ELEC2630 EMBEDDED

SYSTEMS THEORY
Lecture 8: Interrupts and
Communications
 Interrupts
• Priority by multiple interrupt handling is the
method chosen by Microchip for the 18F
PIC micro-controller
• Htsoft, the C compiler supplier, added
extra an extra keyword to allow two
interrupt vectors
• The micro-controller can have the priority
switched off and the circuit reverts to the
single interrupt vector mode
• In this mode the device behaves like the 16
F PIC micro-controller
 Interrupts
• When the priority mode is enabled each
interrupt can be assigned to the high or low
priority vector
• The C compiler allows one function to have
the keyword interrupt which then handles
all the high priority interrupts
• An extra keyword low-priority is used for a
second function to handle all the low
priority interrupts
 Interrupts
• As the micro-controllers become more
complex it is likely that C compilers will
become more complex to enable all the
new features to accessed
• In the future the C compiler manual will
become the new “text book”
Communications
 Communications Principles
• The asynchronous communication that has
been investigated in the laboratory is an
example of the connection between
Interrupts and communications I/O
• The conversion from parallel to serial and
the addition of start and stop bits is carried
out by circuitry within the micro-controller
• The conversion from serial to parallel and
the removal of the start and stop bits is
carried out by another part of the circuitry
 Interrupt use
• The USART section of the micro-controller,
named after the external I/O devices called
a Universal Synchronous Asynchronous
Receiver Transmitter
• This circuitry has a number of Interrupts
associated with it. One signals that the the
transmit buffer is empty, i.e. Circuitry is
ready to transmit data
• A second signals that a character has been
received, i.e. a serial character has been
received and converted to a parallel byte
 Communication Types
• Other serial communication also use the
same design of peripheral circuitry and
Interrupt control
• On micro-controllers these include SPI,
Serial Peripheral Interface and USB
• Another popular serial connection is CAN
bus, Control Area Network
• More sophisticated devices can now be
found with Ethernet connections
 Communication Uses
• USB is commonly used for connection
between micro-controller and a PC
interface
• CAN bus was originally developed for
automobile use but is now used widely in
factory automation
• ETHERNET gives network access to micro-
controllers and opens up a whole new area
of distributed embedded systems
 Wireless Devices
• Many of the new wireless communications
protocols have been developed for devices
which are themselves embedded systems
• Mobile phones and digital cameras are
examples of devices using Bluetooth
• Sensor networks using Zigbee and new
derivatives such as Jennet are being
developed where the communications is
integrated into the micro-controller to make
development easier
 Distributed Embedded Systems
• Bluetooth is for short range systems up to 10
metres
• Zigbee range depends on the environment but
can be 100’s of metres in the open air
• CAN bus is now commonly used over areas
several kilometres square
• ETHERNET can give access worldwide and leads
to the use of the World Wide Web as a significant
part of the development of distributed embedded
systems (this can be wireless with the usual
range restrictions)
An example of an Ethernet enabled
micro-controller