MICROCHIP MPLAB Starter USER’S GUIDE

MPLAB Starter Kit

for PIC24F User’s Guide

Note the following details of the code protection feature on Microchip devices:

• Microchip products meet the specification contained in their particular Microchip Data Sheet.

• Microchip believes that its family of products is one of the most secure families of its kind on the market today, when used in the intended manner and under normal conditions.

• There are dishonest and possibly illegal methods used to breach the code protection feature. All of these methods, to our knowledge, require using the Microchip products in a manner outside the operating specifications contained in Microchip’s Data Sheets. Most likely, the person doing so is engaged in theft of intellectual property.

• Microchip is willing to work with the customer who is concerned about the integrity of their code.

• Neither Microchip nor any other semiconductor manufacturer can guarantee the security of their code. Code protection does not mean that we are guaranteeing the product as “unbreakable.”

Code protection is constantly evolving. We at Microchip are committed to continuously improving the code protection features of our products. Attempts to break Microchip’s code protection feature may be a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If such acts allow unauthorized access to your software or other copyrighted work, you may have a right to sue for relief under that Act.

Information contained in this publication regarding device applications and the like is provided only for your convenience and may be superseded by updates. It is your responsibility to ensure that your application meets with your specifications. MICROCHIP MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WRITTEN OR ORAL, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, RELATED TO THE INFORMATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ITS CONDITION, QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR PURPOSE. Microchip disclaims all liability arising from this information and its use. Use of Microchip devices in life support and/or safety applications is entirely at the buyer’s risk, and the buyer agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Microchip from any and all damages, claims, suits, or expenses resulting from such use. No licenses are conveyed, implicitly or otherwise, under any Microchip intellectual property rights.

Trademarks

The Microchip name and logo, the Microchip logo, Accuron, dsPIC, K

EELOQ, KEELOQ logo, MPLAB, PIC, PICmicro,

PICSTART, PRO MATE, rfPIC and SmartShunt are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries.

FilterLab, Linear Active Thermistor, MXDEV, MXLAB, SEEVAL, SmartSensor and The Embedded Control Solutions Company are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A.

Analog-for-the-Digital Age, Application Maestro, CodeGuard, dsPICDEM, dsPICDEM.net, dsPICworks, dsSPEAK, ECAN, ECONOMONITOR, FanSense, In-Circuit Serial Programming, ICSP, ICEPIC, Mindi, MiWi, MPASM, MPLAB Certified logo, MPLIB, MPLINK, mTouch, PICkit, PICDEM, PICDEM.net, PICtail, PIC

logo, PowerCal, PowerInfo, PowerMate, PowerTool, REAL ICE, rfLAB, Select Mode, Total Endurance, UNI/O, WiperLock and ZENA are trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries.

SQTP is a service mark of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A.

All other trademarks mentioned herein are property of their respective companies.

Printed on recycled paper.

Microchip received ISO/TS-16949:2002 certification for its worldwide headquarters, design and wafer fabrication facilities in Chandler and Tempe, Arizona; Gresham, Oregon and design centers in California and India. The Company’s quality system processes and procedures are for its PIC devices, Serial EEPROMs, microperipherals, nonvolatile memory and analog products. In addition, Microchip’s quality system for the design and manufacture of development systems is ISO 9001:2000 certified.

MCUs and dsPIC® DSCs, KEELOQ

code hopping

MPLAB STARTER KIT FOR PIC24F

USER’S GUIDE

Table of Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................................... 1

