EIT300 InTra report

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING REPORT

LEE YEE ANNBACHELOR IN ENGINEERING

(COMPUTER NETWORK ENGINEERING)

SCHOOL OF COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PERLIS

2012

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING REPORTEIT300/4

AT

SILICONETICS RESEARCH CORPORATION SDN. BHD.

LOT 8032-T1, BANDAR SATELIT ISLAM PASIR TUMBOH, JALAN PASIR PUTEH,

16150 KOTA BHARU, KELANTAN DARUL NAIM

NAME : LEE YEE ANN

MATRIC NUMBER : 101230415

PROGRAM : BACHELOR IN ENGINEERING

(COMPUTER NETWORK ENGINEERING)

ACADEMIC SESSION : 2011/2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to thank God for everything He had done for me.

I would also like to thank the company, Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn.

Bhd., for allowing me to undergo Industrial Training at this very company. I would also

extend my appreciation to the owner/CEO of the company, Mr. Rokman Bin Semail,

and the General Manager, Mr. Mohd. Fikry Bin Mohd. Yusof, that had supervised my

progress throughout the duration of the training. Their attentions, helps and support in

many ways had made my experience during the Industrial Training more worthwhile.

Not to forget the other staffs and trainees of the company, whom through their

helpfulness and friendliness, had made the experience gained throughout the duration of

Industrial Training unforgettable.

I would also express my gratitude to Associate Professor Dr. Mohammud B. Che

Husain from the School of Bioprocess Engineering for his willingness to spend a

fraction of his time to pay a visit to the company to observe my progress. Also thanks to

Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) and the engineering school I am studying in, the

School of Computer and Communication Engineering for the knowledge and

experiences gained.

Last but not least, millions of thanks to my family members for their unlimited

blessings and support.

Thank you, everyone!

ii

ABSTRACT

Industrial Training is a platform for students to gain hands-on experience about

what they had learnt and to apply the knowledge of their respective engineering field

into the work environment. Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (SRC) is a

research and development (R&D) company that operate in the ICT and robotic field.

The robotic development in SRC uses the PIC18 microcontroler and C programming

language. A trainee that had never utilise the PIC18 microcontroler before was assigned

with projects that were aimed for the trainee to learn and familiarise with PIC18 and the

use of C language to program the system as the main tasks throughout the Industrial

Training in SRC. Secondary tasks that were aimed for the trainee to learn the

importance of documenting the projects done and to communicate with end users

indirectly through support documents and information available in the websites were

also assigned. There were also different miscellaneous tasks assigned to trainees. In

overall, by undergoing Industrial Training in SRC is a chance for student to gain

knowledge not available during lecture and lab session in UniMAP and to apply

knowledge in related field in to the work environment.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COMPLETION OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Host Company 1

1.2 Organisation of the Company 2

1.3 Advantages of the Company 2

1.4 Products and Services 3

CHAPTER 2 PIC18 MICROCONTROLLER PROJECTS 6

2.1 introduction 6

2.2 PIC18 Microcontroller and the PIC18F2550 6

2.3 Common Components and Devices 7

2.4 Blinking an LED 9

2.5 More LEDs 10

2.6 Switches and LEDs 11

2.7 Switches and LED, Input/Output Control 12

2.8 Seven-Segment Displays 13

2.9 Two Seven-segment Displays Multiplexing 14

2.10 Binary Coded Decimal to Seven-segment Display Decoder/Driver IC 15

iv

2.11 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module Interfacing in 8-bit Mode 17



2.14 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing 19

CHAPTER 3 PIC18 PROJECTS' DOCUMENTATION 22

3.1 Introduction 22

3.2 Schematic Diagram Drawing 22

3.3 Documenting PIC18F2550 Projects 24

3.4 Update Hitkr Website using BizAdmin 26

CHAPTER 4 MISCELLANEOUS TASKS 28

4.1 Introduction 28

4.2 ThinClient and ThinStation 28

4.3 Software Disc Packaging 30

4.4 Electrical Wiring 30

4.5 Acrylic Prototyping 31

4.6 Visit by Lecturer from UniMAP 32

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION 33

5.1 Discussion 33

5.2 Recommendation 34

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 35

6.1 Conclusion 35

REFERENCES 36

v

APPENDICES 37

Appendix A (i) 37

Appendix A (ii) 38

Appendix B (i) 39

Appendix B (ii) 40

Appendix C 41

Appendix D 43

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: State of Switches and Light Effect 12

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: The Corporate Logo of Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd. 1

Figure 1.2: Organisation Chart Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd. 2

Figure 1.3: Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd. 3

Figure 1.4: The Logo for Siliconetics Products 4

Figure 1.5: The Logo for Mawarsoft Products 4

Figure 2.1: PIC18F2550 in 28 Pins DIP Form Factor 7

Figure 2.2: Pin Assignment of PIC18F2550 in DIP Form Factor 7

Figure 2.3: Microchip PICkit3 8

Figure 2.4: Breadboard 8

Figure 2.5: Screenshot of the Splash Screen MPLAB IDE 9

Figure 2.6: Schematic Diagram of Blinking an LED Project 10

Figure 2.7: PICkit3 Connected to Program the PIC18F2550 10

Figure 2.8: Blinking an LED Project with the LED in On State 10

Figure 2.9: Schematic Diagram of More LEDs Project 11

Figure 2.10: More LEDs Project Showing One of the Light Effects 11

Figure 2.11: Schematic Diagram of Switches and LEDs Project 12

Figure 2.12: Switches and LEDs Project Showing Switches 2, 3, 7 and 8 Active 12

Figure 2.13: Schematic Diagram of Switches and LEDs, Input/Output Control Project 13

Figure 2.14: Switches and LEDs, Input/Output Control Project Showing Switch 8

Active Triggering Generation of Knight Rider Light Effect 13

Figure 2.15: Schematic Diagram of Seven-segment Displays Project 14

Figure 2.16: Seven-segment Displays Project Showing Current Count 4 14

Figure 2.17: Schematic Diagram of Two Seven-segment Displays Multiplexing Project

15

Figure 2.18: Schematic Diagram of Binary Coded Decimal to Seven-segment Display

Decoder/Driver IC Project 16

viii

Figure 2.19: Binary Coded Decimal to Seven-segment Display Decoder/Driver IC

Project Showing “00” When Switches Are 000000002 16

Figure 2.20: Schematic Diagram of 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module Interfacing in

8-bit Mode Project 17

Figure 2.21: 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module Interfacing in 8-bit Mode Project 17

Figure 2.22: Schematic Diagram of 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module Interfacing in

4-bit Mode Project 18



Figure 2.25: The 5 Characters to be Generated On the 8×8 LED Matrix Display 20

Figure 2.26: Schematic Diagram of 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing Project 20

Figure 2.27: 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing Project Showing the Fourth Character

21

Figure 3.1: Screen Shot of KiCad Project Manager 22

Figure 3.2: Screen Shot Eeschema Showing Drawing of 8×8 LED Matrix Display

Interfacing Project's Schematic Diagram 23

Figure 3.3: Screen Shot Eeschema Component Library Editor Showing Drawing for

New 8×8 LED Matrix Display Component 24

Figure 3.4: Screen Shot from the Introductory Chapter of the Documentation 24

Figure 3.5: Screen Shot of the Documentation for Blinking An LED Project 25

Figure 3.6: Screen Shot of Siliconetics BizAdmin for Blinking An LED Project 26

Figure 3.7: Screen Shot while Adding Pictures using Siliconetics BizAdmin for More

LEDs Project 27

Figure 4.1: ThinClient X300 System Showing the PCI Card and One of the Terminals 28

Figure 4.2: ThinStation Access Terminal 29

Figure 4.3: Performing Electrical Wiring, Inserting the Cable Puller to Pull the Electrical

Cables. 31

Figure 4.4: The End Product of Acrylic Sheet Shaping 32

ix

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Host Company

Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (SRC) was officially registered on

2006. The company is an information and communication technology (ICT) and

research and development (R&D) based company. The company is located at Lot 8032-

T1, Bandar Satelit Islam Pasir Tumboh, Jalan Pasir Puteh, 16150 Kota Bharu,

Kelantan. The company can be reach via its website, http://www.srcsb.com.

