Tag Archives: mpide


chipKIT Tutorial 5: Pulse width modulation (PWM)

Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a technique of controlling the amount of power delivered to an electronic load using an on-off digital signal. The key idea behind this technique is that the average DC value of the digital signal, and hence the power delivered to the load, can be varied by varying the duty cycle of the signal. This method is commonly used for controlling speeds of DC motors and brightness of lamps. The switching mode power supplies are also based on the PWM technique. In this tutorial, we will discuss about the PWM pins of the chipKIT Uno32 board and illustrate the concept by controlling the brightness of two external LEDs.

PWM

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Getting acquainted with the chipKIT programming tool

The overall process of designing a microcontroller-based system is divided into  two parts: designing the hardware of the system, and writing the control software for it. Before the design cycle begins, it is important to have good knowledge of the tools available for the chosen development platform. While we already explored the hardware features of the chipKIT UNO32 board in Exploring the chipKIT Uno32 board, it’s time to look at the software development process. The flowchart below gives an overview of how an application program is developed for the chipKIT board.

Software development process for the chipKIT board

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