here to download PC Software , PIC firmware and Schematic

Download Source Code

Click here to download PC Software Source code, & PIC Source code

PC Software:-

PIC hardware Board:-

Installing :-

Found New hardware

HD44780 16x2 Char LCD Interfacing with microcontroller

2011-09-01T00:00:00.007+05:30

An alphanumeric low cost LCD Display is very essential for may small and big projects to Display various type of information. Hitachi HD44780 Chipset based 16x2 char LCD is Really very cheap and easily available in the local market.

Project Description:-

In this project we are going to learn various things about this chip set and displaying text on this LCD. The HD44780 16x2 char LCD screen Use 8bit and 4 bit parallel interface with backlight.

This Primary Objective in this project are:-

1. Displaying "Hello Word!! LCD " message on the scree.
2. Interfacing The LCD to the Microcontroller Using 8bit Mode and 4 Bit Mode.
3. Generating and Displaying Custom Char on the LCD Screen.

Operation

as i have mentioned before this type of lcd are connected to microcontroller using parallel 8bit or 4bit lines.
using 8 bit method is quite simple but take 8 lines (for data or command)+ 3 control signal total 11 line , i guess few small microcontrollers don't even have that much of I/O lines ,so in 4 bit mode total 7 lines (sometimes 6 ) are required . in this tutorial i will show you with both of the methods .

Pin description

PIN NUMBER	SYMBOL	FUNCTION
1	Vss	GND
2	Vdd	+ 3V or + 5V
3	Vo	Contrast Adjustment
4	RS	H/L Register Select Signal
5	R/W	H/L Read/Write Signal
6	E	H → L Enable Signal
7	DB0	H/L Data Bus Line
8	DB1	H/L Data Bus Line
9	DB2	H/L Data Bus Line
10	DB3	H/L Data Bus Line
11	DB4	H/L Data Bus Line
12	DB5	H/L Data Bus Line
13	DB6	H/L Data Bus Line
14	DB7	H/L Data Bus Line
15	A/Vee	+ 3.5V for LED/Negative Voltage Output
16	K	K Power Supply for B/L (OV)

in 8 bit mode all the Data line DB0 to DB7 are being used for transferring the the data to lcd but in 4-bit mode only 4 line form DB4 to DB7 are being used to transfer the 8 bit wide data in two peaces one after another .

we can't display any data on the lcd until all the required internal command register of the lcd are not being properly initialized.
to know every thing about this lcd controller .. you can go through it's data sheet
click here to download HD44780 data sheet
so now we will learn how to initialize the lcd.

LCD Commands

Clear Display

clear and place the cursor in the first position (address 0). The bit I / D to 1 by default.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

Return the cursor to Home

Place the cursor in the home position (address 0) and make the display starts to move from its original position. The contents of the RAM display data (DD RAM) remains unchanged. The address of the RAM for display data (DD RAM) is set to 0.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	X

Entry Mode in Set

Set cursor moving direction and specify that the display moves to the next position of the screen or not. These operations are performed during reading or writing of the DD RAM or CG RAM. To view usually set bit S = 0.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	I / D	S

Display ON / OFF Control

Turn on or off by turning ON / OFF both the LCD (D) as the cursor (C) and whether or not this last flash (B).

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	0	0	0	1	D	C	B

Cursor or Display Shift

Move the cursor to move the LCD without changing the memory contents of the display data DD RAM.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	0	0	1	S / C	R / L	X	X

Function Set

Set the size of interface with the data bus (DL), number of lines in the LCD (N) and character type (F).

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	0	1	DL	N	F	X	X

Set the CG RAM Address

The LCD module defined in addition to all the ASCII character set allows the user to define 4 or 8 characters. The composition of these characters is saved to a CG RAM memory called up to 64 bytes. Each user defined character consists of 16 or 8 bytes that are stored in successive positions of the CG RAM.

Using this instruction sets the CG RAM memory address from which the bytes will be stored that define a character. Running this command all the data that is subsequently read or write this memory made from CG RAM.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	0	1	CG RAM Address

Set the DD RAM Address

The characters or data to be displayed is stored in a memory called RAM DD then move on to the screen.

Using this instruction sets the address of DD RAM memory from which data will be stored to be displayed. Running this command all data being written to or read then they will from the DD RAM memory.

8Fh addresses 80h to 16 characters correspond to the first row and addresses C0h to CFH to 16 characters of the second row, for this model LCD.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	0	1	DD RAM Address

Read Busy Flag and Address

E l LCD module takes some time to execute instructions, at which time you should not send another instruction. This flag has a BUSY (busy) indicating that an instruction is being executed.

This reading instruction reports the status of the flag as well as providing the address counter value of the CG RAM or DD RAM according to the latest that has been used.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
0	1	BF	Address DD RAM or CG RAM

Write data to CG or DD RAM

Command to write to DD RAM memory the data to be presented on the screen in ASCII code.

Also written to CG RAM memory bytes to generate user-defined characters.

Previously DD RAM memory addresses or CG RAM memory where you want to write data.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
1	0	Byte ASCII character or graphic

Read Data from CG RAM or DD RAM

Command to read data stored in DD RAM, ASCII code.

Likewise, read CG RAM memory bytes of user-defined characters.

Previously, memory addresses or memory DD RAM CG RAM you want to read the data.

RS	R / W	DB7	DB6	DB5	DB4	DB3	DB2	DB1	DB0
1	1	Byte ASCII character or graphic

Diagrama de Conexión: Connection Diagram

Simulation ( only if you don't want to test this on the real harware);-

click here to download isis simulation model

DOWNLOAD SOURCE CODE and Firmware

click here to download: ---- 4 bit mode

Nokia 3315 LCD interfacing with Microcontroller

2011-08-31T23:27:00.006+05:30

Displaying content on a normal alphanumeric display is very limited ,we have to be limited with the font size and we can't draw any graphics also. but convention Graphics lcd are really very expensive so here is the solution, you can use Nokia 3315 monochrome LCD to display your large font text and graphics . the reason behind using this LCD is ,it is really very cheap and can be powered with 3 volts supply. so it is really good for battery powered application.

Project Description

however you can use almost any microcontroller (with capability to work on 3v ) do display content on this LCD, may be that micro controller is PIC , AVR or MSP 430 , but in this demonstration we will be using Microchip PIC 18F458 Microcontroller.