Figure 1.1: The Corporate Logo of Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd.

The effort to establish the company started back in the 1990's where research

and development had been performed to establish a platform to develop software to be

used for educational purposes. This research and development process had started the

development of current technologies used by the company until today.

In 1996, a predecessor of SRC, a company named Perisian Mawar was

registered to develop and market Islamic based software. This company was later

rebranded as Mawarsoft, and is currently a part of Siloconetics Research Corporation

Sdn. Bhd..

In order to continue the legacy of Perisian Mawar and in order for the company

to develop and market other products while retaining the name of Mawarsoft to be

1

exclusively used for Islamic based products, SRC was established with the goal to

develop and market software to be used in other professional fields.

SRC is focused into research and development of products to be used for

professional fields such as accountancy, management, and network based technologies.

Since the beginning, SRC had developed various products according to clients'

specifications. The clients of SRC include government agencies, government linked

agencies, and private agencies. The experience earned by SRC since its establishment

had made the company mature and it now has its own technologies in the field of

multimedia, database and computer networking.

1.2 Organisation of the Company

The organisational chart of the company is as shown below.

Figure 1.2: Organisation Chart Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd.

1.3 Advantages of the Company

Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd. is fully committed into the research

and development of computer related technologies. This R&D covers the development

2

of computer software, development of customised system as requested by clients and

development of robotic systems.

Figure 1.3: Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd.

SRC is driven by quality and the constant R&D performed by the company

ensure that the quality of its product is well taken care of. With non-stop research and

development, SRC is able to improve its products and develop new products to meet the

ever-changing needs of the clients. This also triggered the development of company's

own technologies to be used in its products.

SRC is now proud of having its own technologies to be used in its range of

products and services. These technologies are termed “FlitBase”, used by all of its

database related technologies and products, and “Click Multimedia”, used for its

multimedia based products and services.

1.4 Products and Services

SRC offers a wide variety of products and services for its clients and customers.

These products can be categorised into several brands.

3

Figure 1.4: The Logo for Siliconetics Products

Siliconetics branded products are software or systems in the management,

administration and/or business field. Siliconetics products are designed to function in a

network and has 2 versions. The “Ant” version is the smaller version that support stand

alone usage on a single computer while the “Spider” version is client-server based and

is suitable to be used by organisations. All Siliconetics products include:

• Siliconetics Association Spider

• Siliconetics Asset Spider

• Siliconetics Government Asset Spider

• Siliconetics Payroll Spider/Ant

• Siliconetics Project Spider

• Siliconetics Accounting Spider/Ant

• Siliconetics Cash Spider/Ant

• Siliconetics Billing Spider/Ant

• Siliconetics Sales Spider/Ant

• Siliconetices Property Spider

• Siliconetics Timetable Spider/Ant

• Siliconetics Exam Spider/Ant

• Siliconetics Library Spider/Ant

• FlitSoft Click Author

• FlitSoft Media Spider

• Siliconetics BizAdmin – manages web pages hosted using BizGate Server

• Siliconetics FlitGate – Database server

• Siliconetics BizGate – HTML server

Figure 1.5: The Logo for Mawarsoft Products

4

Products bearing Mawarsoft nameplate are focused on Islamic contents. These

products are:

• Mawarsoft Qari CD

• Mawarsoft Qari Player

• Mawarsoft Digital Furqan

Another brand by SRC is Hitkr which is the name used exclusively for the

company's robotic products and system.

Beside software and robotic product, SRC also provide other services. These

services include:

• Supplying computer software. These computer software may come from other

manufacturer other than SRC if requested by the customer.

• Supplying computer devices and components as requested by the customer.

• Software or system development service as requested by the customer.

• PIC based system, device and/or components as requested by the customer.

• After sales services and training.

• Computer or robotic programming training.

• Development of websites as requested by the customer.

• Development of digital billboard system as requested by customer.

5

CHAPTER 2

PIC18 MICROCONTROLER PROJECTS

2.1 Introduction

Many tasks were assigned throughout the duration Industrial Training. These

tasks can be separated into 3 groups, namely the main tasks, secondary tasks, and other

miscellaneous tasks.

The main tasks involved PIC18 microcontroller system development projects.

These projects started from basic and simple blink a light emitting diode (LED) projet

and grew more advanced into interfacing with external devices.

2.2 PIC18 Microcontroller and the PIC18F2550

PIC is a group of microcontroller family that were developed by Microchip

Technology Inc. back in the late 1980’s. It is the successor of General Instrument’s

Peripheral Interface Controller developed in 1970’s. PIC has become known for being

low cost, containing various built-in peripherals, having small form factor and having

extremely good design support by the manufacturer and PIC user community.

The PIC18 is the family of the highest performance 8-bit microcontroller from

Microchip (the baseline and midrange 8-bit PIC family are the PIC10, PIC12 and

PIC16). PIC18 contained much more on-chip memory and other more advanced

peripherals. PIC18 was designed and optimised to be programmed in C programming

language.

6

Figure 2.1: PIC18F2550 in 28 Pins DIP Form Factor

The microcontroller to be used throughout the Industrial Training is PIC18F2550

packaged in 28-pin Dual In-line Package (DIP). Some of the features of PIC18F255 are

32kBytes Flash program memory (16k instruction word), 2kBytes data memory, 24

input/output pins with most of them are multiplexed with other functions, 10-channel 10

bit analog to digital converter, 2 Capture/Compare/PWM (CCP) modules, 4 timer

modules (one 8-bit timer and three 16-bit timers), 3 external interrupts, USB module, et

cetera. PIC18F2550 supports in-circuit programming and it has various safety and fail-

safe features built-into the chip.

Figure 2.2: Pin Assignment of PIC18F2550 in DIP Form Factor

As a member of PIC18 family means that PIC18F2550 shares many similarities

with other devices in PIC18 family. For example, the source code written for

PIC18F2550 can be used with other PIC18s with little or no modification and vice

versa.

2.3 Common Components and Devices

Other than the PIC18F2550 microcontroller, there are other components and

devices that is used throughout all the main projects. These components and devices are

explained below.

7

Figure 2.3: Microchip PICkit3

Developed by Microchip, the manufacturer of PIC, PICkit3 is the device used to

program PIC microcontroller chips with the source code written in MPLAB IDE.

Figure 2.4: Breadboard

Breadboard is a board used to construct temporary electrical circuits used for

testing and prototyping an electrical or electronic system. Jumper wires are used to

create electrical connection on the breadboard. Beside that, a 5-volt power supply unit is

required to provide the electrical energy to power up the system constructed on the

breadboard.

To write and download the source code for PIC18F2550, a computer is needed.

