TABLE OF CONTENTS Microcontrollers provide the building blocks that support almost every device and piece of equipment that defines modern life. Mobile phones, digital cameras and media players are obvious examples. Larger pieces of domestic equipment like dish washers, washing machines and central heating controllers are today expected to be controlled by microcontrollers too. Other less well known applications include rechargeable batteries for some mobile phones, which use a microcontroller to ensure safe charging and authenticate that the battery is genuine, ink cartridges for printers that report use by date and ink level to the printer, and disposable temperature loggers the size of a 1 coin which can be attached to pallets of food or packages containing perishable medicines in refrigerated transport to show that they have not been exposed to out-of-specification conditions.
Microcontroller applications are categorized into three basic types:
stand-alone devices that interact with people, but do not need to interact with other systems, for example thermometers, pedometers, calculators and hand-held translators;
devices that interact with their environment or users and other systems, for example infra-red remote controls, media players, mobile phones, computer mice and burglar alarm sensors;
devices that perform automated functions when they are triggered and may optionally be connected to other equipment, like car washes, automatic wheel-balancing machines and CD players.
Microcontrollers are available in a range of sizes, complexities and with different on-chip peripherals. Most 8- and 16-bit micros are packaged in plastic dual-in-line or surface-mount packages with pin counts between 14 and...