The software program for this project will be written in C with MPLAB IDE , This LCD has a resolution of 84x48 pixel.

Circuit Description

Circuit Diagram of Nokia 3315/3310 interface with micro controller

Nokia: 3310/3315 LCD

About LCD:-

Nokia 3315 / 3310 Graphical LCD uses PCD8544 Controller chip From Philips. It is a chip-on glass(COG) with 8 pin connector on the back side of the LCD . You can refer to its datasheet for more information about this controller. (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PCD8544 Controller DATA SHEET).we will discuss only few main points here for out project purpose.

This LCD has 84x48 pixels , which mapped directly in the ram memory of the LCD, as shown in the figure blow

The typical example of RAM is shown in the figure blow, The vertical axes area addressed form 0 to 5 with eight bits for each address when combining with x axes, it can be represented as bank.

The horizontal axes are addressed form 0 to 83 and each bit will refer the corresponding pixel in X direction.

Addressing Mode
There are two type of addressing mode in this LCD
Vertical addressing Mode

In vertical addressing Mode each write instruction will increment the address in Y direction and then return to starting address
Horizontal addressing

horizal addressing each wire instruction will increment the address of X direction and return to starting address

INSTRUCTION SET OF PCD8544

Serial Communication

The interface basically a serial peripheral interface (SPI). Serial bus protocol fro transmission of one byte is shown in figure blow

A byte is sent to The LCD as follows:-
1:- Set SCE To GND
2.Set D/C to required state (Data or command)
3.Place a bit in SDIN line
4. Make high-to-low transition in CLK input.
5.Repeat step 3 and 4 for the remaining seven bits.

The initialization sequence of LCD

1. Pull SCE line to Ground to Enable The LCD.
2 Set D/C pin low to send commands to the LCD.
3. Write 0x21 Byte to LCD on the serial Bus. Here the LCD operates in Function set Command For extended instruction set.
4. Write 0xC8 Byte to LCD on the serial Bus. This set the operating voltage (Vop) of the LCD.
5. Write 0x06 Byte to LCD on the serial Bus. This set the temperature coeffcient.
6. Write 0x13 Byte To LCD on the serial Bus. This set the bias system of the LCD.
7. Write 0x20 Byte To LCD on the serial Bus. This allow the LCD to operate in function set command with basic instruction.
8. Write the 0x0C Byte to LCD on tee serial Bus. This set the display in normal mode.

The lcd initialization routine
void lcdInit()
{
   SCE=0;
      DC=0;
      spi(0x21);
      spi(0xC8);
       spi(0x06);
      spi(0x13);
       spi(0x20);
   spi(0x0C);
}

clearing the LCD, after initialization pull SCE pin to ground to enable the LCD.Set D/C pin to high to send the data to the LCD. Repeat "write byte 0x00" operation to the LCD for 504 times (i.e. 54x48/8) thi will turn off all the pixels in the LCD.

Turn on all the pixels on the LCD, Pull SCE pin to ground to enable the LCD. Set DC pin to high to send the data to LCD. Repeat "write byte 0xFF" operation to the LCD. Repeat to LCD for 504 times. This will Turn on all the pixels in the LCD.

Display Character in LCD. the lookup table 'FONTLOOKUP' for the ASCII characters is included in the program. Pull the SCE pin to ground to enable the LCD. SEC DC pin to high to send the data to LCD write five bytes from 'FONTLOKUP[X][Y] to the LCD.This will turn on the pixels for the ASCII character in the LCD.

Nokia 3315 LCD utilization logic analyzer view

Nokia 3315 LCD utilization logic analyzer view

The following function are being used in the example program
spi :- routine to wire the data to the LCD (using SPI module in PIC 18F)
lcdStr :- Routine to write a string to the LCD
lcdDec:- Routine to write the digit to the LCD
lcdDir :- Routine to write directly form the lookup table
gotoXy :- Routine to set X,Y points in LCD
delayMs :- Routine for ms delay.

Assembling the Circuit
The circuit is very easy to understand. but the only precaution which need to be taken care is soldering the wire to the LCD is very complex job.and you can't supply more than 3 volts , please not that 5 volts may blow up the LCD My prototype image shown blow.

You can also use general purpose pcb to hold the lcd and have a burg strip on the back with a LED for back light .

Very Accurate LC inductance /Capacitance Meter

2011-08-31T23:07:00.005+05:30

About The Project

This is very accurate home made LC inductance/capacitance meter built with very common components which are very easy to find all around . The range of this LC Meter is extremely good at measuring very low value of capacitance and inductance.

LC Meter's Inductance Measurement Ranges:
- 10nH - 1000nH
- 1uH - 1000uH
- 1mH - 100mH

LC Meter's Capacitance Measurement Ranges:
- 0.1pF - 1000pF
- 1nF - 900nF

it auto calibrate when power up , so there is no chances of human error in calibration. we can also re calibrate at any instance of time by pressing the reset button.this meter is completely auto range.

Components.

No particularly accurate components are required, except for one (or more) accurately known "external" capacitors used to calibrate the meter.
The two 1000pF capacitors should be fairly good quality. Polystyrene are preferred. MKT are fine. Greencaps tend to drift in value too much. Avoid ceramic capacitors. Some of these can have high losses (and it is hard to tell).
The two 10uF capacitors in the oscillator should be tantalum (for low series resistance/inductance).
The 4MHz crystal should be a genuine 4.000MHz one, not something approximate to 4MHz. Every 1% error in crystal frequency adds 2% error to the indicated inductance value.
The relay should be a low current one. The PIC can only provide about 30mA of drive current.
Don't forget the "catch" diode across the relay coil!

PCB Design

Download the Firmware and schematic

Click here to download

REMOTE CONTROLLED LAND ROVER without Microcontroller

2011-08-31T22:55:00.006+05:30

Robotics is a fascinating subject— more so, if you have to fabricate a robot yourself. The field of robotics encompasses a number of engineering disciplines such as electronics (including electrical), structural, pneumatics and mechanical. The structural part involves use of frames, beams, linkages, axles, etc. The mechanical parts/accessories comprise various types of gears (spurs, crowns, bevels, worms and differential gear systems), pulleys and belts, drive systems (differentials, castors, wheels and steering), etc. Pneumatics plays a vital role in generating specific pushing and pulling movements such as those simulating arms or leg movements. Pneumatic grippers are also used with advantage in robotics because of their simplicity and cost-effectiveness. The electrical items include DC and stepper motors, actuators, electrical grips, clutches and their control. The electronics part involves remote control, sensors (touch sensor, right sensor, collision sensor, etc), their interface circuitry and a microcontroller for overall control function.

