biology

PIC microcontrollers

PIC microcontrollers is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand PIC microcontrollers rather than just read about it. In short: PIC (usually pronounced ) is a family of microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology, derived from the PIC1640 originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. The name PIC initially referred to Peripheral Interface Controller, and was subsequently expanded for a short time to include Programmable Intelligent Computer, though the name PIC is no longer used as an acronym for any term.

Key takeaways

PIC microcontrollers belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect PIC microcontrollers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of PIC microcontrollers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

PIC (usually pronounced ) is a family of microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology, derived from the PIC1640 originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. The name PIC initially referred to Peripheral Interface Controller, and was subsequently expanded for a short time to include Programmable Intelligent Computer, though the name PIC is no longer used as an acronym for any term. The first parts of the family were available in 1976; by 2013 the company had shipped more than twelve billion individual parts, used in a wide variety of embedded systems. The PIC was originally designed as a peripheral for the General Instrument CP1600, the first commercially available single-chip 16-bit microprocessor. To limit the number of pins required, the CP1600 had a complex highly-multiplexed bus which was difficult to interface with, so in addition to a variety of special-purpose peripherals, General Instrument made the programmable PIC1640 as an all-purpose peripheral. With its own small RAM, ROM and a simple CPU for controlling the transfers, it could connect the CP1600 bus to virtually any existing 8-bit peripheral. While this offered considerable power, GI's marketing was limited and the CP1600 was not a success. However, GI had also made the PIC1650, a standalone PIC1640 with additional general-purpose I/O in place of the CP1600 interface. When the company spun off their chip division to form Microchip in 1985, sales of the CP1600 were all but dead, but the PIC1650 and successors had formed a major market of their own, and they became one of the new company's primary products. Early models only had mask ROM for code storage, but with its spinoff it was soon upgraded to use EPROM and then EEPROM, which made it possible for end-users to program the devices in their own facilities. All current models use flash memory for program storage, and newer models allow the PIC to reprogram itself. Since then the line has seen significant change; memory is now available in 8-bit, 16-bit, and, in latest models, 32-bit wide. Program instructions vary in bit-count by family of PIC, and may be 12, 14, 16, or 24 bits long. The instruction set also varies by model, with more powerful chips adding instructions for digital signal processing functions. The hardware implementations of PIC devices range from 6-pin SMD, 8-pin DIP chips up to 144-pin SMD chips, with discrete I/O pins, ADC and DAC modules, and communications ports such as UART, I2C, CAN, and even USB. Low-power and high-speed variations exist for many types. The manufacturer supplies computer software for development known as MPLAB X, assemblers and C/C++ compilers, and programmer/debugger hardware under the MPLAB and PICKit series. Third party and some open-source tools are also available. Some parts have in-circuit programming capability; low-cost development programmers are available as well as high-volume production programmers. PIC devices are popular with both industrial developers and hobbyists due to their low cost, wide availability, large user base, an extensive collection of application notes, availability of low cost or free development tools, serial programming, and re-programmable flash-memory capability.

History

Original concept

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with PIC microcontrollers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what PIC microcontrollers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to PIC microcontrollers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about PIC microcontrollers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of PIC microcontrollers

In research: PIC microcontrollers appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses PIC microcontrollers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: PIC microcontrollers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics General Instrument, Microchip Technology hardware, Microcontrollers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for PIC microcontrollers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study PIC microcontrollers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what PIC microcontrollers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain PIC microcontrollers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is PIC microcontrollers in simple terms?

Why does PIC microcontrollers matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study PIC microcontrollers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on PIC microcontrollers.