Natalie C. Landon-Brace edited PIC.tex  about 10 years ago

Commit id: f66d91aae011407e3befb3e16d449c98f44cf65a

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\subsection{Problem Assessment}  With the PIC, the problem can be broken into several parts:  \begin{enumerate}  \item Receiving and interpreting signals from the operator.  \item Sending required signals to stepper motors.  \item Sending required signals to servo motors.   \item Determining whether the light is present. 

\end{enumerate}  \subsection{Solution}  \subsubsection{Selection of the Microcontroller}  The design team selected the PIC16F877 as the microcontroller for the machine. There were other varieties of PIC chips and microprocessors which could be used to control the machine however, microprocessors are unnecessarily powerful for the scale of this project and the PIC16F877 provides all necessary functionality while having several advantages over other PIC chips, leading to its selection.   The advantages to the PIC16F877 are: 

\item Support - since the PIC16F877 is the recommended microcontroller for this project, it comes with a large support community. Most of the information provided in project documentation describes the PIC16F877, in addition to the online support community of previous users, many of whom have used the PIC16F877. This means that it should be possible to rectify issues which may arise during programming of the microcontroller more quickly.  \item Involvement - The smaller instruction set of the PIC16 family compared to the PIC18 family means that the design team can develop increased competency in programming the microcontroller. This will ensure that greater care is taken in the programming and that the microcontroller’s function will be better understood, increasing the likelihood of developing reliable software.  \end{itemize}  \subsubsection{Selection of the Microcontroller}  \subsection{Supporting Calculations and Computer Programs}  \subsection{Suggestions for Improvement}