This computer must run MPLAB IDE software and MPLAB C18 C compiler from

Microchip. MPLAB IDE is an integrated development environment software tool that is

used to write the source code, built the PIC microcontroller application project and

interface with the PIC microcontroller. MPLAB IDE supports all PIC microcontroller

devices and has built-in functions to simulate the source code and download the source 8

code into the PIC connected to the computer via PICkit3. To program in C programming

language, a C compiler is required and Microchip had developed MPLAC C18 C

compiler to compile source code in C language for PIC18 microcontrollers. MPLAB

C18 is be fully integrated into MPLAB IDE.

Figure 2.5: Screenshot of the Splash Screen MPLAB IDE

MPLAB IDE must run on a computer and PICkit3 must be connected using

universal serial bus (USB) to a computer running MPLAB IDE. The computer used for

the main projects had the specification as follows.

• Intel Core Duo T2450 @ 2.00GHz processor

• 2.50GBytes of main memory

• 32-bit Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 (6.1.7601 Build 7601) O/S

• MPLAB IDE version 8.85 with MPLAB C18 LITE version 3.36

2.4 Blinking an LED

The first project is nicknamed “Hello World” of microcontroller system. In this

project, an LED is connected to the PIC18F2550. The PIC18F2550 is to be downloaded

with program that will continuously send digital high and digital low signal out through

the output pin the LED is connected to to blink the LED. This is a simple project but it

is important as this is the platform to learn how to write C program for PIC18F2550 and

the basic of programming the PIC18F2550 microcontroller.

Components: 1 × Light emitting diode, 2 × 1kΩ resistor

9

Figure 2.6: Schematic Diagram of Blinking an LED Project

Figure 2.7: PICkit3 Connected to Program the PIC18F2550

Figure 2.8: Blinking an LED Project with the LED in On State

2.5 More LEDs

Second project is similar to the first project, but with 8 LEDs. All 8 LEDs are

connected to PORTB of PIC18F2550. The PIC18F2550 will send appropriate electrical

signals to these LEDs to generate light effect on the LEDs. First task is to write program

to blink all 8 LEDs. Next the program is edited to create different light effects on the

LEDs, such as blinking the LEDs alternately, leftward running light effect, rightward

10

running light effect, knight rider light effect, et cetera.

Components: 8 × Light emitting diode, 9 × 1kΩ resistor

Figure 2.9: Schematic Diagram of More LEDs Project

Figure 2.10: More LEDs Project Showing One of the Light Effects

2.6 Switches and LEDs

Next project is about input/output programming of PIC18F2550. In this project,

switches are used as input and is connected to PORTB of PIC18F2550. Output is in the

form of LEDs connected to PORTA and pin RC0 of PIC18F2550. Pin RC0 is used as

substitute for pin RA7 that is not available on PIC18F2550. The PIC18F2550 will read

the states of the switches and out put them to the LEDs. However, the LEDs is

connected in active-low configuration, thus PIC18F2550 has to invert the states from

the switches before output them to the LED.

11

Components: 8 × Light emitting diode (LED), 1 × 8-channel DIP switch array, 9 × 1kΩ

resistor, 1 × 8-channel SIP 1kΩ resistor

Figure 2.11: Schematic Diagram of Switches and LEDs Project

Figure 2.12: Switches and LEDs Project Showing Switches 2, 3, 7 and 8 Active

2.7 Switches and LED, Input/Output Control

This is a more advanced project, and this project combines Switches and LEDs

and More LEDs projects. In this project, the switches will determine which light effect

will be created on the LEDs. The state of the switches and the generated light effect is

as the table below.

Table 2.1: State of Switches and Light Effect

Active Switch Light Effect

1 Turn on all LEDs

2 Blink all LEDs

12

Table 2.1: Continue

3 Leftward running light effect

4 Rightward running light effect

8 Knight Rider light effect

Other conditions Turn off all LEDs

Components: 8 × Light emitting diode (LED), 1 × 8-channel DIP switch array, 9 × 1kΩ


Figure 2.13: Schematic Diagram of Switches and LEDs, Input/Output Control

Project

Figure 2.14: Switches and LEDs, Input/Output Control Project Showing Switch 8

Active Triggering Generation of Knight Rider Light Effect

2.8 Seven-Segment Displays

This is the first project involving external devices. Seven-segment displays are

used to display numerical data. Seven-segment displays are operated by providing

13

electrical signals that will turn the LEDs placed under each segments on the display. In

this project, PIC18F2550 will be interfacing directly with a 7-segment display to

continuously display counting sequence from 0 till 9. The bit sequence to interface with

the 7-segment display is stored in an array. The PIC18F2550 will enter a loop to count

from 0 till 9 and in every iteration PIC18F2550 will send the bit sequence in the array

that correspond to current count to the output port.

Components: 1 × common cathode seven-segment display, 2 × 1kΩ resistor

Figure 2.15: Schematic Diagram of Seven-segment Displays Project

Figure 2.16: Seven-segment Displays Project Showing Current Count 4

The lines of code that initialised the array with the bit sequence to interface with

the 7-segment display is included in Appendix A

2.9 Two Seven-segment Displays Multiplexing

This project used two seven-segment displays driven using the same port. The

14

common pin of both seven-segment displays are connected to RC0 and RC1, controlled

by PIC18F2550. In this project, the PIC18F2550 will read value from the switches, split

the value from the switches into two 4-bit nibbles and display the value of the upper

nibble on the left seven-segment display and the value of the lower nibble on the right

seven-segment display using look-up table array as in previous project.

This project went one step further by using the same port to interface with both

seven-segment displays. The common pin of both seven-segment displays functions as

enable pin to enable individual seven-segment display among the two. When sending

the bit pattern representing the value of upper nibble from the switches, PIC18F2550

will enable the left seven-segment display by sending digital low signal through RC1.

Likewise, when sending the bit pattern representing the value of lower nibble from the

switches, PIC18F2550 will enable the right seven-segment display by sending digital

low signal through RC0

Components: 2 × common cathode seven-segment display, 1 × 8-channel DIP switch

array, 3 × 1kΩ resistor, 1 × 8-channel SIP 1kΩ resistor

Figure 2.17: Schematic Diagram of Two Seven-segment Displays Multiplexing

Project

2.10 Binary Coded Decimal to Seven-segment Display Decoder/Driver IC

This project explored the use of binary-coded-decimal to seven-segment display

decoder/driver IC. BCD to 7-segment display decoder such as 7447 and 7448 ICs are

used to reduce the number of PIC18F2550's pins used and make 7-segment display

15

interfacing easier. Using a circuit similar to previous project, PIC18F2550 will only

send the value to be displayed on 7-segment display to BCD to seven-segment display

decoder and enable the required seven-segment display. This project should produce

same result as in two seven-segment displays multiplexing project.

Components: 1 × 7448 BCD to common cathode 7-segment display decoder, 2 ×

common cathode seven-segment display, 1 × 8-channel DIP switch array, 3 × 1kΩ


Figure 2.18: Schematic Diagram of Binary Coded Decimal to Seven-segment

Display Decoder/Driver IC Project

Figure 2.19: Binary Coded Decimal to Seven-segment Display Decoder/Driver IC

Project Showing “00” When Switches Are 000000002

16

2.11 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module Interfacing in 8-bit Mode

This project will make the PIC18F2550 interface with common 16×2

alphanumeric character LCD module in 8-bit mode. The PIC18F2550 will first initialise

the LCD module with the appropriate initialisation sequence for 8-bit interface mode.

Then the PIC18F2550 will sent the characters to be displayed on the LCD module one

by one. The flowchart of 8-bit mode initialisation is attached in Appendix B.