Project overview

What we present here is an elementary robotic land rover that can be controlled remotely using primarily the RF mode. The RF remote control has the advantage of adequate range (up to 200 metres with proper antennae) besides being omnidirectional. On the other hand, an IR remote would function over a limited range of about 5 metres and the remote transmitter has to be oriented towards the receiver module quite precisely. However, the cost involved in using RF modules is much higher than of IR components and as such, we have included the replacement alternative of RF modules with their IR counterparts for using the IR remote control. The proposed land rover can move in forward and reverse directions. You would also be able to steer it towards left and right directions. While being turned to left or right, the corresponding blinking LEDs would blink to indicate the direction of its turning. Similarly,during reverse movement, reversing LEDs would be lit. Front and rear bumpers are provided using long operating lever of micro switches to switch off the drive motors during any collision. The decoder being used for the project has latched outputs and as such you do not have to keep the buttons on remote control pressed for more than a few milliseconds. This helps prolong the battery life for remote. The entire project is split into sections and each section is explained in sufficient detail to enable you not only to fabricate the present design but also exploit these principles for evolving your own design with added functions/ features.

Forward and reverse movement. To keep our design as simple as possible, we have coupled a 30-rpm geared 6V DC motor to the left front wheel and another identical motor to the right front wheel. Both these front motors are mounted side-by-side facing in opposite directions. Wheel rims (5cm diameter) along with rubber wheels are directly coupled to each of the motor shafts. This arrangement does not require separate axles.

During forward (or reverse) movement of the vehicle, the two wheel shafts, as viewed from the motor ends, would move in opposite directions (one clockwise and the other anticlockwise). For reversing the direction (forward and backward), you simply have to reverse the DC supply polarity of the two motors driving the respective wheels.

Steering control. There are different methods available for steering a robotic vehicle. The commonly used ones are:
1. Front wheels are used for steering, while rear wheels are used for driving; e.g., in tractors.
2. Front wheels are used for steering as well as driving; e.g., in most light vehicles. In these vehicles (such as cars), the front wheels are coupled using a differential gear arrangement. It comes into play only when one wheel needs to rotate differentially with respect to its counterpart. When the car is moving in a straight line, the differential gears do not rotate with respect to their axes. However, whenthe car negotiates a turn, the differential allows the two wheels to rotate differentially with respect to each other.
3. All the four wheels are used for driving as well as steering. Examples are Kyosho (USA) 4-wheel drive/4- wheel steering electric powered monster truck chassis. 4. Single front wheel is used for driving as well as steering; e.g., in a tricycle.
5. Two driving wheels that are independently controlled to turn; e.g., in a tank.

In our project, to keep the things simple, we have used Method-5 with some modification. For the rear wheels, we have made use of a single 5cm dia. plastic castor wheel, entical to the ones used in revolving chairs. Such a wheel turns by 180° when you try to reverse the direction of the vehicle’s motion. This way the movement of the rover becomes stable in both the forward and reverse directions. The steer ing (clockwise or anticlockwise) motion is achieved by driving only one wheel at a time. To turn the vehicle towards left (as perceived by the driver) we energise only the righthand- side motor, and to turn it towards right we energise only the lefthand- side motor during turning. Drive circuit for the motors. Here is a typical circuit for driving one of the motors, in forward or reverse direction, coupled to, say, the left-hand front wheel. Simultaneously, the righthand motor has to rotate in the reverse direction (w.r.t the left-hand motor) for moving the vehicle in the same direction. It means that input terminals of the motor drive circuit for the righthand motor have to be fed with reverse- polarity control signals compared to those of the left-hand motor drive circuit. In the H-bridge motor drive circuit (see Fig. 2) when A1 input is made high and A2 is made low, transistor T1 (npn) is forward biased and driven into saturation, while transistor T2 (pnp), being reverse-biased, is cut-off. This extends the battery’s positive rail to terminal-1 of the motor.Simultaneously, with input A2 at ground potential, transistor T3 (npn) is cut-off, while T4 (pnp) is forward biased and driven into saturation. This results in ground being extended to terminal-2 of the motor. Thus the motor rotates in one direction. Now, if the two inputs are logically complemented, the motor will run in the opposite direction. When both the inputs are at the same logic level (Gnd or Vcc), the motor is at rest. Thus we can control the movement (forward, reverse and stop) as well as the direction of rotation of the motor with the help of logic level of the two control input signals to the motor.

PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Microchip SPI Basics Tutorial For PIC18

2011-08-31T09:14:00.028+05:30

Introduction

The Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) is one of the popular embedded serial communications widely supported by many of today’s chip manufacture and it considered as one of the fastest serial data transfer interface for the embedded system. Because of its special in/out register configuration, the SPI master device could transfer its data and at the same time it receive a data from the SPI slave device with the clock speed as high as 10 MHz. Beside its superior data transfer speed; SPI also use a very simple data transfer protocol compared to the other serial data transfer methods. When the SPI master device want to send the data to the SPI slave device then the SPI master will just simply shifting its own data through a special 8-bits register and at the same time the SPI master will receive the data from the SPI slave into the same register as shown on this following picture.

With this circular shift register connection between the SPI master and the SPI slave devices, the complete data transfer from both devices will be accomplished in just 8 clock cycles. This means the SPI devices only need about 0.8 us to complete transfer the 8-bit data if we use 10 MHz clock. One of the drawbacks using the SPI especially when we use multiple SPI slave device is the SPI slave could not initiate sending its own data to the SPI master device, all the data transfer initiation is always come from the SPI master. The SPI master device has to poll each of the SPI slave devices to know whether the SPI slave device has a data to be sent to the SPI master device or not.

Polling the entire SPI slave devices will eventually consumed the SPI master resources when the SPI slave devices to be polled increase, therefore some of the SPI slave device is equipped with the interrupt pin to notify the SPI master device that it has a data to be read.

