Timers as the name suggests pertain to time-related operations. They are mostly used for exact delay generation. Timers are also used in various other operations like PWM signal generation, auto-triggering of several other peripherals etc. The working and configuration of PIC18F4550 Timers have been explained in this article. Timers are the most essential peripheral for a microcontroller ...

Analog comparator is an electronic device which compares the two voltage signals and provides TTL logic output to indicate the larger signal. The analog comparator is used in various applications where two inputs signals need to be compared. IR sensor is a very common example where analog comparator is used. PIC18F4550 has two in-built comparators which can be used in eight different modes. T ...

Global Positioning System is based on satellite navigation technology. A GPS Receiver provides the accurate location of an object in terms of latitude and longitude. Accurate time calculation with respect to GMT can also be done by using GPS. For more information on different data obtained through GPS, refer GPS Receivers. Here a PIC microcontroller has been interfaced with a GPS module ...

Servo systems use the error sensing negative feedback method to provide precise angular motion. Servo Motors are used where precise control on angular motion is needed. Servo motors are widely used in the field of Robotics to design robotic arms, palms, legs and so on. They are also used in RC toys like RC helicopter, airplanes and cars.   The interfacing of servo motor using PIC mi ...

A Stepper Motor is a brushless, synchronous DC motor which divides a full rotation into a number of steps. For detailed information on working, types and stepping modes, refer the article on Stepper Motors. Here the operation of a unipolar Stepper motor with PIC18F4550 microcontroller has been explained. As stated earlier, a Stepper motor rotates step by step. Each stepper ...

The Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication is the Second Generation of mobile technology. Although the world is moving towards Third and Fourth generation but GSM has been the most successful and widespread technology in the communication sector. GSM technology paved a new way for mobile communication. This project explains the interfacing of a GSM Module with a PIC microcontroller. It also covers a w ...

The Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) is a high speed, synchronous, serial communication standard. This communication protocol is basically a Master – Slave implementation where the master device controls the clock based on which the slave devices operate. The master communicates with a slave or a number of slaves in a system through the SPI bus. The SPI bus requires a minimum of three wires including SDO ( ...

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a technique in which the width of a pulse is modulated keeping the time period of the wave constant. The ON time and OFF time can have any different values in the wave cycles, but the sum of the ON time and OFF time remains same for the entire cycles. PWM is a digital wave that can be generated using digital circuits which are not capable of generating analog voltages. W ...

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a technique in which the width of a pulse is modulated keeping the time period of the wave constant. One cycle has a fixed time period called ‘Period’ and a varying on time called ‘Duty cycle’. The entire wave can have two voltages levels either logic 0 or logic 1. The PWM wave is very useful in the digital systems, since this can be used to generate different voltage values ...

Microcontrollers are purely digital devices which work on logic0 and logic1 voltages; still they are widely used for analog signal processing. There are specialized signal processors chips available which are custom made for particular applications; however a general purpose microcontroller is more than enough for small kind of signal processing applications like audio signal input and output. The microcont ...