Components: 1 × 16×2 alphanumeric character liquid crystal display module, 1 × 1kΩ

resistor, 1 × 10kΩ potentiometer/variable resistor, 1 × pushbutton switch

Figure 2.20: Schematic Diagram of 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module

Interfacing in 8-bit Mode Project

Figure 2.21: 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module Interfacing in 8-bit Mode Project

17


Unlike the previous project, this project will utilise 4-bit interface mode of the

LCD module to reduce the number of PIC18F2550's pins used. The PIC18F2550 will

first initialise the LCD module with the initialisation sequence for 4-bit interface mode.

Then the PIC18F2550 will sent the characters to be displayed on the LCD module one

by one. The flowchart of 4-bit mode initialisation is attached in Appendix B.



Figure 2.22: Schematic Diagram of 16×2 Liquid Crystal Display Module

Interfacing in 4-bit Mode Project


18


16×1 LCD module is slightly more complicated because the left 8 characters are

from line 1, while the right 8 characters are from line 2 of common 16×2 LCD module.

In this project, PIC18F2550 will interface with the 16×1 LCD module in 4-bit mode.

PIC18F2550 will first initialise the 16×1 LCD module with initialisation sequence for

4-bit mode. Then it will send the characters to be displayed one by one while at the

same time being careful when addressing the characters' position on the 16×1 LCD

module's screen.



This project has the same schematic diagram as 16×2 LCD module interfacing in 4-bit

mode project.


2.14 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing

The last project performed during the industrial training is to use pic18f2550 to

interface with an 8×8 led matrix display. Interfacing with an 8×8 led matrix display

requires the PIC18F2550 to send bit sequences to the 8×8 led matrix display row by

19

row. The characters can be generated by sending appropriate bit sequences that will

light-up the individual LEDs on the 8×8 led matrix display accordingly. The characters

to be generated in this project are as the figure below.

Figure 2.25: The 5 Characters to be Generated On the 8×8 LED Matrix Display

The lines of code that initialised the array with the bit sequence to generate the 5

characters and interface with the 8×8 LED matrix display is included in Appendix A

Components: 1 × 8×8 LED matrix display, 9 × 1kΩ resistor, 1 × pushbutton switch

Figure 2.26: Schematic Diagram of 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing Project

20

Figure 2.27: 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing Project Showing the Fourth

Character

21

CHAPTER 3

PIC18 PROJECTS' DOCUMENTATION

3.1 Introduction

The secondary task is about documenting and explaining everything done in the

main projects. Despite being a secondary tasks, these tasks takes up most of the time

spend during Industrial Training. These tasks require the use of software to draw the

schematic circuits and the need to take pictures of the main projects.

3.2 Schematic Diagram Drawing

One of the activities done as secondary task is to draw the schematic diagrams

for all of the main projects. A computer aided drafting (CAD) tool is required to draw

the schematic diagrams and to make the diagrams look more presentable.

Figure 3.1: Screen Shot of KiCad Project Manager

22

The CAD tool used for this purpose is KiCad EDA Suite. KiCad is an open

source software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) made for designing

schematics of electronic circuits and printed circuit boards (PCB). KiCad is developed

by the KiCad Developers Team, and features an integrated environment with schematic

capture, bill of materials list, PCB layout and much more. [1]

Since KiCad software tool is a new exposure, first step is to learn to operate this

software. KiCad starts up as a project manager that will launch other software tool

depending on the task to be performed. To draw schematic diagrams, only Eeschema

software is used. Second step is to learn how to draw schematic diagrams in Eeschema.

Previous experience with other CAD software tools or software suite such as the Altera

Quartus II is very helpful.

Figure 3.2: Screen Shot Eeschema Showing Drawing of 8×8 LED Matrix Display

Interfacing Project's Schematic Diagram

Eeschema has all commonly used components preloaded, however some

component such as the 8×8 LED matrix display is not available in its default library,

thus this component has to be custom-made using the Eeschema Component Library

Editor.

23

Figure 3.3: Screen Shot Eeschema Component Library Editor Showing Drawing

for New 8×8 LED Matrix Display Component

When the schematic diagrams are done, they can be plotted (copied) to clipboard

to be used with other application software.

3.3 Documenting PIC18F2550 Projects

For every PIC project completed, it had to be documented for future reference.

The documentation is done using a word editor such as Microsoft Office Word.

Figure 3.4: Screen Shot from the Introductory Chapter of the Documentation

24

The documentation includes an introductory chapter to explain the what this

documentation is about, the PIC and PIC18F2550, the PICkit3, MPLAB IDE and

MPLAB C18, the C programming language to be used, and other related informations.

Figure 3.5: Screen Shot of the Documentation for Blinking An LED Project

The documentation for all of the PIC18 projects done must have the following

informations.

• Introduction – introduces about the project and what is the expected project's

outcome.

• List of Components – a list of all the components used in the projects. This part

also explain in detail about the components used, for example, how to used an

LCD module, its initialisation sequence and its instruction set, and how to use

and interface the PIC18F2550 with the components.

• The Circuit – shows the schematic diagram of the project being documented.

This part also explain how to construct the circuit shown in the schematic

diagram.

• The Steps – explains step by step the procedures to do the project. This part also

explain how to write the source code and what the source code do to the system.

• Known Issues – discussions about the possible issues that will arise while doing

the project.

• Source Code – the source code for the project being documented is included

25

here.

• Appendix – extra informations about the project and pictures of the complete

project.

3.4 Update Hitkr Website using BizAdmin

The third task included as the secondary task is to update the website of

http://www.hitkr.com.my/ with the project that had been performed. The website is

hosted on the company's web server that runs Siliconetics BizGate.

To update the webpage hosted using Siliconetics BizGate, the Siliconetics

BizAdmin is needed. The supervisor had first explained how to use Siliconetics

BizAdmin to upload new post and add pictures to the website.

Figure 3.6: Screen Shot of Siliconetics BizAdmin for Blinking An LED Project

26

Figure 3.7: Screen Shot while Adding Pictures using Siliconetics BizAdmin for

More LEDs Project

27

CHAPTER 4

MISCELLANEOUS TASKS

4.1 Introduction

Miscellaneous tasks are the tasks assigned that are not related to the main

projects and the secondary tasks.

4.2 ThinClient and ThinStation

ThinClient and ThinStation are computer networking devices that will utilise a

computer's resources to its maximum potential by sharing the host computer's resources

with other users at the same time.

Figure 4.1: ThinClient X300 System Showing the PCI Card and One of the

Terminals

The first task is to troubleshoot a ThinClient system. There are no documentation

28

and driver CDs available for the system. A ThinClient X300 system consist of a PCI

card and 3 access terminals. The 3 access terminals is connected to the PCI card via

straight-through cables.

Closer inspection on the PCI card revealed the manufacturer of the system,

which is NComputing. Browsed the website of NComputing for the drivers and other

related documentations. Searched the support and community site of NComputing and

the search returned that ThinClient X300 do not has driver for Windows 7 operating

system, support is only available for Windows XP operating system.

Figure 4.2: ThinStation Access Terminal

ThinStation is similar to ThinClient that it provide service to allow multiple

access to single computer resources to share the resource among multiple users. Unlike

ThinClient that uses a PCI card to provide the access, ThinStation accesses the server

computer through local area network (LAN). ThinStation has Windows CE installed and

this operating system will be loaded whenever the system is switched on. Access to

server computer is via Remote Desktop Connection service available by latest Windows

operating systems.