The PIC18F458 Microcontroller

On this tutorial I will use the Microchip PIC18F458 microcontroller, this microcontroller is one of my favorite 8-bit 40-pins PIC18 microcontroller families members as it is equipped with sophisticated advanced peripheral inside such as ADC, USART, ECCP (Enhanced Capture/Compare/PWM), SPI, I2C . With 32K bytes flash ram and equipped with the build in circuit debug, this 8-bit 20-pins microcontroller is a perfect choice for serious embedded application or just for hobbyist’s project.

The PIC18F458 microcontroller SPI peripheral support both master and slave mode but on this tutorial we will only exposing the PIC18F458 SPI master mode.we will be using 74LS395 shift register ic To expand the serial bit into parallel configuration.

As 74LS395 is only 4 bit shift register so we will be able to see only four Least Significant bits. you can use 74LS595 to display all 8 bits if you want to, but for now we will be working with 74LS395 4 bit shift register.

74LS395 Pin Configuration And Function Table

Hardware Connection

Programming The PIC:-

SOFTWARE CODE SPI TEST .C

#pragma config OSC = HS, OSCS = OFF
#pragma config PWRT= OFF , BOR=ON, BORV = 45
#pragma config WDT = OFF
#pragma config DEBUG = OFF ,LVP =OFF , STVR =OFF // CONFIGURATION BIT SETTING

#include <p18f458.h>

void spi(unsigned char); //SPI Function To send the data

void delayMs(int x); // to generate some delay

void main() // main program starts here
{
SSPSTAT =0x40; // Configure SSPSTAT for transmission occur from idle to active clock and Buffer flag =0

SSPCON1=0x22; //Configure SSPCON1 for ENABLE SERIAL PORT
// and disable general I/O pin ,, SPI master clock= Fosc/64

TRISC=0; //Configure PORT C as output ,,
// we are only sending the data so we do't need to set SPI pin as input

while(1) // loop for ever so that led keep repeating that pattern
{
spi(0x01); // send 01 hex to the SPI port it will glow the first led

delayMs(1000); // wait for approximate 1sec ,
//if we do't give the delay then led will flash too fast that
// we can't even know when it glow and when it off

spi(0x02); //send 02 hex to the SPI port it will glow the send led ,
//if you want to glow both led same time send 03 hex and so on

delayMs(1000); // wait for 1 sec
}

}

void spi(unsigned char myData)
{
SSPBUF = myData; // put the data in the SSPBUF register which going to be send

while(!SSPSTATbits.BF); // wait until the all bits sended
}

void delayMs(int x) // a general delay function
{
int i;
for (x ;x>0;x--)
{
for (i=0;i<=110;i++);
}
}

DOWNLOAD MPLAB PROJECT , Source Code and Firmware

How to Decide SSPSTAT and SSPCON1 register value

60 Mhz Frequency Meter / counter

2011-07-18T23:47:00.015+05:30

Introduction

This is 60 MHz frequency meter / counter for measuring frequency from 10 Hz to 60 MHz with 10 Hz resolution.It is a very useful bench test equipment for testing and finding out the frequency of various devices with unknown frequency such as oscillators, radio receivers, transmitters, function generators, crystals, etc. The meter provides very stable readings and has excellent input sensitivity thanks to on board amplifier and TTL converter, so it can even measure weak signals from crystal oscillators. With the addition of prescaller it is possible to measure the frequency of 1GHz and above.

The basic idea comes from the AN592 Microchip application note: "Frequency counter using PIC16C5x" where you may find a simple software wich implements a frequency counter using a PIC microcontroller.I wrote a specifically designed software to improve the counter resolution, to handle the IF mode and value by means of an operating menu, to decode and edit the read frequency on an LCD display. The result was a simple and effective device.

Circuit / Schematic

The electrical schematic is very simple, given that most of the functions are implemented by the microprocessor. It was needed only an amplifier stage to raise the input signal level from 200-300 mV p.p. to about 3 volts p.p. A self biased common emitter amplifier produces a pseudo-TTL driving signal. The 10uH inductor in the collector lead helps extend the high frequency response. Any "fast" NPN transistor should be suitable. I used a BFR91, but you may substitute a transistor scrounged from an old TV tuner or a VHF receiver.

BFR 91 Transistor Front

The amplifier's quiescent Vce is set to 1.8 to 2.2 volt by the resistor marked * on the diagram. It is nominally 10K, but you may need to change it. The collector voltage is applied to the PIC's counter/timer via a series 470 ohm resistor.The PIC is able to short this signal to ground via an internal pull-down transistor to disable counting.

The PIC implements a 32 bit counter, partly in internal hardware and partly in software. Counting is enabled by turning off the internal pull-down transistor for "exactly" 0.4 second. At the end of this time, the PIC divides the count by 4, then adds or subtracts the appropriate IF frequency to get the actual frequency. The resulting count is converted to printable characters and delivered

to the display.

PCB Design

Download Firmware and schematic

Click here to download

Calibrating : before use

Before the frequency meter will work properly, it must be calibrated. This may be as simple as connecting a known frequency source and adjusting the trimmer capacitor so the correct value is displayed. If you are unable to adjust the displayed frequency, then a "coarse calibration" is required. This involves starting with the power off. Pin 10 is connected to ground and the power is then turned on (and held on). The PIC will measure and display the input frequency, followed by the letters CAL. If you can't adjust the indicated frequency to the correct value (by adjusting the 33 pF trimmer), then coarse adjustments can be made by briefly connecting pin 12 or pin 13 to ground. It may take several tries, because the program only checks these pins once each measurement (0.4 second). Once you are happy with the adjustment, remove the ground from pin 10 (while power is still applied). This will cause the PIC to store the calibration in non volatile internal memory.

if you feel like an question just make a comment

Two-Channel PC Based Oscilloscope USB

2011-07-17T17:45:00.027+05:30

Inroduction

More and more experiments are now ‘PC-assisted.’ Also conventional acquisition systems are very expensive. Since portable PCs are today common and a USB link is a better solutionhere we present an oscilloscope using USB port of the PC that operates at up to 10 kHz with ±16V input voltage. It has much more improved features than the PC-based oscilloscope . The oscilloscope uses IC PIC18F2550 from Microchip as the main controller, which makes the oscilloscope compact as there is no need of additional power supply for the entire circuit board.

