WEEK 10 - Saturday

Hardware:

1. TOOLSTICK 850-B-SK

The TOOLSTICK850-B-SK starter kit is a very low cost, easy to use development system that allows designers to develop and debug application firmware directly on the target C8051F85x/6x microcontrollers using the Silicon Labs IDE. The C8051F85x/6x is a highly integrated AEC-Q100 qualified microcontroller product family without any compromise on features or performance. The ToolStick development platform consists of two components, the ToolStick base adapter and a daughter card. The ToolStick base adapter provides a USB debug interface and data communications path between a Windows PC and a target microcontroller. The target microcontroller and application circuitry are located on the daughter card. Some daughter cards, such as the C8051F850 daughter card are used as general purpose development platforms for the target microcontrollers and some are used to demonstrate a specific feature or application.

• Pushbutton switches, current measure jumper, power LED and potentiometer
• 25MIPS 8051 core
• 2KB to 8KB flash
• 512Byte/256Byte RAM options
• 12bit, 200KSPS multi channel ADC
• Integrated 24.5MHz (±2% accuracy) oscillator
• Integrated 80KHz low frequency oscillator
• Up to 18 GPIO's
• Two analog comparators
• Precision voltage reference

    

    2. LCD 16x2

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen is an electronic display module and find a wide range of applications. A 16x2 LCD display is very basic module and is very commonly used in various devices and circuits. These modules are preferred over seven segments and other multi segment LEDs. The reasons being: LCDs are economical; easily programmable; have no limitation of displaying special & even custom characters (unlike in seven segments), animations and so on.

A 16x2 LCD means it can display 16 characters per line and there are 2 such lines. In this LCD each character is displayed in 5x7 pixel matrix. This LCD has two registers, namely, Command and Data.

The command register stores the command instructions given to the LCD. A command is an instruction given to LCD to do a predefined task like initializing it, clearing its screen, setting the cursor position, controlling display etc. The data register stores the data to be displayed on the LCD. The data is the ASCII value of the character to be displayed on the LCD.

3. Resistor

A passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. Resistors act to reduce current flow, and, at the same time, act to lower voltage levels within circuits.  Resistors are used to limit current flow, to adjust signal levels, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines among other uses.

4. Capacitor

A passive two-terminal electrical component used to store electrical energy temporarily in an electric field. The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all contain at least two electrical conductors (plates) separated by a dielectric. Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in many common electrical devices. Unlike a resistor, an ideal capacitor does not dissipate energy. Instead, a capacitor stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field between its plates.

5. Switch button

An electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another.

6. Crystal Oscillator

An electronic oscillator circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a precise frequency. This frequency is commonly used to keep track of time, as in quartz, to provide a stable clock signal for digital integrated circuits.

7. Battery 5V

 A device consisting of two or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Each cell has a positive terminal, or cathode, and a negative terminal, or anode. The terminal marked positive is at a higher electrical potential energy than is the terminal marked negative. The terminal marked positive is the source of electrons that when connected to an external circuit will flow and deliver energy to an external device. When a battery is connected to an external circuit,electrolytes are able to move as ions within, allowing the chemical reactions to be completed at the separate terminals and so deliver energy to the external circuit.