The task is to learn to use this system and develop an operating procedure to use

ThinStation system. First step is to create multiple user accounts on the computer that

will function as the server where ThinStation will access to. Next step is to run Remote

Desktop Connection service to request connection to the host computer b providing

correct username and password. This is where a problem arose.

29

ThinStation has no CMOS battery as in normal computers. This caused

ThinStation to revert to reset its time whenever it is switch on. Remote Desktop

Connection request will be turned down by the host computer if the time difference

between the requesting ThinStation system and the host computer is too large.

Therefore, the ThinStation's system time had to be configured before requesting access

via Remote Desktop Connection. When the time of the ThinStation system is

configured, and the provided username and password is correct, the host computer sill

grant access to ThinStation as the newly signed-in user.

4.3 Software Disc Packaging

The company produces software packaged in CDs and DVDs. These discs has to

be pack into proper packaging before the software discs is sent into the market.

Software discs packaging are performed from time to time and this process is done by

hand. Trainees are exposed to the methods used by small-scale companies to package

CDs and DVDs.

First of all, the new software discs need to be place into a CD/DVD case. Second

the labels of the software discs are added to the CD/DVD case. Then the software discs

in the CD/DVD case will be warped with the CD/DVD case jacket that contains

informations about the software discs. Next, this discs warped in CD/DVD case jacket

warping is inserted into a plastic film warping to protect the content from dusts and

improve its look. Once the discs is inserted into the plastic film warping, this plastic

film is sealed using a sealer. Once the plastic film warping is properly sealed, hot air is

blown to the plastic film to make the warping contract and tightly warp the content

inside. Then the end product will be checked for quality before it is placed into a box for

shipment.

4.4 Electrical Wiring

Another task done during the Industrial Training is to perform electrical wiring

around the company. The company is planning to add more computers and more plug

30

points are needed. The task is to wire electric cables to marked points where the new

computers will be placed.

Figure 4.3: Performing Electrical Wiring, Inserting the Cable Puller to Pull the

Electrical Cables.

Accurate measurements are taken before starting. Then the PVC pipes to be used

is measured and cut accordingly. Next, several holes are drilled into the wall to mount

the sockets and PVC pipes. The PVC pipes are also bended as needed. The sockets and

PVC pipes are then mounted to the wall. To pull the electrical cables through the PVC

piping, a cable puller is first inserted into the PVC pipes, then the electrical cables are

slowly pulled through the PVC piping. Final step is to strip the cables and fasten them

into the 3-pin plug socket points. The connection is tested for all plug points the check

for connectivity.

4.5 Acrylic Prototyping

One of the procedure while developing a new system is to build a prototype.

Acrylic sheet is one of the commonly used material for building prototypes. This task is

to expose to the basic of forming an acrylic sheet to build a prototype.

First of all, measurements had to be taken and marking of to cut and bend the

acrylic sheet is performed. Based on the marking of where the acrylic sheet is to be cut,

the sheet is scored using a scoring knife. The cut must be straight. Then the acrylic sheet

31

is break along the marking and the groove that was made when scoring the sheet. Once

the acrylic sheet is cut/broken, it can be bent into the desired shape. To bend the sheet

along the marking, a hot air blower is used to heat up and soften the acrylic sheet along

the line it will be bent. When the acrylic is soft enough, it can be bent easily. Bending of

the acrylic sheet is repeated on other markings to create the desired shape.

Figure 4.4: The End Product of Acrylic Sheet Shaping

4.6 Visit by Lecturer from UniMAP

On 14th August 2012 at 10.30am, Associate Professor Dr. Mohammud B. Che

Husain paid a visit to the company to check on my progress during Industrial Training.

A presentation is made, followed by discussion of what had been done during Industrial

Training.

32

CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Discussion

The projects from main task during Industrial Training used the PIC18F2550

microcontroller. This microcontroller technology is not taught in the School of

Computer and Communication Engineering. Thus the PIC18 is a new technology that I

learnt during Industrial Training at Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd.

Despite being unfamiliar with the PIC18, the Internet is a good source of

information about PIC18 and a book by Mazidi, M. A. (2008) titled “PIC

Microcontroller And Embedded Systems Using Assembly and C for PIC18” is a good

reference to learn PIC. Furthermore, although PIC has different architecture compare to

the microcontroller and microprocessor devices taught by SCCE, the same basic of

programming a microcontroler or microprocessor system is still the same.

The use of C programming language in writing the source code for programming

the PIC18F2550 makes programming easier. However this will require a C compiler

that is designed to compile the source code of PIC18. The drawback of using C

programming for this purpose is the lack of direct control of the microcontroler.

Programmer will limited access to certain function of the microcontroller compared to

programming in assembly language.

Documenting a project can be seen as an important task beacuse it can be used

as future reference.

33

5.2 Recommendation

Some of the courses taught in the university is using the technologies that is

considered outdated by the industry. The university should at least expose the students

to the use of latest technologies used in the industry to prepare the students for working

world.

34

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

6.1 Conclusion

Throughout the Industrial Training, many knowledge and experiences had been

gained. Knowledge about microcontroller devices other than the 8085 microprocessor

learnt in UniMAP showed that even with different devices with different architectures,

the basics learnt by using 8085 is still applicable. Beside that, the use of PIC18 has

many benefit as it is one of the widely used microcontroller technology in the market.

The use of C programming language to program the PIC showed that the knowledge

gained during the first year is not to be wasted as it can be used in future years.

Experiences gained throughout the Industrial Training showed that the training is

beneficial to train a student with the right attitude while working.

In a nutshell, the training stint at Siliconetics Research Corporation Sdn. Bhd.

for 12 weeks has many benefit. The exposure to current and latest technology, and the

new knowledge and experiences gained while undergoing Industrial Training is not to

be wasted and it can be used in the future.

35

REFERENCES

[1] KiCad, (2012). About KiCad, http://www.kicad-

pcb.org/display/KICAD/About+KiCad, 5 September 2012 : 09:40am.

[2] Mazidi, M.A., McKinlay, R.D. and Causey, D. (2008). PIC microcontroller and

embedded systems using assembly and C for PIC18, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle

River, NJ.

36

Appendix A (i): Array Initialisation of Bit Pattern For Common Cathode Seven-Segment Display Interfacing

const char seg7 [10] = { 0x3F, //bit pattern for number 0

0x06, //bit pattern for number 1

0x5B, //bit pattern for number 2

0x4F, //bit pattern for number 3


0x6D, //bit pattern for number 5

0x7D, //bit pattern for number 6


0x7F, //bit pattern for number 8

0x67 //bit pattern for number 9

};

37

Appendix A (ii): Array Initialisation of Bit Pattern For 8×8 LED Matrix Display Interfacing

unsigned char characters[NUMCHAR][8] = { {0x18, 0x38, 0x78, 0xff, //left arrow

0xff, 0x78, 0x38, 0x18},

{0x18, 0x3c, 0x7e, 0xff, //up arrow

0xff, 0x18, 0x18, 0x18},

{0x18, 0x1c, 0x1e, 0xff, //right arrow

0xff, 0x1e, 0x1c, 0x18},

{0x00, 0x66, 0xff, 0xff, //heart shape

0x7e, 0x3c, 0x18, 0x00},

{0b00000000, //smiley

0b01100110, //using binary

0b01100110,

0b10000001,

0b11000011,

0b01111110,

0b00111100,

0b00000000}

};

38

Appendix B (i): Flowchart of Initialisation Sequence of LCD Module for 8-bit Interface Mode