Circuit description

At the heart of this oscilloscope is USB2.0-compliant microcontroller PIC18F2550 from Microchip. You can also use IC18F2445 in place of PIC18F2550. Specifications of this microcontroller are:-

Features of 18F2550

Programming

1. Up to 32 kB of flash memory, 2kB RAM and 256-byte EEPROM

2. Extended instruction set (optimised for ‘C’ compiler)

3. 8x8 single-cycle multiplier

4. Single-supply serial programming and easy debugging

USB transceiver

1. USB1.1 and 2.0 from 1.5 MB/s to 12 MB/s

2. Isochronous, bulk and interrupt transfer modes

3. 1 kB of access RAM usable with 32 endpoints (64 bytes each)

Multiple oscillator and power modes

1. From internal 31 kHz to external 48 MHz with PLL

2. Possible software switching between ‘run,’ ‘idle’ and sleep

modes. In sleep mode, current is down to 0.1 μA.

3. Wide operating voltage range (2.0V to 5.5V). Useful for battery

operations.

Complete set of classical peripherals

1. Several input/output (I/O) ports, four timers with capture/

compares

2. Synchronous and asynchronous enhanced modules

3. Streaming parallel port

4. 10-bit ADC module with up to 13-channel multiplexer.

This microcontroller has a USB2.0-compliant transceiver and a CPU running up to 12 MIPS.

avobe figrue shows the circuit of the two-channel PC-based oscilloscope. MCP6S91 from Microchip Technology is an analogue programmable gain amplifier that is well suited to driving analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) and an analogue input to a PIC microcontroller. Two MCP6S91 programmable gain amplifiers (IC4 and IC5) make it possible to choose the input ranges for each of the two channels, by selecting a gain from 1:1 to 32:1. The amplifiers are small, cheap and easy to use. A simple three-wire serial peripheral interface (SPI) allows the PIC to control them through pins 5, 6 and 7.

The MCP6S91 amplifier is designed with CMOS input devices. It is designed to not exhibit phase inversion when the input pins exceed the supply voltages. The maximum voltage that can be applied to the input pin is –0.3V (VSS) to +0.3V (VDD). Input voltages that exceed this absolute maximum rating can cause excessive current into or out of the input pins. Current beyond ±2 mA can cause reliability problems. Applications that exceed this rating must be externally limited with a resistor to the input pin.(pin 3), which is an analogue input, should be at a voltage between VSS and VDD. The voltage at this pin shifts the output voltage. The SPI interface inputs are chip-select (CS), serial input (SI) and serial clock (SCK). These are Schmitt-triggered, CMOS logic inputs.

The only disadvantage is that these amplifiers accept only positive signals. That’s why voltage-shifting amplifiers LF353 (IC2A and IC3A) are used,one each for each channel input (see Fig. 1). The LF353 is a JFET input operational amplifier with an internally compensated input offset voltage. The JFET input device provides wide bandwidth, low input bias currents and offset currents. This voltage-shifting amplifier results in a high input impedance and an attenuation factor of 1:4.5. A ±16V input signal is then shifted to the0-5V range when the programmed gain is 1:1.

Two halves of the LF353 (IC2B and IC3B) are used as voltage followers to provide a low-impedance shifting voltage (Vref) to the programmable amplifiers. This voltage must be precisely adjusted with two 4.7-kiloohm presets to measure precisely 2.5V level on the inputs of IC2 and IC3 when the input signals are grounded.

Because LF353 opamps need a symmetrical supply voltage, a small DC-DC voltage converter ICL7660 (IC1) is used to feed –5V to LF353. With its small 8-pin DIP package, it needs only two polarised capacitors. ICL7660 can be replaced with a MAX1044. The MAX1044 and ICL7660 are monolithic, CMOS switched-capacitor voltage converters that invert, double, divide or multiply a positive input voltage.These are pin compatible with the industry-standard LTC1044

Overview of the universal serial bus

All the data is transmitted on the D+/D- symmetrical pins using a variable bit rate. The position of a resistor (R13) on D+ or D- allows you to choose between the full-speed (12 Mbps) and lowspeed modes (1.5 Mbps). Note that the IC18F2550/2455 devices have built-in pull-up resistors designed to meet the requirements of low-speed and fullspeed speed USB. The UPUEN bit (UCFG=4) enables the internal pull-ups. In this project, R13 is not used. External pullup may also be used. The VUSB pin may be used to pull up D+ or D-. The pull-up resistor must be 1.5 kilo-ohms (±5%) as required by the USB specification

The PIC software

The program for the microcontroller is written in ‘C’ language. MPLAB 8.70 along with MPLAB_C18 is used as the software tool for development. The software tools can be downloaded for free from website ‘www.microchip.com.’ Based on Microchip’s application notes, the program for the chip is centered on a main loop continually polling the USB transceiver state. This loop never stops and each USB operation is done in one pass. All operations are initiated by the host (the PC), which ends a 16-byte command
The first command byte determines the chip actions. The four possible actions are:
1. Command 80h: Clears the EEPROM calibration memory
2. Command 81h: Receives parameters, and stores the gain-error compensation for the two channels.
3. Command 83h: Initiates a zero calibration sequence of the two chan The first command byte determines the chip actions. The four possible actions are:
4. Command 80h: Clears the EEPROM calibration memory
5. Command 81h: Receives parameters, and stores the gain-error compensation for the two channels.
6. Command 83h: Initiates a zero calibration sequence of the two channel.

Installation of the USB driver.
1. If everything is fine, plug the oscilloscope with a USB cable to your PC (running Windows 98SE or higher version). A “new hardware detected–USB2-MiniOscilloscope” dialogue box must immediately appear on the screen.
NOTE:- The driver for this oscilloscope is not for windows 7 or vista.

2. Now you can start the driver installation process. To download drive click here . The goal is to select a good driver (mchpusb.inf) by choosing the ‘specific location’ option. Don’t let Windows take a generic driver by default.

3.When you are done with installation, go to ‘device manager’ and check whether ‘USB2-MiniOscilloscope’ is under ‘other device’ in ‘view devices by type' option. Otherwise, repeat Steps 1 and 2.

