The PIC24 is Microchip’s 16-bit microcontroller intended to offer better performance than their PIC16 or PIC18 8-bit parts. But the way Microchip pitches the PIC24, it seems intended to be a shot across the bow of the Texas Instruments MSP430. I evaluated the PIC24F16LK100, which has the following specs:

Microchip Xc8 Xc16 Xc32 Compilers V.1.33.zip Usb MPLAB XC8, XC16 and XC32 PRO If you purchased a license from Microchip Direct, the MPLAB XC activation key will automatically be registered to you. Mplab xc8 pro keygen. MPLAB XC8 PRO Compiler Subscription License - Microchip xc8 activation key such an array of material enables you to. The full command line for uninstalling MPLAB XC8 C Compiler is C: Program Files (x86) Microchip xc8 v1.42 Uninstall-xc8-v1.42.exe. Keep in mind that if you will type this command in Start / Run Note you might receive a notification for administrator rights.

• 32 MHz operation (via internal 8 MHz oscillator and 4x PLL)
• 4K of flash, 512B of RAM
• Two 16-bit timers, one 8-bit timer
• Two capture/compare/PWM channels
• Analog comparator
• Separate UART and SPI/I²C interfaces

…and that’s it. Like the MSP430, this series of MCUs is extremely expensive when compared to most other parts in this round-up. My $1 budget precluded me from purchasing a part that even had an analog-to-digital converter.

The PIC24 is a modified Harvard architecture 16-bit CPU with two-cycle instruction timing. It has a 17×17 single-cycle multiplier as well as a 32-by-16-bit hardware divider. There are 16 general-purpose registers, and its RISC architecture made the architecture more suitable for C development. The PIC24 has close lineage to the dsPIC DSP-endowed microcontrollers.

The PIC24 is named for the 24-bit instruction width used by the architecture; like the other PIC parts, the PIC24 does an instruction fetch and execution in a single cycle, regardless of instruction (except for branches and double-word moves).

The PIC24 has a vectored exception system similar to ARM microcontrollers; there’s also a seven-priority interrupt controller with up to 118 interrupt sources.

There’s an internal 8 MHz oscillator with an optional 4x PLL, along with a 500 kHz oscillator and 31 kHz internal low-power RC oscillator. Like other PIC parts, the PIC24 uses configuration fuses to select many options; however, many of these values can be changed during runtime.

There are 12 GPIO pins. Of those, 11 can be used for input-change notification interrupts. Unlike lower-end PIC parts, the PIC24 has a separate register that allows GPIO pins to be configured as true open-drain outputs; there’s also configurable pull-up or pull-down internal resistors.

The MSSP master synchronous serial port supports SPI and I²C operation — in SPI mode, it can operate in master or slave mode; in I²C mode, it supports master, multi-master, and slave mode — with both 7-bit or 10-bit addressing. The peripheral supports clock speeds up to one-fourth the system clock speed.

The UART module supports full-duplex operations with hardware flow-control and IrDA support. The UART has a built-in baud-rate generator and a two-level-deep FIFO buffers for both TX and RX. The maximum baud rate for this part is 4 Mbps; the minimum is about 15 bps. I wish the baud-rate generator were fractional, allowing dialing in better precision (at the expense of range — but does anyone need 15-baud communication?)

Timer1 is a 16-bit auto-reload timer and counter. Timer2 is an 8-bit auto-reload timer — its output can be routed to the PWM or MSSP module. Timer3 is a 16-bit counter without an auto-reload (“period”) register; it has a single-pulse one-shot gate option that the other times don’t have.

The two CCP modules each support 16-bit input-capture, 16-bit output-compare, and 10-bit PWM generation. There are routing capabilities which allow you to trigger other peripherals on a capture or compare event.

I’ve done a full write-up of MPLAB on the main review page. There’s really no PIC24-specific information to add to this assessment.

Peripheral Libraries & Code Generator Tools

There’s a legacy PIC24 PLIB package available, but this peripheral library does not abstract the underlying hardware very much — it’s also not recommended for new designs.

Unfortunately, the Microchip Code Configurator — a lovely code-gen tool built into MPLAB X — does not support this particular PIC24. In fact, there’s a lot of devices it doesn’t support, which is problematic because MCC supported device lists aren’t widely available on the web when selecting parts.