39

Appendix B (ii): Flowchart of Initialisation Sequence of LCD Module for 4-bit Interface Mode

40

Appendix C: C Program for 16×1 LCD 4-Bit Interfacing//C program for interfacing with 16x1 LCD module in 4-bit mode to display //text string “Hello World” centred on the screen#include <p18f2550.h>

#pragma config FOSC = INTOSCIO_EC //Internal oscillator, port function on RA6, EC used by USB #pragma config WDT = OFF //Disable watchdog timer#pragma config LVP = OFF //Disable LVP

#define lcd_rs LATBbits.LATB0 //label LATC2 as lcd_rs#define lcd_rw LATBbits.LATB1 //label LATC6 as lcd_rw#define lcd_en LATBbits.LATB2 //label LATC7 as lcd_en#define lcd_db LATB //label LATB as lcd_db

void delay(unsigned int); //prototype of delay() functionvoid lcd_cmd4(unsigned char); //prototype of lcd_cmd4() functionvoid lcd_dat4(unsigned char); //prototype of lcd_dat4() functionvoid lcd_init4(); //prototype of lcd_init4() function

void main(){ TRISB = 0x00; //PortB as output

lcd_init4(); //initialise LCD

lcd_cmd4(0x82); //set position 3 of line 1 (left half of LCD)lcd_dat4('H'); //send 'H' to LCDdelay(1); //short delaylcd_dat4('e'); //send 'e' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('l'); //send 'l' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('l'); //send 'l' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('o'); //send 'o' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4(' '); //send ' ' (space character) to LCD

lcd_cmd4(0xC0); //set position 0 of line 2 (right half of LCD)lcd_dat4('W'); //send 'W' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('o'); //send 'o' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('r'); //send 'r' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('l'); //send 'l' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('d'); //send 'd' to LCDdelay(1);lcd_dat4('!'); //send '!' to LCDdelay(1);

while (1);}

void lcd_init4(){ delay(15); //initial delay

lcd_cmd4(0x03);delay(5);lcd_cmd4(0x33); //8 bit, 2 lines, 5x7 font (system set)

41

Appendix C: C Program for 16×1 LCD 4-Bit Interfacinglcd_cmd4(0x32); //8 bit, 2 lines, 5x7 font (system set)

lcd_cmd4(0x28); //4 bit, 2 lines, 5x7 font (system set)lcd_cmd4(0x0E); //display on, cursor on, blinking(display)lcd_cmd4(0x01); //clear displaylcd_cmd4(0x06); //inc address, no shift(entry mode set)delay(1);

}

void lcd_cmd4(unsigned char commd){ unsigned char cmdhi, cmdlo;

cmdhi = commd & 0xF0; //store upper nibble in cmdhicmdlo = (commd << 4) & 0xF0; //store lower nibble in cmdlolcd_en = 0; //en initially lowlcd_rs = 0; //select command registerlcd_rw = 0; //to write command to lcd

lcd_db = cmdhi | 0b00000100; //place high nibble command and en highlcd_db = cmdhi | 0b00000000; //place high nibble command and en low

//(to activate LCDdelay(1); //delay for normal processing

lcd_db = cmdlo | 0b00000100; //place low nibble command and en highlcd_db = cmdlo | 0b00000000; //place low nibble command and en low

//(to activate LCD)// delay(1); //delay for processing}

void lcd_dat4(unsigned char datum){ unsigned char dathi, datlo;

dathi = datum & 0xF0; //store upper nibble in dathidatlo = (datum << 4) & 0xF0; //store lower nibble in datlolcd_en = 0; //en initially lowlcd_rs = 1; //select data registerlcd_rw = 0; //to write command to lcd

lcd_db = dathi | 0b00000101; //place high nibble command and en highlcd_db = dathi | 0b00000001; //place high nibble command and en low

//(to activate LCD)delay(1); //delay for processing

lcd_db = datlo | 0b00000101; //place low nibble command and en highlcd_db = datlo | 0b00000001; //place lwo nibble command and en low

// (to activate LCD)delay(1); //delay for processing

}

void delay(unsigned int passed){ unsigned int j, k;

for (j=0;j<passed;j++)for (k=0;k<10;k++);

}

42

Appendix D: Documentation for 8×8 LED Matrix Display Project

CHAPTER 3

Project 6

LED Matrices

Introduction

Another interesting display device that is commonly used is the LED matrix display.

This device is versatile and can be used to display any desired characters when

configured properly. It is also easy to use as it is built using only light emitting diodes

(LEDs) and internal connectors. LED matrix displays vary greatly in size according to

user’s preferences. The size of LED matrices ranges between as small as 4×4 and up

until as large as desired by the user that may contain more that thousands of individual

LEDs. The difference in size does not matter once the basic of interfacing with a LED

matrix in understood.

In this project, 8×8 LED matrix will be used to demonstrate how to interface with an

LED matrix to display 5 different characters.

When connecting and controlling external devices or peripherals, data are transmitted

using wires from output port of the microcontroller to specific pins on the external

devices. The pin assignment of the external device or peripheral plays important role

and different external devices has different number of pins and different pin

assignments. Understanding the function of each pins of the external devices is crucial,

thus it is advisable to refer to the datasheet of the external devices whenever it is to be

used before connecting to the PIC18.

Components

Computer with MPLAB IDE and MPLAB C18 installed

PICkit3 Debugger/Programmer with USB connector

43


5V power supply

Breadboard (Protoboard)

PIC18F2550

1 × 1kΩ resistor

8 × 330Ω resistor

1 × 8×8 LED matrix display

Jumper wires

LED matrix is a display device that is made up from many individual light emitting

diodes (LEDs) arranged in a matrix. This matrix can be in any size and there is no

restriction on what is the maximum size of the LED matrix. The LED matrix functions

just like an ordinary LED, it will light up when appropriate electrical current is applied

to the LED at the correct polarity. The basic construction of a 4×4 LED matrix is similar

to the figure below.

Figure 3.6.1: The Internal Circuitry of a 4×4 LED matrix

As shown above, the anodes of the LEDs placed in the same row are connected

together. The anodes of the LEDs at first row is connected to pin R1, the anodes of the

LEDs at second row is connected to R2 and so on. The same goes to the cathodes of the

LEDs. The cathodes of the LEDs at first column is connected to C1, the cathodes of the

LEDs at second column is connected to C2 and so on. The construction of almost all

LED matrix displays is the same as above, with slight variation. Some LED matrix

display vary in a way that the polarity of the internal LEDs are reversed with respect to

the diagram above, which mean that the anodes are connected to columns and cathodes

are connected to rows.

Different manufacturer has different configuration for their LED matrix displays and the

variety of sizes of LED matrix display available means that there are no standard pin

assignments for LED matrix displays. For example, let us take 2 different 8×8 LED

matrix displays and compare.

44


The first 8×8 LED matrix display has a total of 16 pins with 8 pins at each side. The

second 8×8 LED matrix display on the other hand has a total of 24 pins with 12 pins at

each side. That is more pins than needed for an 8×8 as only 8 pins for the rows and 8

pins for the column is enough to interface with the LED matrix display.