User interface program and operations.
A user-interface software written in Visual Basic 6, called ‘OscilloPIC,’. You can download this sofware click here to download Run the set up program , This will automatically install the ‘OscilloPIC’ user-interface program.

application program looks like a small digital oscilloscope as shown in the screenshot below. Various settings for operations are given in the following menu bars:
1. Inputs: Selects the active channels
2. Sampling: Sets time-base and number of samples
3. Trigger: Sets the triggering condition
4. Cursors: Selects horizontal or vertical cursor positions
5. Num: Shows numerical sampled values, with an export command (text file format)
6. Config: Configures gain and offset errors

Calibration is to be done as described below before reading the output signals on the monitor screen by clicking ‘channels calibration’ under ‘config’ menu bar. Feed the input waveforms (say, sine, rectangular, sawtooth, etc) from the source. Click ‘go’ button. The output waveform will be displayed on the monitor screen. Channel-1 and channel-2 output waveforms can be differentiated by screen and red lines, respectively. By default, the time base is 200 μs per division and amplitude is 4V per division. You can set these parameters as per your requirements.

Test and calibration

The first step is to adjust the zero offset error. Connect the two analogue inputs to the ground level and tune the two 4.7- kilo-ohm presets until pin 2 of both MCP6S21 is at 2.5V. A more precise tuning can be achieved through ‘OscilloPIC’
software. Choose the smallest calibration value at ±0.5V for both the inputs.

The ‘zero calibration’ command tells the PIC to start its own internal compensation for all calibrations. Don’t forget to connect the inputs to the ground while calibrating.

The second parameter to check is the gain error. By clicking the ‘gain calibration’ command, it’s possible to specify a small correction factor. This can be done after several measurements. You have to know the actual levels sine and triangular waveforms and the measured levels (with the cursors) for the two channels. The gain error is less than 0.1 per cent. The number of samples can be set between ‘10’ and ‘500.’ The minimum sampling 10 μs for two channels.

Construction
assembly on a bread board.

An actual-size, single-side PCB layout for the two-channel PC-based USB oscilloscope circuit is shown in Figure and its component layout . Since the circuit is compact, the construction is easy.

It is advised to use IC bases for mounting IC1 through IC7 on the PCB for easy troubleshooting. The USB connector (CON1) must be firmly soldered and fixed on the board. It is located on the extreme right of the board (refer Figure.).

Two BNC connectors can be used for the input signals for channels ‘1’and ‘2,’ respectively. The connectors can be fixed on the front panel of the enclosure. The performance of the oscilloscope can be improved by changing the PIC and its ADC with a faster model. AD9238 (20 MS/s) is a good choice. This fast, parallel ADC converter could be used with a powerful DSP PIC.

DOWNLOAD Firmware and PC Software:-

Click here to Download PIC Firmware
Click here to Download PC Software and Driver
Click here to Download PCB File

NOTE:- PCB file optimized for home made process That's why thread are so thick, if you want to PCB manufacture by professional the you can reduce the size further

if somebody has any problem the please make a comment

Pickit 2 clone The Universal Microchip PIC Programmer /Debugger

2011-07-17T15:48:00.008+05:30

About The programmer

The PICkit™ 2 Programmer/Debugger is a low-cost development tool with an easy to use interface for programming and debugging Microchip’s Flash families of microcontrollers. The full featured Windows programming interface supports baseline, mid-range, PIC18,8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit microcontrollers, and many Microchip Serial EEPROM products. With Microchip’s powerful MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE) the PICkit 2 enables in circuit debugging on most PIC microcontrollers. In-Circuit-Debugging runs, halts and single steps the program while the PIC microcontroller is embedded in the application. When halted at a breakpoint, the file registers can be examined and modified.

Features
1. This device will work like the normal pickit2.
2. This wll work for any pic (5 and 3.3V devices)
3. No mosfets no complex, only one voltage boost circuit.
4. you can program the target without PC.

Simple Steps to made This programmer

Step 1:-

Download:Firmware and circuit
The following packages include circuit and firmware.
Firmware is the software which going to be burn into programmer's microcontroller, this firmware have code to enable the programmer to communicate with pc via usb and target microcontroller.
Click This link to dwonload the Firware and circuit

Pickit 2 clone files
you can also download the firmware form the microchip web site.
Please refer to Readme.txt and pickit 2 user manual for details on building, installing and using Pickit 2.

Schematic Pickit 2 clone

Step 2:-

Buy The parts You need

click here to download complete part list

you can skip IC3 and IC4 if you do not want the feature of programming without PC.
these two eeprom chip are to store the code to be written on the target mcu without pc.

Step 3:-

PCB and Part Soldering:-

You can create your own pcb using any PCB editor like eagle, OR you can solder the circuit a general purpose pcb, You Can also Use PCB created By me Click here to dwonalod my pcb design.

components

Bottom layer

Jumper

Step 4:-

Getting The PIC 18F2550 Microcontroller Ready To be used as a programmer:-

Getting the PIC 18F2550 microcontroller ready to be inserted into the newly soldered pcb ,and start working. you have to burn the firmware which you just downloaded in the Step 1 into the PIC 18F2550 microcontroller. you can use the serial PIC programmer to get this job done.click here to know about how to make a serial PIC progammer and how to program the PIC 18F2550 by using a serial avr programmer.

Step 5:-

Driver installation on a PC:-

At the first time when you connect your programmer to the pc your programmer will be dected as Pickit 2 programmer and you may have to provide a proper path for drivers to be installed.

Step 6:-

Programming the other microcontrollers:-

To program other target mcu you can use the pickit 2 software or you can use MPLAB IDE

you can use this pickit 2 clone as debugger with MPLAB IDE

To download PICKIT 2 Software click here to go to Mircohip web site.

To dwonload MPLAB IDE go to Mirochip web site.

