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Lab 12: Basics of LED dot matrix display

Posted on April 28, 2011 by R-B 49 comments

We covered how to interface seven segment LED displays to a PIC microcontroller in two sections: Lab 6 and Lab 11. Today, we will move on to interfacing an LED dot matrix display. LED dot matrices are very popular means of displaying information as it allows both static and animated text and images. Perhaps, you have encountered them at gas stations displaying the gas prices, or in the public places and alongside highways, displaying advertisements on large dot matrix panels. In this experiment, we will discuss about the basic structure of a monochrome (single color) LED dot matrix and its

Lab 11: Multiplexing seven segment LED displays

Posted on March 28, 2011 by R-B 54 comments

In Lab 6, we discussed about interfacing a seven segment LED display to a PIC microcontroller. The seven segments were driven individually through separate I/O pins of the microcontroller. If we do just like that then for 4 seven segment LED displays, 28 I/O pins will be required, which is quite a bit of resources and is not affordable by mid-range PIC microcontrollers. That’s why a multiplexing technique is used for driving multiple seven segment displays. This tutorial shows how to multiplex 4 common anode type seven segment LED displays with a PIC16F628A microcontroller.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) with a microcontroller

Posted on February 18, 2011 by R-B Leave a comment

RFID is a technology that uses radio waves for transmitting the identity (unique serial number) of an object or a person. If you have an electronic key to access your office building, it probably uses the same technology. An RFID system has a reader and a transponder (also called tag). The reader transmits electromagnectic waves in its surrounding through an antenna system, and when a tag passes passes through the zone, it is activated and the reader can read the identification data stored inside the electronic tag.

How to measure capacitance with a microcontroller?

Posted on February 15, 2011 by R-B 2 comments

Microcontrollers are widely used in measuring various physical variables. The techniques involved in the measurements could be different for individual variable type and are mostly based on the characteristics of the variables to be measured. This tutorial describes some methods for measuring the capacitance of a capacitor using microcontrollers. The techniques use the characteristics of the capacitor itself and are therefore universal and can be easily implemented with any microcontrollers.

Theory of Matrix Keypad

Posted on February 13, 2011 by R-B One comment

Tact switches are widely used as digital input devices. Normally one tact switch requires one digital I/P pin of a microcontroller but if you want to interface a matrix of such switches (say a 16 digit keypad), assigning a digital I/O pin for each key won’t be a good idea. You need to think about the way to minimize the required number of digital I/O pins of microcontroller. A very popular method is a keypad matrix where the keys are arranged into rows and columns so that a 4×4 (16) tact switches can be interfaced to a microcontroller using only

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