Connect PIC® MCU Applications to Google Cloud in Minutes with Microchip’s New Development Board for Cloud IoT Core

This is an article from Microchip on a solution that enables large ecosystem of PIC MCU applications to easily add secure cloud connectivity to next-generation designs.

Microchip announces the introduction of new PIC18 Q10 and ATtiny1607 families of 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), featuring multiple intelligent Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) that simplify development and enable a quick response time to system events.

The debugging process remains an important area where many embedded design engineers would like to see improvements, according to AspenCore’s 2017 Embedded Market Study. To address these needs and enhance the development experience, Microchip Technology Inc. introduces the MPLAB® PICkitTM 4 In-Circuit Debugger. The low-cost PICkit 4 in-circuit programming and debugging development tool is meant to replace the popular PICkit 3 programmer by offering five times faster programming, a wider voltage range (1.2-5V), improved USB connectivity and more debugging interface options.

To load new firmware into a microcontroller and then debug it usually a special tool is required: the in-circuit programmer/debugger. Microchip’s PIC microcontrollers are no exception to this, and till today the preferred tool for programing and debugging PIC micros was the MPLAB ICD 3, the puck-shaped device that supported the full range of PIC and dsPIC devices. Now, after many years of loyal services the MPLAB ICD 3 is finally being replaced by the MPLAB ICD 4.

A new, highly configurable battery charger controller capable of charging batteries of any chemistry, featuring cell balancing capabilities and super-capacitor charging has been announced by Microchip. The device is also well suited for any DC-DC application as it supports Flyback, Boost, SEPIC, and Ćuk topologies, and can be used in LED lighting and other low-side switch PWM applications.

The Core Independent Peripherals or CIPs integrated by Microchip in its microcontrollers are intended to accomplish tasks in hardware and free-up the CPU to let it do something else or to let it sleep. But the CIP movement thinks that things should be taken much further. Indeed, with enough CIPs of the right functionality the CPU could sleep all the time, and could even be left off the chip altogether, according to a CIP spokesman.

The new PIC32MM family, currently Microchip’s lowest power 32-bit PIC32 family, features sleep modes down to as little as 500 nA. Filling the gap between the PIC24F XLP and PIC32MX families, the new family also offers so-called core independent peripherals that once initialized can function without intervention of or loading the MCU core.

Are cloud-based software development environments for microcontrollers the future? After mbed and CodeBender this new online platform targets PIC microcontrollers. Zero downloads and no sign-in or setup needed to start designing. Early birds, fly to the cloud and get a dev board for free!

The latest buzz in Programmable Logic Land is 'PIC', a RISCbased microcontroller manufactured by Microchip Technology Inc. Read all about it in this article! A programmer is described which enables a large number of PIC16Cx and PIC17Cx devices to be loaded with your own application programs. And there is more good news: software development for PIC controllers will be the subject of a short course to be featured in this magazine in the near future.