PICkit 2 Programmer Software showing PIC 18F458 Connected

Connections to the Target MCU

you can programe may microcontroller by using this schematic , all you need to do is that find out the data sheet of that mcu you want to program and check the pin configration. and the look for PIN PGC(clock) PGD(data) Vpp(/MCLR) and the power Vss And Vdd like shown in the image blow.

if there is any sort of trouble to work this out please make a comment

USB 8051 (89 series) & AVR Microcontroller Programmer

2011-06-28T22:40:00.005+05:30

About the programmer

This simple microcontroller programmer can progam most of the 89 likeAtmel' AT89S51, AT89S52, AT89S53, AT89S8252, AT89S8253 including the Atmel AVR series of microcontroller. It simply consists of an ATMega8 and a couple of passive components. The programmer uses a firmware-only USB driver, no special USB controller is needed.

Features

Works under multiple platforms. Linux, Mac OS X and Windows are tested.

No special controllers or smd components are needed.

Programming speed is up to 5kBytes/sec.

SCK option to support targets with low clock speed (< 1,5MHz).

Note :-if you have all ready have your USBasp programmer which is previously posted on my blog as USB AVR PROGRAMMER then there is no need buid new hardware you just need to change the firmware of the programmer microcontroller.

Simple Steps to made This programmer

Step 1:- Step 1:-

Download:Firmware and circuit
The following packages include circuit and firmware.
Firmware is the software which going to be burn into programmer's microcontroller, this firmware have code to enable the programmer to communicate with pc via usb and target microcontroller

Click This link to dwonload the Firware and circuit
usbasp8051(4 kB )
source code of the firmware also avaible on request to any one who is interested.

Please refer to Readme.txt for details on building, installing and using USBasp.

Schematic USB 8051 & AVR Mircrocontroller progammer

Step 2:-

Buy The parts You need

Part Descirption Qty
ATMEGA8 Microcontroller 1

3.6 Volts Zeaner Diode 2

22pf Capacitor 2

100nf Capacitor 1

4.7uf capacitor 1

12Mhz Crystal 1

10K Resistance 1

1K Resistance 3

68ohm Resistance 2

2.2K Resistance 1

LED Led (Red & Geen) 2

USB connector 1

USB Cable 1

3 Way dip switch 1

Step 3:-

PCB and Part Soldering:-

You can create your own pcb using any PCB editor like eagle, OR you can solder the circuit a general purpose pcb, You Can also Use PCB created By me Click here to dwonalod my pcb design

USB AVR Programmer PCB Created by Me For your use

Step 4:-

Getting The Atmega8 Microcontroller Ready To be used as a programmer:-

Getting the atemega8 microcontroller ready to be inserted into the newly soldered pcb ,and start working. you have to burn the firmware which you just downloaded in the Step 1 into the atmega8 microcontroller. you can use the serial avr programmer to get this job done. click here to know about how to make a serial avr progammer and how to program the atmega8 by using a serial avr programmer.

Note:- Make sure you burn the right fuse bit configration along with the firmware into atmega8 microcontroller
for atemega8 the fuse bit are
atmega8 HFUSE=0xC9 LFUSE=0xEF

if you have a problem how to burn those fuse bit use the give serial avr programmer then please visit serial avr progammer page for detailed information

Step 6:-

Driver installation on a PC:-

At the first time when you connect your programmer to the pc your programmer will be dected as usbasp and you have to provide a proper path for drivers to be installed.
this programmer use same driver as my privous usb avr programmer use

USB AVR prorammer Dected By the widnows

Give the Instruction for a specfic location driver installation

Give the path for driver to be installed

USB AVR Programmer installed

USB AVR programmer is being connected and shown in device manager

On Linux and MacOS X no kernel driver is needed.
Windows requires a driver for USBasp: usbasp-windriver.2009-02-28.zip (70 kB)

Note: Windows Vista/7 x64 requires drivers with digital signature. Currently there are no official drivers for libusb (USBasp software is based on it) with such a signature. Users reported that there is a tool named "Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider" to avoid the signature check.

Step 6:-

Programming the other microcontrollers:-

You can use Progisp software to burn the hex file in to the traget microcontrollers.
note: i don't suggest you to use any other sofware then the progisp. but if this works with any other then you are free to use that.

click here to download progisp168

Schematic

Connections to the traget microcontroller:-

* you can programe may microcontroller by using this schematic , all you need to do is that find out the data sheet of that mcu you want to program and check the pin configration. and the look for PIN MOSI MISO SCK and Reset , the connection will be as follows

if sombody face any trouble then please let me know

Microchip PIC Serial Port Programmer

2011-05-01T14:21:00.003+05:30

About the Programmer

This is a Simple com port based Microchip PIC microcontroller Programmer,This Programmer is based on JDM programmer.The entire programmer is built around commonly available components

Features

Does not support the usb to serial converter.
Works with most of PIC mcu.
Works with 18F2550 and other 18F series mcu.

NEED A USB PIC PROGRAMMER ( PICkit 2)
To make your own PICKit 2 PIC Programmer
Click Here To Go My new post

Schematic and Hardware

Pin Configuration of a serial port

Connections to the Target MCU

you can programe may microcontroller by using this schematic , all you need to do is that find out the data sheet of that mcu you want to program and check the pin configration. and the look for PIN PGC(clock) PGD(data) Vpp(/MCLR) and the power Vss And Vdd like shown in the image blow.

example of other microcontroller prgamming connections

Winpic 800:The Programming software

To be able to send hex file from your computer to PIC microcontroller you will need to download and install Windpic 800. After the installation, the first thing you will need to do is configure Winpic to work with our PIC Programmer. To do this go to "Setting" menu and select "Harware setting". The following window will be shown and highlighted areas show you exactly which options should be selected.

Now Just connect you programmer circuit to the com port Click on hardware test button in the tool bar, if hardware test is okey then click on just right side button 'detect device' as soon as your devide is detected.

now you are all set to open you hex file and load in to the mcu. to start programming press the Program all Button in the tool bar. wait for a while to finish the programming.when the programming is going on the led must be glowing.

if somebody still have some questions please leave a comment.

OTHER PROJECTS

Nokia 3315 LCD interfacing with Microcontroller

PIC 18F4550 USB IO (Input / Output) Board with Analog

Nokia 3315 LCD Based Temperature Meter

USBasp - USB programmer for Atmel AVR controllers

2011-04-30T23:12:00.004+05:30

About The Programmer
USBasp is a USB in-circuit programmer for Atmel AVR controllers. It simply consists of an ATMega48 and ATMega88 an ATMega8 and a couple of passive components. The programmer uses a firmware-only USB driver, no special USB controller is needed.

