SPECIFICATIONS:
With the advent of many powerful microcontrollers having numerous internal features, there is a requirement for an evaluation unit that will allow users to study typical hardware and software features of microcontrollers in embedded application.
The Embedded Controller Evaluation unit consists of the following Controller boards

 

Silicon Labs C8051F020 Controller board
The Silicon Labs C8051F020 is a powerful microcontroller having internal 64k flash memory, 4k RAM in addition to the standard 256 bytes available in 8051 devices and a large number of peripherals which are accessed through SFR registers.
The CIP-51 microcontrollers instruction set is similar to that of Intel 8051 but the instruction speed is very high - 25 MIPS at 24 MHZ with internal and external oscillator.
External data memory can be accessed and this allows memory-mapped peripherals also to be accessed.
On chip JTAG Debug and boundary scan allows easy flash memory programming and debugging applications insitu.
On chip 12-bit ADC with 8 channel Mux and Programmable Gain amplifier. On chip voltage reference and an ambient temperature monitor is also provided.
On chip 8-bit ADC with 8 channel Mux and Programmable Gain amplifier multiplexed with Digital I/O.
On chip two channel DAC’s with programmable update scheduling.
Two voltage comparators with interrupt capability.
Hardware two wire serial I2C bus allows connection to a number of industry standard devices like Flash memories, Real Time clocks, NVROM’s etc.
Hardware enhanced Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus allows full duplex interface to a large number of serial peripherals including ADC, DAC, memories etc.
Two serial UARTs with 9-bit capability for master-slave communication.
Programmable Counter Array with 5 modules, using a dedicated timer and having features like edge capture, High-speed compare output, 8-bit and 16-bit PWM, software timer and frequency output.
Five general purpose 16-bit Counters/Timers.
Upto 64 I/O lines which are multiplexed with the special function pins.
Brown out reset and watchdog are built-in.
Operates at 3.3V DC.

 

 

The Atmel ATMega128 controller board
The Atmel ATMega128 is a high performance microcontroller with an advanced RISC architecture that allows high-speed operation at 16MIPS at 8MHZ.
The controller has upto 128 KB of internal flash memory and 4 KB of RAM along with 4KB of E2ROM. Upto 60KB of external data memory can also be accessed.
On chip JTAG boundary scan feature allows insitu debug and Flash/E2ROM programming capability.
On chip 8 channel 10-bit ADC with internal multiplexer can be configured for single-ended or differential signals with programmable gain.
Hardware two wire serial I2C bus allows connection to a number of industry standard devices like Flash memories, Real Time clocks, NVROM’s etc.
Hardware enhanced Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus allows full duplex interface to a large number of serial peripherals including ADC, DAC, memories etc.
Dual serial UARTs with 9-bit mode for master-slave communication.
Two 8-bit Counter/Timers.
Two 16-bit counter/Timers with Prescalers and associated capture, compare modules providing 2 to 16-bit PWM outputs.
On chip Analog comparator.
Programmable Brown out reset and watchdog timer.
Different devices for operation at 5V or 3.3V.

 

 

Expansion Interface Board
The Expansion interface board consists of 16KB RAM, 8-bit latch output, 8-bit buffered input, RS232C, RS485 interface, 8X3 keyboard interface, 16X2 LCD interface, I2C RTC DS1307, I2C EEROM 24C16, SPI ADC MCP 3202, comparator study circuit, PWM output, compare and capture demo and a standard 8255 PPI terminated in a 26-pin FRC.
8X3 keyboard and 16X2 LCD.
Enclosure with power supply to operate off 230v AC.
JTAG Debugger for use with the Silicon Lab C8051F020 microcontroller.
JTAG Debugger for use with the ATMega128, AVR RISC microcontroller.

 

 

Software
Demo programs in ‘C’, for both the C8051F020 and the AVR ATMega128, show how the controllers are initialized and how the different peripherals can be used.
The demo programs are well commented to allow easy understanding of the operation of the peripherals. These programs have to be compiled by the user using a standard compiler like KEIL compiler for C8051F020 and Image craft compiler for the ATMega128.
The compiled COFF files are downloaded through the JTAG debugger to the respective target board using the Silicon Labs IDE or the Atmel AVR studio.
The manufacturers data manual, for both the microcontrollers, is included in PDF form.
To study programming in an UCOS RTOS environment, a number of compact demo programs have been written for the C8051F020 controller.
These programs show how the peripherals are initialized for use with an RTOS, how interrupt programs are written for RTOS, how tasks are created, how the different interprocess communication features like binary semaphores, counting semaphores, mailboxes, queues, mutexes, flags and memory management features are created and used.
The programs show how a scalable and preemptive RTOS is initialized, how the features can be enabled, how the IPC’s are created and used, the structure of tasks, task blocking on events, typical interrupt routines etc.

 

 

The Embedded Controller Evaluation unit is supplied with the following items
Silicon Labs C8051F020 microcontroller board
Atmel ATMega128 RISC microcontroller board
Expansion interface board
2X16 alphanumeric LCD with backlight
24 key keypad
Six digit seven segment display interface – NIFC 38
Stepper motor interface – NIFC 01A
Input/output test zig
Enclosure with built-in power supply
JTAG Debugger for use with C8051F020
JTAG Debugger for use with ATMega128
Essentials interconnecting cables
Serial to USB cable
Silicon IDE for C8051F020
AVR studio for ATMega128
Number of demo programs

 

 

Optional items
KEIL ‘C’ Compiler for C8051F020
‘C’ Compiler for ATMega128