Chapter one

Fundamentals of
Microprocessors and
Microcontroller
Contents
 Introduction to the microprocessor and micro-
controller
 Types of memory
 Input/output module (analog and digital )
A little History
 What is a computer?
 [Merriam-Webster Dictionary] one that
computes; specifically : programmable
electronic device that can store, retrieve, and
process data.
 [Wikipedia] A computer is a machine that
manipulates data according to a list of
instructions.
Microcomputer system
Basic functions of parts of microcomputer
system
 Input – accepts coded information from human
operators, from electromechanical devices (such
as keyboards), or from other digital medium via
digital communication lines.
 The information received is either stored in the
memory or immediately used by the arithmetic
and logic unit (ALU) to perform the desired
operations.
 The results are sent back out through the output
medium.
 All actions are coordinated through the control
unit.
 Classification of Computers (power and price)
 Personal computers
 Mainframes
 Supercomputers
 Dedicated controllers – Embedded controllers
Mainframes

 Massive amounts of memory

 Use large data words…64 bits or greater
 Mostly used for military defense and large
business data processing
 Examples: IBM 4381, Honeywell DPS8
Personal Computers
 Any general-purpose computer
 intended to be operated directly by an end user
 Range from small microcomputers that work with 4-bit words
to PCs working with 32-bit words or more
 They contain a Processor - called different names
 Microprocessor – built using Very-Large-Scale
Integration technology; the entire circuit is on a
single chip
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 Microprocessor Unit (MPU) – similar to CPU
Supercomputers
 Fastest and most powerful mainframes
 Contain multiple central processors (CPU)
 Used for scientific applications, and number crunching
 Now have teraflops performance
 FLoating Point Operations Per Second (FLOPS)
 Used to measure the speed f the computer
 Examples of special-purpose supercomputers:
 Belle, Deep Blue, and Hydra, for playing chess
 Reconfigurable computing machines or parts of machines
 GRAPE, for astrophysics and molecular dynamics
 Deep Crack, for breaking the DES cipher
 MDGRAPE-3, for protein structure computation
Microcontrollers –
Embedded Systems

 An embedded system is a special-purpose computer

system designed to perform one or a few dedicated
functions often with real-time
 An integrated device which consists of multiple devices
 Microprocessor (MPU)
 Memory
 I/O (Input/Output) ports
 Often has its own dedicated software
A little about
Microprocessor-based
Systems ……
 A microprocessor - also known as a CPU or
central processing unit - is a complete
computation engine that is fabricated on a single
chip. The first microprocessor was the Intel
4004, introduced in 1971. The 4004 was not
very powerful - all it could do was add and
subtract, and it could only do that 4 bits at a
time. But it was amazing that everything was on
one chip. Prior to the 4004, engineers built
computers either from collections of chips or
from discrete components (Transistors and
such). The 4004 powered one of the first
portable electronic calculators.
Evolution
 First came transistors
 Integrated circuits
 SSI (Small-Scale Integration) to ULSI
 Very Large Scale Integration circuits (VLSI)
 1- Microprocessors (MPU)
 Microcomputers (with CPU being a microprocessor)
 Components: Memory, CPU, Peripherals (I/O)
 Example: Personal computers
 2- Microcontroller (MCU)
 Microcomputers (with CPU being a microprocessor)
 Many special function peripheral are integrated on a single
circuit
 Types: General Purpose or Embedded System (with special
functionalities)
 Microprocessor-Based Systems

• Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• Memory
• Input/Output (I/O) circuitry
• Buses
– Address bus
– Data bus
– Control bus
MPU

GP-
CLK Reg
CPU

CPU

Arithmetic
Register Microprocessor-based System
Logic
Arrays
Unit

Control Unit
Buses: Address, Data, and Control
Bus Structure
 Bus - a group of parallel wires that transfer
information from one part of the computer to
another.
 Control Bus
synchronizes the actions of all of the
devices attached to the system bus.
 Address Bus
passes the addresses of instructions and
data between the CPU and memory (or I/O).
 Data Bus
transfers instructions and data between the
CPU and memory (or I/O).
 The three components – MPU, memory, and I/O – are connected by a
group of wires called the BUS

 Address bus
 consists of 16, 20, 24, or 32 parallel signal lines (wires) - unidirectional
 these lines contain the address of the memory location to read or written
 Control bus
 consists of 4 to 10 (or more) parallel signal lines
 CPU sends signals along these lines to memory and to I/O ports
 examples: Memory Read, Memory Write, I/O Read, I/O Write

 Data bus
 consists of 8,16, or 32 parallel signal lines
 bi-directional
 only one device at a time can have its outputs enabled,
 this requires the devices to have three-state output
Microprocessor
 The microprocessor (MPU) is a computing and
logic device that executes binary instructions in a
sequence stored in memory.
 Characteristics:
 General purpose central processor unit (CPU)
 Binary
 Register-based
 Clock-driven
 Programmable
Microprocessor

 the “brains” of the computer

 its job is to fetch instructions, decode them, and then execute them
 8/16/32/etc –bit (how it moves the data

 contains:

Arithmetic
Register
Logic
Arrays
Unit

Control Unit
Inside the CPU
 Control Unit (CU)
coordinates the sequencing of steps
involved in executing machine instructions
 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
performs arithmetic and logical operations
 Registers
storage locations
 Clock
synchronizes the internal operations of the
CPU with the other system components
 Memory
 Memory is a group of registers
 16 register – address: 0-15 – in binary: 0-
1111; Address lines: A0-A3
 Serves two major purposes
 storing the binary codes for the sequence of
instructions specified by programs (program)
 storing binary data that the computer needs
to execute instructions (data)
Memory Types

 R/W: Read/Write Memory; also called RAM

 It is volatile (losses information as power is removed)
 Write means the processor can store information

 Read means the processor can receive information from

the memory
 Acts like a Blackboard!

