Hardware/PICEBS/Welcome

Revision as of 13:04, 18 August 2015

Welcome to the PICEBS2 wiki

If you don't know what the PICEBS2 project is, have a look a the presentation.

Presentation

PICEBS2 (hardware details) is the name of a small embedded computer board targeted at teaching embedded systems programming. As its name suggests, it is the second iteration of a successful family of Microchip PIC board, this time with the objective to realize an all-in-one system (the debugger PICKIT3 is included on board).

Please note that, as a student, you can loan a board during your HES-SO//Valais studies to work at home ;-) Just ask the laboratory responsible Pascal Sartoretti (sap).

We, the PICEBS2 team, provide a comprehensive solution for

• Practical work for HEI courses Information systems
• All kind of project featuring a low-sized micro-controller.

What can be done with the PICEBS2 ?

The board is powerful enough to run applications with:

• LCD and touch screen interface
• Serial port usage (UART)
• CAN interface
• ...
• This board includes the PICKIT3 for programming and debugging

Hardware

(hardware details).

Here is a list of the main PICEBS2's characteristics:

• CPU PIC18F87K22
  • High range PIC18 family with 128kB Flash & 4kB RAM
  • RTC
  • 12 bits ADC
  • 11 timers
  • UART, SPI, I2C
  • ...
• Onboard PICKIT3 debugger
  • Compatible with MPLABX
  • Can be used standalone or turned off
• LCD Display
  • 320x240, 265k colors
  • Backlight
  • Resistive touch screen
• Networking and communication
  • CAN bus
  • RS232
  • PS2 keyboard
  • Olimex UEXT
• Development
  • All CPU pins are available on a connector
  • Standard Hes-so//Valais 26 pin header on board

Software

• Source files for assembler laboratories
  • Configuration bits for PICEBS2 in assembler
• Source files for C laboratories
  • Configuration bits for PICEBS2 in C
  • CAN libraries files
  • LCD libraries files
  • Keyboard libraries files
• Tools
  • incbin.exe -> Transform any file in a 'C' table of characters (for bitmaps, ...)
  • TheDotFactory.exe -> Transform any font on your PC in a 'C' table of characters for graphical use

Tips & tricks

• CPU speed control

// to work with maximum CPU speed (64MHz) insert following code at start.
   PLLEN = 1;            // activate PLL x4
   OSCCON = 0b01110000;  // for 64MHz cpu clock (default is 8MHz)
   ...

• Change one bit on a port

// to change one bit on a port, use LATx and not PORTx
   LATH2 = 1;            // turn led on for example
   ...

• Interrupt on change on PORTB (RB4-RB7)

// to clear the interrupt flag you have to read the PORTB
   ...
   PORTB;               // clear the latch change on PORTB
   RBIF = 0;            // clear the interrupt itself
   ...

• Reduce current consumption

// To reduce consumption at minimum, do at least
   LCD_PowerOff();  // turn all LCD parts off
   UART_PowerOff(); // turn UART driver off
   Can_PowerOff();  // turn off MCP2515 chipset
// And define unused GPIOs as output
   TRISB5 = 0;      // for example
   ...
// You can measure (between white and yellow test points) about 630 uA after a SLEEP();

Bugs, issues, questions and comments

Feel free to contact the PICEBS2 team when you encounter a problem. Don't forget to have a look at the Tips & tricks section.