The moment you turn the optimizer on, you can no longer debug code on the PIC24. I don’t mean “it’s a lot harder, because you jump around a lot” — no, it’s actually flat-out impossible. The disassembly view is totally blank, and the C source view doesn’t even attempt to determine where it is — it’s as though the compiler builds the program without any debugging metadata in the binary file. I didn’t experience anything like this with the PIC16 (which uses Microchip’s XC8 compiler), or the PIC32 (which also uses a GCC-derived compiler, the XC32, which is similar to PIC24’s XC16)

Bit-Wiggle

Bit-wiggling was not good — the PIC24 took 10 clock cycles to toggle a pin, as there is no “toggle” register; here’s the disassembly that XC16 spit out:

Biquad

The 16-bit architecture (with hardware multiplier) makes the PIC24 well-suited for this task; it turned in a biquad processing rate of 838.46 kSPS, and used 10.74 mA, turning in an efficiency score of 42.27 nJ/sample. Given its effective clock speed of 16 MHz (due to its 2T architecture), it performed better than expected: it was only about half the speed of the 48 MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 parts running three times faster than it.

DMX Receiver

The minimum frequency I could run the CPU at is 2 MHz — while the UART can run in a 4x-sampling high-speed mode, its peripheral clock is the instruction clock of the processor; not the system oscillator speed — and the PIC24 is a 2T architecture, necessitating a 2 MHz system oscillator speed to achieve a 250 kbps baud for the UART receiver.

The PIC24 had good power consumption figures for the DMX-512 receiver project — pulling in 667 µA. However, there was a variety of 8-, 16-, and 32-bit parts that eclipsed it, including most notably the lower-cost, better-endowed PIC32MM — which beat it by a long shot (493 µA versus 667 µA).

The PIC24 is an expensive microcontroller, but provides good per-cycle performance, and decent low-power operation. I wouldn’t recommend using this particular variant in designs, but larger, more modern parts may be useful to applications that need good sleep-mode power consumption while waking up for duty-cycle processing. But even staying inside the Microchip umbrella, it’s hard not to look at the PIC32MM parts, which offers similar performance, even lower power consumption in run-mode, and better peripheral options for the same cost.

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Microchip Xc8 Xc16 Xc32 Compilers V.1.33.zip D

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Microchip Xc8 Xc16 Xc32 Compilers V.1.33.zip Technology

Microchip MPLAB XC8 MPLAB XC16 MPLAB XC32

MPLAB XC Offers Three Compiler Options—One Each for 8, 16 and 32-bit; Improves Code Execution Speed by About 30% and Reduces Code Size by About 35%

Microchip Xc8 Compiler

Microchip Technology Inc. announced from DESIGN West in San Jose, Calif., MPLAB XC—its simplified line of C compilers that provide the best execution speed and code size for all ~900 PIC microcontrollers (MCUs) and dsPIC Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). The MPLAB XC8, XC16 and XC32 compilers offer reduced complexity for 8, 16 and 32-bit designers, with three cost-effective optimization levels—Free, Standard and Pro; the Pro editions can be evaluated for free for 60 days. Additionally, MPLAB XC provides support for the Linux, Mac OS and Windows operating systems, enabling designers to use their platform of choice for embedded development.

Another important consideration for today’s designers is the ability to re-use their code and easily migrate to the level of microcontroller performance and features that best suits the needs of each project. These have always been strengths for Microchip, and MPLAB XC continues that tradition by making it easy to move code from any of Microchip’s existing compilers. Additionally, MPLAB XC completes Microchip’s tool chain of compatible compilers and debugger/programmers that operate seamlessly within the universal, cross-platform and open-source MPLAB® X integrated development environment, reducing both learning curves and tool investments. MPLAB XC compilers are also compatible with the legacy MPLAB IDE.

“Simplicity, execution speed, code size, cost and cross-platform support are all vitally important to embedded designers, from academics and hobbyists to seasoned professionals working for global OEMs, who are all challenged to do more for less, and faster,” said Derek Carlson, Microchip’s vice president of Development Tools. “The new MPLAB XC compiler line meets all of these needs, while expanding the industry-leading levels of compatibility and easy migration that Microchip’s customers have come to expect.”

Many designers need a free C compiler. The 8, 16 and 32-bit Free editions of Microchip’s MPLAB XC compilers offer many optimizations, are fully functional and have no license restrictions for commercial use. For those who want to test their code with the Pro optimization levels, which are approximately 50% better than the Free editions, Microchip also offers evaluation editions with Pro optimization levels that last for 60 days, after which they convert to the Free compilers. Like the Free editions, the evaluation editions are fully functional and have no license restrictions for commercial usage.

To further support the diverse requirements of embedded developers, Microchip is now offering the ability to purchase both single-user licenses and the full suite of MPLAB XC compilers for all ~900 8, 16 and 32-bit PIC MCUs and dsPIC DSCs. Additionally, organizations with multiple engineers can purchase a floating network license, where the compiler is hosted on that company’s Intranet for easy access by all of its designers.

Pricing & Availability

The MPLAB XC8 and MPLAB XC32 compilers are available today, the MPLAB XC16 compiler is expected to be available in April, and the discounted suite of all three compilers is expected to be available in May. Prices for this new XC line have been reduced up to 60%, and the Pro editions provide industry-leading value at $995.

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