 ROM: Read-Only memory;

 It is typically non-volatile (permanent) – can be erasable

 It is similar to a Page from your textbook

Memory Classification

Expensive Cheap
Onetime programmable
Fast/ Slow
Electronically Erasable
PROM
Erasable ROMs
 Marked Programmed ROM
 Programmed by the manufacturer
 Programmable ROM (PROM)
 Can be programmed in the field via the programmer
 Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM)
 Uses ultraviolet light to erase (through a quartz window)
 OTP refers to one-time programmable
 Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM)
 Each program location can be individually erased
 Expensive
 Requires programmer
 FLASH
 Can be programmed in-circuit (in-system)
 Easy to erase (no programmer)
 Only one section can be erased/written at a time (typically 64 bytes at a time)
I/O Ports

 The way the computer communicates with the

outside world devices
 I/O ports are connected to Peripherals
 Peripherals are I/O devices
 Input devices
 Output devices
 Examples
 Printers and modems,
 keyboard and mouse
 scanner
 Universal Serial Bus (USB)
So what are
microcontrollers?
First Microcontrollers
 IBM started using Intel processors in its PC
 Intel started its 8042 and 8048 (8-bit
microcontroller) – using in printers
 Apple Macintosh used Motorola
 1980 Intel abandoned microcontroller business
 By 1989 Microchip was a major player in
designing microcontrollers
 PIC: Peripheral Interface Controller
Embedded controllers

 Used to control smart machines

 Examples: printers, auto braking systems
 Also called microcontrollers or
microcontroller units (MCU)
Embedded controllers
Software Characteristics
 No operating systems
 Execute a single program, tailored exactly to the
controller hardware
 Assembly language (vs. High-level language)
 Not transportable, machine specific
 Programmer need to know CPU architecture
 Speed
 Program size
 Uniqueness
Microcontroller Unit (MCU)
 Definition
- An integrated electronic computing and logic device that
includes three major components on a single chip
 Microprocessor
 Memory
 I/O ports
 It Includes support devices
 Timers
 A/D converter
 Serial I/O
 Parallel Slave Port
 All components connected by common communication
lines called the system bus.
Microcontroller basics
 Block diagram of a microcontroller system
MCU Architecture
 RISC (Harvard)
 Reduced instruction set computer
 Simple operations
 Simple addressing modes
 Longer compiled program bust faster to execute
 Uses pipelining
 CISC (Von Neuman)
 Complex instruction set computer
 More complex instructions (closer to high-level
language support)
Types of microcontrollers
Main 8-bit Controllers
 Microchip
 RISC architecture (reduced instruction set computer)
 Has sold over 2 billion as of 2002
 Cost effective and rich in peripherals
 Motorola
 CISC architecture
 Has hundreds of instructions
 Examples: 68HC05, 68HC08, 68HC11
 Intel
 CISC architecture
 Has hundreds of instructions
 Examples: 8051, 8052
 Many difference manufacturers: Philips, Dallas/MAXIM Semiconductor, etc.
 Atmel
 RISC architecture (reduced instruction set computer) –
 Cost effective and rich in peripherals
 AVR
  A semiconductor
Memory storage device
consisting of registers
that store binary bits
 Two major categories
 Read/Write Memory
(R/WM)
 Read-only-Memory
(ROM)
Symbolic Representation of Memory
Contents
 Addresses Registers
What is the address bus value?

CODE: PORT A = 8000H

READ PORT A PORT B = 8001H
WRITE PORT B

STOP
Fetch / Decode /
Execute
Software: High-level Language

Assembly Language
From Machine to High-Level Machine Language
Languages (1 of 3)
 Machine Language: binary instructions
 Allprograms are converted into the machine
language of a processor for execution

 Difficult
to decipher and write
 Prone to cause many errors in writing
 High-level Language

Assembly Language
Software: From Machine Machine Language
to High-Level Languages (2 of 3)
 Assembly Language: machine instructions
represented in mnemonics
 Has one-to-one correspondence with machine
instructions
 Efficient in execution and use of memory;
machine-specific and not easy to troubleshoot
 High-level Language

Software: From Machine Assembly Language

Machine Language
to High-Level Languages (3 of 3)
 High-Level Languages (such as BASIC, C,
and C++)
 Writtenin statements of spoken languages
(such as English)
 machine independent
 easy to write and troubleshoot

 requires large memory and less efficient in

execution
Design Examples …..

Microcontrollers vs. Microprocessors

MPU-Based Time
and Temperature System
MCU-Based Time
and Temperature System
Microprocessor and microcontroller
Microprocessors Microcontrollers
Used for high performance Yes No
applications
Require external memory and Yes No
hardware
Used in desktop and laptop Yes NO
computers
Memory and IO on chip NO YES
Application specialized less NO YES
flexible
Architecture Von Neumann Harvard