16.1: Introduction

Arguably, the first commercial microprocessor was the Intel 4004 released in 1971. It was a four bit processor and was comprised of a series of ICs. A year later, Intel released the 8008, an eight bit processor on a single chip. The remainder of the decade saw the development of numerous microprocessor and microcontroller lines from various manufacturers including the 8088, Z80, 6502, 6809 and 68000 to name a few. These served as the core of the first generation of home computers. Their performance, while impressive for the day, pales in comparison with modern processors. Many used clock frequencies in the 1 to 5 MHz region and could access only modest amounts of memory (typically less than one megabyte). Integration of electronic control into everyday consumer items such as cars, microwave ovens and TVs, gained momentum during this time yielding the microcontroller. A microcontroller can be thought of as a specialized microprocessor. Typically, they do not have the computational power of microprocessors but instead feature other functional blocks that are useful when interfacing to sensors, actuators, display devices and the like that are found in consumer or industrial electronics.

While the design of any particular microcontroller will be unique, there are certain themes and elements that are consistent. Unlike a microprocessor used in a personal computer, a microcontroller is generally an all-in-one solution designed to reduce cost and save space. For example, the code and data space requirements for an embedded application tend to be quite small compared to traditional desktop applications. Consequently, all memory is included on the microcontroller (not to be confused with the cache memory found on microprocessors which exists primarily to increase the computational speed of the unit). Further, the microcontroller will include functional blocks such as independent programmable timers, general purpose digital input/output (GPIO) ports and analog input ports featuring ADCs with eight or more bits of resolution. Some controllers also contain digital to analog converters for direct analog signal generation or other specialized blocks for dealing with serial communications, wireless communications and so forth. As a microcontroller can have a large number of these interface blocks, it is not always cost effective to dedicate external IC pins for each and every input and output function. Consequently, pins are usually multiplexed, each offering multiple possible uses. For example, a specific pin might be programmed for digital input, digital output or a pulse-width modulated output (obviously, not simultaneously).

As mentioned in Chapter Two, processors might use a shared memory scheme for code and data (Von Neumann architecture) or a split memory scheme (Harvard architecture). Harvard architecture is somewhat less flexible but it allows for faster processing as the processor can fetch new instructions very quickly and without any collision with data access. In the case of microcontrollers, it is worth noting that the memory holding the code must be non-volatile otherwise the control program will cease to exist once power is cycled.

The other major item of importance in microprocessor/microcontroller architecture is the type of instruction set used. The two basic choices are CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) and RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing). A CISC processor contains instructions that might offer several low-level steps rolled into one. While this sounds very convenient, the down side is that these instructions often take several clock cycles to execute. By comparison, RISC architectures do not use these complex instructions, instead focusing on getting each instruction to execute in a single cycle. These are usually pipelined as well, meaning that while one instruction is executed, the next instruction is being loaded from program memory. RISC processors are used in everything from simple embedded applications to cell phones to supercomputers. Two examples of embedded RISC processors are the Atmel AVR and the ARM. These can be found in applications such as tablet devices, smart phones, game consoles, game controllers and automotive controllers. The AVR is the core of the ATmega processors used in most Arduino controller boards. We shall examine the Arduino system in the following chapters.