Figure 3.6.2: Two Different 8×8 LED matrix displays

Figure 3.6.3: The Back View of Two 8×8 LED Matrix Displays. The First LED

Matrix Display (Left) Has 16 Pins While the Second (Right) Has 24 Pins

As mentioned previously, both of these 8×8 LED Matrix Displays has different pin

number, thus different pin assignments. There are no markings on both displays to

indicate the functions of their pins or the polarity of the pins and the individual LED

inside of them. Therefore users have to determine the polarity of the pins and how the

pins are connected to the internal LEDs. To makes things easier, assume that row pins

are connected to anodes and column pins are connected to cathodes. A method that can

be used to determine the pins’ functions and polarity on a LED matrix display is to

45


supply power (VDD/VCC) and ground (VSS/GND) to the pins and see which LED lights up

on the display. A multimeter with diode test function may also be used to determine the

pins’ function and polarity of the LED matrix displays.

Figure 3.6.4: Testing the First LED Matrix Display Using a Multimeter with Diode

Test Function that Turns On the LED at Position Row4, Col6

Figure 3.6.5: Testing the Second LED Matrix Display Using a Multimeter with

Diode Test Function that Turns On the LED at Position Row5, Col6

Once the pins’ function and polarity are figured out, the LED matrix display can be used

to display any character that fits into its size. To turn on LEDs on the LED matrix

display, an electrical supply signal with appropriate polarity has to be applied to the

appropriate column and row pins. To turn on all individual LEDs on the matrix display,

supply power (VDD/VCC) to all row pins and ground (VSS/GND) to the column pins

46


Figure 3.6.6: All LEDs of the Two 8×8 LED Matrix Displays are Turned On

After testing both LED matrix displays, both displays have the pin assignments shown

below. Note that with the pin assignment as below, users can turn the matrix displays

around and the pin assignments are still the same. The row pins are anode and the

column pins are cathode.

Figure 3.6.7: Pin Assignments of Two 8×8 LED Matrix Displays. The First LED

Matrix Display (Left) Has 16 Pins While the Second (Right) Has 24 Pins

All LED matrix displays function in a similar way.

The Circuit (Schematic Diagram)

To build the circuit according to the circuit diagram shown below,

First connect the power pins of the PIC (VDD and VSS) to the power source and GND.

Connect to a 1kΩ pull-up resistor as in the previous projects. Then connect to a

push button switch before connecting the push button switch to ground. This will

function as a Master Clear reset switch for the PIC. The PIC will be reset when the

push button switch is pressed (Master CLear Reset).

Connect all the pins of PORTB to the row pins of the 8×8 LED matrix display. The

RB0 pin of PIC18F2550 is connected to R1 of the ×8 LED matrix display, the RB1

pin to R2 pin, RB2 pin to R3 and so on.

Connect all the pins of PORTA to column pins of the 8×8 LED matrix display. Since

PORTA has only 7 pins but there are 8 column pins on the 8×8 LED matrix display,

47


pin RC0 will be used to substitute as the eighth pin of PORTA (RA7). The RA0 pin of

PIC18F2550 is connected to C1 of 8×8 LED matrix display, pin RA1 to C2 and so

on till the last pin RA6 to C7. Lastly connect RC0 of PIC18 to C8 of the LED matrix

display.

To avoid burning the LEDs on the LED matrix display, pins of PORTA and RC0

should be connected to a resistor before connecting it to the column pins of the

LED matrix display.

The 8×8 LED matrix display used for this circuit is same as the first 8×8 LED matrix

display discussed above.

Schematic 3.5: Circuit Diagram to Interface with a 8×8 LED Matrix Display

Steps

48


1. Construct the circuit according to the schematic diagram. Below is an example of

the circuit.

Figure 3.6.8: The Circuit Constructed on Breadboard with the 8×8 LED

Matrix Display Removed. The Red Dots Mark Where the Pins of the

8×8 LED Matrix Display Will Be Plugged-In To.

Figure 3.6.9: The Circuit Constructed on Breadboard with the 8×8 LED

Matrix Display in Place

49


2. Open MPLAB IDE. Create a new project using Project Wizard. Navigate to

current project’s directory and add a .c file to the project.

3. This program will interface with the 8×8 LED Matrix Display to continuously

display 5 different characters in a sequence as below. The characters are displayed

on the 8×8 LED Matrix Display by creating the dots row by row. But this is done in

high speed such that the human eyes will see that all the dots are turned on at the

same time.

Figure 3.6.10: The Sequence from (Left to Right) of the Characters to

Be Displayed on the 8×8 LED Matrix Display

4. The program should first initialise the PIC with appropriate settings and

configurations. Then it will create an array to store the bit pattern to turn on the

individual LEDs on the matrix row by row. After that the program will enter a loop

that will continuously display the characters forever.

a. First setup the PIC with necessary configurations by adding the appropriate

#include, #pragma, function prototypes and other initialisation codes to the

.c file. There will be a function that will interface with the 8×8 LED matrix

display in this program.

#include <p18f2550.h>

#pragma config FOSC = INTOSCIO_EC //Internal oscillator, port

//function on RA6, EC used by USB

#pragma config WDT = OFF //Disable watchdog timer

#pragma config LVP = OFF //Disable LVP

#define NUMCHAR 5 //define number of characters

void dispMat(unsigned char, unsigned char); //function prototypes

void main()

{

}

50


b. Next create an array that will be initialised with the bit patterns of all 8 rows

of the 8×8 LED matrix display for 5 characters. This will be a 2-dimensional

array of 5×8. The array will has a total of 5 characters and 8 rows per

character. This array can be written in binary or hexadecimal. Every value in

the array is the bit pattern of which LED of the row has to be turned on to

build the character. The position of 0 in the value is where the LEDs will not

be turned on and position of 1 is where the LEDs will be turned on for any

given row. All characters have 8 rows. Below is the array to create the

characters in the sequence stated in step 3.

unsigned char characters[NUMCHAR][8] = {

{0x18,0x38,0x78,0xff, //left arrow

0xff,0x78,0x38,0x18}, //using hexadecimal

{0x18,0x3c,0x7e,0xff, //up arrow

0xff,0x18,0x18,0x18},

{0x18,0x1c,0x1e,0xff, //right arrow

0xff,0x1e,0x1c,0x18},

{0x00,0x66,0xff,0xff, //heart shape

0x7e,0x3c,0x18,0x00},

{0b00000000,0b01100110,//smiley

0b01100110,0b10000001,//using binary

0b11000011,0b01111110,

0b00111100,0b00000000}

}; //array of bit patterns for

// the 5 characters

c. In the main function, declare the variables to be used, and specify the

direction of our data on PORTA, PORTB and RC0. Add the following line into

the main function.

unsigned char cntr; //variables declaration

unsigned char outR; //indicate which row is active

unsigned char cntrR; //count number of row, maximum 8

unsigned char selChar; //count which character to be displayed

TRISA = 0x00; //PortA as Output

TRISB = 0x00; //PortB as Output

TRISCbits.TRISC0 = 0; //PortC.RC0 as Output

//initialise the declared variables

outR = 0x01; //start from row1

selChar = 0; //start with 1st character;

d. The operations should continue indefinitely. A loop forever structure is

needed

51


while(1) //loop forever

{

}

e. In the loop, create a for loop that will loop through the characters stored in

the array created in step 4(b).

for(selChar=0;selChar<NUMCHAR;selChar++)//loop between characters

{

}

f. In the for loop, create another for loop that will loop through every row of

the bit pattern. This loop will call a function dispMat() that will interface

with the 8×8 LED matrix display by sending the bit pattern of current row

pointed by selChar and cntrR variables. This loop will also activate next

row after the bit pattern of current row is sent to the LED matrix display

through dispMat().