Features

Works under multiple platforms. Linux, Mac OS X and Windows are tested.
No special controllers or smd components are needed.
Programming speed is up to 5kBytes/sec.
SCK option to support targets with low clock speed (< 1,5MHz).

NOTE:- I have posted a new porgammer with same hardware as this but capable to program 8051 and avr both with changing the firmware only.
click here to see USB 8051 & avr programmer'

Simple Steps to made This programmer

Step 1:-

Download:Firmware and circuit
The following packages include circuit and firmware.
Firmware is the software which going to be burn into programmer's microcontroller, this firmware have code to enable the programmer to communicate with pc via usb and target microcontroller

Click This link to dwonload the Firware and circuit
usbasp.2011-05-28.tar.gz (519 kB ) UPDATED

Please refer to Readme.txt for details on building, installing and using USBasp.

Schematic USB AVR Mircrocontroller progammer

Step 2:-

Buy The parts You need

Part Descirption Qty
ATMEGA8 Microcontroller 1

3.6 Volts Zeaner Diode 2

22pf Capacitor 2

100nf Capacitor 1

4.7uf capacitor 1

12Mhz Crystal 1

10K Resistance 1

1K Resistance 3

68ohm Resistance 2

2.2K Resistance 1

LED Led (Red & Geen) 2

USB connector 1

USB Cable 1

A Genral Purpose PCB

USB AVR Programmer PCB Created by Me For your use

USB AVR Programmer pcb

Step 4:-

Getting The Atmega8 Microcontroller Ready To be used as a programmer:-

Note:- Make sure you burn the right fuse bit configration along with the firmware into atmega8 microcontroller
for atemega8   the fuse bit are
atmega8        HFUSE=0xC9     LFUSE=0xEF

if you have a problem how to burn those fuse bit use the give serial avr programmer then please visit serial avr progammer page for detailed information

Step 6:-

Driver installation on a PC:-

At the first time when you connect your programmer to the pc your programmer will be dected as usbasp and you have to provide a proper path for drivers to be installed.

USB AVR prorammer Dected By the widnows

Give the Instruction for a specfic location driver installation

Give the path for driver to be installed

USB AVR Programmer installed

USB AVR programmer is being connected and shown in device manager

On Linux and MacOS X no kernel driver is needed.
Windows requires a driver for USBasp: usbasp-windriver.2011-05-28.zip (274 kB)

Note: Windows Vista/7 x64 now support with new driver . update your drive with new one..

Step 6:-

Programming the other microcontrollers:-

You can use any of these software to burn the hex file in to the traget microcontrollers.

AVRDUDE supports USBasp since version 5.2. , (A comand line tool)
BASCOM-AVR supports USBasp since version 1.11.9.6.
Khazama AVR Programmer is a Windows XP/Vista GUI application for USBasp and avrdude.
eXtreme Burner - AVR is a Windows GUI Software for USBasp based USB AVR programmers

Hardware

Schematic

Connectors

USB B type female Connector

10 PIN IDC connector (which shown in the schematic)

AVR Serial Port Programmer

2011-04-29T21:02:00.002+05:30

About AVR Programmer

This simple COM PORT based AVR atmega Programmer will allow you to painlessly transfer hex programs to most ATMEL AVR microcontrollers

without sacrificing your budget and time. It is more reliable than most other simple AVR programmers available out

there and can be built in very short amount of time.

AVR programmer consists of in-circuit serial programmer (dongle) and small pcb with a DIP socket where you can fit

your microcontroller and have it quickly programmed.

You may also use this programmer as a stand alone in-circuit serial programmer that can be used to conveniently

program AVR microcontrollers without removing them from the target circuit.

Entire AVR programmer has been build with using common parts and fits in the case of the serial connector. The socket pcb has been created to fit a 28-DIP AVR ATmega8 microcontroller, but you can build a socket pcb for any other AVR microcontroller out there. This AVR programmer is compatible with a popular PonyProg software that shows you a status bar of the programming progress.

AVR In-Circuit Serial Programmer Schematic

AVR Socket PCB

There are two connections; ICSP that connects to AVR Programmer, and external +5V supply

Ensures that the chip is receiving exactly +5V voltage and provides very reliable error free programming.

+5V voltage supply for AVR chip may be provided from external power supply or even better - directly from USB

Pony Prog :The Programming software

To be able to send hex file from your computer to AVR microcontroller you will need to download and install PonyProg2000. After the installation, the first thing you will need to do is configure PonyProg to work with our AVR Programmer. To do this go to "Setup" menu and select "Interface Setup". The following window will be shown and highlighted areas show you exactly which options should be selected.

In the next step select "AVR micro" and your microcontroller type that you will be programming (ex. ATmega8

At this point PonyProg configuration is complete and we can open hex program with which AVR microcontroller will be flashed. Go to "File" menu, select "Open Program (FLASH) File ...", and point to the hex file to open it up. You should see hex numbers as shown on the screen below. If you haven't connected AVR Programmer dongle to your computer's serial port yet, then now is the time. Make sure that AVR Programmer is physically connected to your AVR microcontroller through Socket PCB or through ICSP 6-PIN connector. Finally click on the highlighted icon "Write Program Memory (FLASH)", or go to "Command" menu and select "Write Program (FLASH)".

!! IF your Flash(.hex) file have special configuration bits Then you have to configure those bits manually.

Click on "Yes" button to confirm the programming.

Now sit tight, relax and watch the programming progress on the status bar. PonyProg will program AVR microcontroller and verify if the hex file was transferred without any errors. For your information this process shouldn't really take more than 10 to 30 seconds. This depends on the size of the program that you're trying to flash.

After programming is completed "Write successful" window will be shown letting you know that AVR microcontroller has been programmed, and is now ready to be used.

Programming The Security and Configration Fuse bit (if needed)

First click on the sercurity and configration button in the tool bar, a dilog box will apper as shown in the image blow.

To read the current security bit from the devive please click Read button in the securit and configration bits dialog box

now you are ready to change the configration bits
To caclulate these ceck box values accoring to your needs or to claculte by use hfuse and lfuse
please visit this page Click here

just check and uncheck the boxes accoring to your setting and click write button.

now you are ready to go

If somebody need more help then please make a comment