Other PIC Demo Kits
There are several other Microchip demonstration kits that allow the user to investigate a range of devices and techniques and provide convenient hardware platforms for further application development. The features of some of the currently available range are summarized in Table 7.3, and described below.
44/28-Pin Demo Boards
The 44-pin demo board incorporates the 16F887 MCU, which has a full range of features in a surface-mounted TQFP package. The chip has 33 I/O pins (ports AeE), so is useful if more peripherals are needed. Additional features are a full set of eight LEDs, a 32 kHz
crystal clock input for timer 1 and a 10 MHz system crystal clock. A major advantage of the board is that the ’887 supports direct ICD (without a header). Otherwise, the board facilities are similar to the LPC demo board with a small prototyping area and extra connections to the chip. The 28-pin board has similar features, but with the smaller sibling of the ’887 chip, the 16F886, fitted.
PICDEM2 Plus Demo Board
This board has an alphanumeric liquid crystal display (LCD) commonly used to display simple messages in microcontroller applications. As well as push-button switches and a buzzer, it has a serial EEPROM that allows the I2C serial protocol to be examined, and a temperature
sensor, which can provide real-time data for storage. It has 18-, 28- and 40-pin dual in-line (DIL) sockets, allowing a range of different chips to be fitted.
PICDEM Lab Development Kit
This kit allows users to build peripheral circuits on a plug board, and is therefore a good choice for training purposes. It includes a set of different processors and a brushed direct current (dc) motor. Flowcode programming software is included, which is a user-friendly option that avoids the need to learn the details of assembler programming. Programs are entered as a flowchart (see Section 4.2 on program design in Chapter 4), which is then compiled directly to downloadable code.
This kit, again based on the 16F886 MCU, has a small computer fan on board, incorporating a brushless dc motor and a sensor to monitor the fan speed, allowing experimentation with closed loop motor control, as well as a heater and temperature sensor. C compilers are included, so that more complex programs can be developed, especially applications requiring real-time calculations. A serial analyzer pod also allows the communications signals produced in the board to be examined at the outputs.