//to turn on LEDs of current row and activate next row

for(cntrR=0;cntrR<8;cntrR++)

{ //call function to interface with the 8x8 LED matrix display

//send the characters pointed by selChar and cntrR variables in

//the array and which row will be activated to dispMat

dispMat(characters[selChar][cntrR],outR);

//activate next row

outR=outR<<1;

}

//start with column1 again

outR = 0x01;

g. After exiting this loop, the variable outR that indicates which row to be

activated has to be reset to start from R1 again.

h. Next is to create define the dispMat() function. This function will accept

the bit pattern of which LED of a given row to be turned on and the pattern of

which row need to be turned on. Remember that PORTB of PIC18F2550 is

connected to row pins of the 8×8 LED matrix display and PORTA (and RC0)

of PIC18F2550 is connected to the column pins of the LED matrix display

which is active low.

i. dispMat()has to format the information passed from function call to

interface with the 8×8 LED matrix display. The bit pattern to be sent to

52


column pins for each active row has to be inverted as the column pins are

active low. Study the function definition below.

//receive which row and which LED of the row to be turned on

//format the received data and send to 8x8 LED matrix display

void dispMat(unsigned char passA, unsigned char passB)

{ unsigned char outA;

//the column are active low,

//invert data passed by function call

outA=~passA;

//send row data

PORTB = passB;

//send column data on RC0 when RA7 should be on

PORTA = outA;

if(outA >= 0x80) //check status of RA7

{ PORTCbits.RC0 = 1; //on RC0 if RA7 on

}

else

{ PORTCbits.RC0 = 0; //off RC0 if RA7 off

}

}

5. Build All the project. Correct any error that occurred in the project and the

source code.

6. Select the PICkit3 as the programmer to be used and set the build configuration to

Release. Build the project again.

7. Connect the PICkit3 to the USB port of your computer and to the PIC. Make sure

that the pins of the PICkit3 are connected to the proper pins on the PIC18F2550.

Switch on the power supply. MPLAB IDE will detect the PICkit3 and the PIC

connected to it. Make sure that the PIC device attached to the PICkit3 is the same

device we had configured in above steps (PIC18F2550). Click OK at the Voltage

Caution dialog box that appears.

8. Download the program we had written into the PIC18F2550. Observe the output.

53


9. At this point you may not see any pattern or characters shown on the 8×8 LED

matrix display and all LEDs seem to be turned on. Add the following lines of codes

highlighted in yellow into the exact position as below. This lines of codes will force

the program the continuously generate each characters 150 times before changing

to next character in the sequence. It will also functions as a form of delay for every

characters.

for(selChar=0;selChar<NUMCHAR;selChar++) //loop between characters

{ //continously turn on LEDs row by row 150 times function as delay

//for each of the characters

for(cntr=0;cntr<150;cntr++)

{ //to turn on LEDs of current row and activate next row


{ //call function to interface with 8x8 LED matrix display

//send the characters pointed by selChar and cntrR

//variables in the array and

// which row will be activated to dispMat


//activate next row

outR=outR<<1;

}

//start with row1 again

outR = 0x01;

}

}

10. Build All the project and download the source code again. Observe the result.

11. Do changes to the array that stores the bit sequence to include your own character

design. Build All the project and download the source code again. Observe

that your own characters are displaying properly.

12. Change the condition of the statement for(cntr=0;cntr<150;cntr++) to

change the duration for each character to be displayed on the LED matrix display.

Known Issues

1. The characters displayed on the 8×8 LED matrix display is mirrored left to right

54


a. When storing the bit sequence of the LEDs to be turned on in the array, we

assume the LSB is at the right side of the string and the MSB is at the left side

of the string which is more natural to be looked at when coding. However the

LSB of PORTA is actually connected to C1 which is located at the left side of

the display and RC0 (MSB of PORTA) is connected to C8 located at the right

side of the display. This caused the mirroring of the character displayed on the

8×8 LED matrix display.

b. Change bit sequence of the LEDs to be turned on in the array so that the bit

sequence is the mirrored version of the original bit sequence. Or

c. Change the circuit such that RA0 is connected to C8, RA1 to C7 and so on till

lastly RC0 is connected to C1. Or

d. Add into the program a function that will produce the mirrored version the bit

sequence. Add the function call to this function right before sending the bit

sequence to the 8×8 LED matrix display. (This method is included into the

attached .c file below.)

The .c File

#include <p18f2550.h>

#pragma config FOSC = INTOSCIO_EC //Internal oscillator, port function on RA6

#pragma config WDT = OFF //Disable watchdog timer

#pragma config LVP = OFF //Disable LVP

#define NUMCHAR 5 //define number of characters

void dispMat(unsigned char, unsigned char); //function prototypes

unsigned char mirrorByte(unsigned char);

unsigned char characters[NUMCHAR][8] = { {0x18,0x38,0x78,0xff, //left arrow

0xff,0x78,0x38,0x18}, //using hexadecimal

{0x18,0x3c,0x7e,0xff, //up arrow

0xff,0x18,0x18,0x18},

{0x18,0x1c,0x1e,0xff, //right arrow

0xff,0x1e,0x1c,0x18},

{0x00,0x66,0xff,0xff, //heart shape

0x7e,0x3c,0x18,0x00},

{0b00000000, //smiley

0b01100110, //using binary

0b01100110,

55


0b10000001,

0b11000011,

0b01111110,

0b00111100,

0b00000000}

}; //the characters

void main() //main function

{ unsigned char cntr, outR; //variables declaration

unsigned char cntrR, selChar;

TRISA = 0x00; //PortA as Output

TRISB = 0x00; //PortB as Output

TRISCbits.TRISC0 = 0; //PortC.RC0 as Output

//initialise the declared variables

outR = 0x01; //start from row1

selChar = 0; //start with 1st character

while(1) //loop forever

{ for(selChar=0;selChar<NUMCHAR;selChar++) //loop between characters

{ //continously turn on LEDs row by row 150 times function as delay

//for each of the characters

for(cntr=0;cntr<150;cntr++)

{ //to turn on LEDs of current row and activate next row


{ //call function to interface with 8x8 LED matrix

//display send the characters pointed by selChar

//and cntrR variables in the array and

// which row will be activated to dispMat()


//activate next row

outR=outR<<1;

}

//start with row1 again

outR = 0x01;

}

}

}

}

//receive which row to activate and which LED of the row to be turned on

//format the received data and send to 8x8 LED matrix display

void dispMat(unsigned char passA, unsigned char passB)

{ unsigned char outA;

//the column are active low, invert data passed by function call

outA=~passA;

56


//mirror the data left and right

outA = mirrorByte(outA);

//send row data

PORTB = passB;

//send column data on RC0 when RA7 should be on

PORTA = outA;

if(outA >= 0x80) //check status of RA7

{ PORTCbits.RC0 = 1; //on RC0 if RA7 on

}

else

{ PORTCbits.RC0 = 0; //off RC0 if RA7 off

}

}

//function to left-right mirror a byte string

unsigned char mirrorByte(unsigned char toMirror)

{ unsigned char mirrored=0x00, cnt8;

for(cnt8=0;cnt8<8;cnt8++)

{ mirrored = mirrored<<1;

mirrored = mirrored | (toMirror & 0x01);

toMirror = toMirror>>1;

}

return mirrored;

}

Appendix

57


Figure 3.6.11: First Character, Left Arrow

Figure 3.6.12: Second Character, Up Arrow

Figure 3.6.13: Third Character, Right Arrow

58


Figure 3.6.14: Fourth Character, Heart Shape

Figure 3.6.15: Fifth Character, Smiley

59

Documents

EIT300 InTra report