Chapter 7 - PIC Development Systems

Abstract

This chapter focuses on PIC development systems, which is the software and hardware package that supports a particular range of microcontrollers (MCUs). The software provides the program development environment, including utilities for testing and downloading the program to the MCU. The development system requires hardware peripherals that include, a programming module, interfacing options and demo boards. MPLAB IDE and hardware programmer are the essential components of the Microchip toolset, and chips had to be removed from the circuit for programming in a separate module, and then replaced in the target application board. The in-circuit programming allows the chip to be programmed without being removed, which avoids possible mechanical and electrical damage. The MCU must incorporate the necessary hardware features to support this option. The PICkit2 is an in-circuit programming module that supports a full range of PIC microcontrollers. The PIC 16F690 chip is a representative of the 16 series chips and has a 4k of program memory with 256 bytes each of random access memory (RAM) and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).