Lab 12: Basics of LED dot matrix display
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 interface with a microcontroller to display static characters and symbols. We will cover the animation stuff in next tutorial. I am using the PIC18F2550 microcontroller on the StartUSB for PIC board for demonstration, but this technique is applicable to any other microcontrollers that have sufficient I/O pins to drive the LED matrix.
Interfacing a LED dot matrix display with a PIC microcontroller