Wednesday, June 27, 2012

AVR Tutorial - 1.Basics


1.                  Basics
A microcontroller (sometimes abbreviated µC, uC or MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a typically small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general purpose applications.
Microcontrollers are used in automatically controlled products and devices, such as automobile engine control systems, implantable medical devices, remote controls, office machines, appliances, power tools, toys and other embedded systems. By reducing the size and cost compared to a design that uses a separate microprocessor, memory, and input/output devices, microcontrollers make it economical to digitally control even more devices and processes. Mixed signal microcontrollers are common, integrating analog components needed to control non-digital electronic systems.
Some microcontrollers may use four-bit words and operate at clock rate frequencies as low as 4 kHz, for low power consumption (milliwatts or microwatts). They will generally have the ability to retain functionality while waiting for an event such as a button press or other interrupt; power consumption while sleeping (CPU clock and most peripherals off) may be just nanowatts, making many of them well suited for long lasting battery applications. Other microcontrollers may serve performance-critical roles, where they may need to act more like a digital signal processor (DSP), with higher clock speeds and power consumption.

Here in this tutorial we will be dealing with ATMEL’s AVR microcontrollers, more specifically ATMEGA-32. For futher reference about any further details about this MCU, you could refer to the manual for this MCU. We will be using WinAVR as our programming platform and avrdude as the programming application.   

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  2. The system bus is a cable which carries data communication between the major components of the computer, including the microprocessor. Not all of the communication that uses the bus involves the CPU, although naturally the examples used in this tutorial will centre on such instances.microprocessor tutorial

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