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Starter Kit

1.1 Overview ........................................................................................................ 7

1.2 Operational Requirements ............................................................................. 7

1.3 Initial Board Setup .......................................................................................... 8

Chapter 2. The Demonstration Application

2.1 Features Used Throughout the Demo Application ......................................... 9

2.2 Specific Demo Highlights ............................................................................. 11

Chapter 3. Configuring the Starter Kit Hardware

3.1 Overview ...................................................................................................... 15

3.2 Starter Kit Configurations ............................................................................. 15

Chapter 4. Developing an Application

4.1 Setting Up an Example Application for Debug ............................................. 20

4.2 Running the Example Application ................................................................ 21

4.3 Debugging the Example Application ............................................................ 21

4.4 Programming the Debugged Application ...................................................... 24

4.5 Creating Other Applications ......................................................................... 24

4.6 Determining Device Support and Reserved Resources ............................... 24

4.7 Debug Version Information ........................................................................... 24

4.8 Troubleshooting ............................................................................................ 25

Chapter 5. Hardware

5.1 Application Functional Overview .................................................................. 27

5.2 Programmer/Debugger Functional Overview ............................................... 28

5.3 Board Components ...................................................................................... 29

Appendix A. Starter Kit Schematics........................................................................... 31

Index ............................................................................................................................. 37

Worldwide Sales and Service .................................................................................... 38

MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F User’s Guide

NOTES:

MPLAB STARTER KIT FOR PIC24F

USER’S GUIDE

Preface

NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS

All documentation becomes dated, and this manual is no exception. Microchip tools and documentation are constantly evolving to meet customer needs, so some actual dialogs and/or tool descriptions may differ from those in this document. Please refer to our web site (www.microchip.com) to obtain the latest documentation available.

Documents are identified with a “DS” number. This number is located on the bottom of each page, in front of the page number. The numbering convention for the DS number is “DSXXXXXA”, where “XXXXX” is the document number and “A” is the revision level of the document.

For the most up-to-date information on development tools, see the MPLAB Select the Help menu, and then Topics to open a list of available online help files.

INTRODUCTION

IDE online help.

This chapter contains general information that will be useful to know before you use the MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F. Items discussed in this chapter include:

• Document Layout

• Conventions Used in this Guide

• Warranty Registration

• Recommended Reading

• The Microchip Web Site

• Development Systems Customer Change Notification Service

• Customer Support

• Document Revision History

DOCUMENT LAYOUT

This document describes how to use the starter kit as a development and demonstrative tool for PIC24F MCU device capabilities and features. The manual layout is as follows:

• Chapter 1. Introduction to the Starter Kit – This chapter introduces the starter

kit and provides an overview of its features.

• Chapter 2. The Demonstration Application – This chapter describes the

preprogrammed PIC24F demo application.

• Chapter 3. Configuring the Starter Kit Hardware – This chapter describes the

different USB and power configurations available with the starter kit.

• Chapter 4. Developing an Application – This chapter describes how to debug

application software on the starter kit using MPLAB

• Chapter 5. Hardware – This chapter provides a functional overview of the starter

kit and identifies the major hardware components.

• Appendix A. Starter Kit Schematics – This appendix provides detailed schematic

diagrams of the starter kit.

IDE.

MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F User’s Guide

CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS GUIDE

This manual uses the following documentation conventions:

DOCUMENTATION CONVENTIONS

Description Represents Examples

Arial font:

Italic characters Referenced books MPLAB

Emphasized text ...is the only compiler...

Initial caps A window the Output window

A dialog the Settings dialog A menu selection select Enable Programmer

Quotes A field name in a window or

dialog

Underlined, italic text with right angle bracket

Bold characters A dialog button Click OK

Text in angle brackets < > A key on the keyboard Press <Enter>, <F1>

Courier New font:

Plain Courier New Sample source code #define START

Italic Courier New A variable argument file.o, where file can be

Square brackets [ ] Optional arguments mcc18 [options] file

Curly brackets and pipe character: { | }

Ellipses... Replaces repeated text var_name [, var_name...]

A menu path File>Save

A tab Click the Power tab

Filenames autoexec.bat File paths c:\mcc18\h Keywords _asm, _endasm, static Command-line options -Opa+, -Opa- Bit values 0, 1 Constants 0xFF, ‘A’

Choice of mutually exclusive arguments; an OR selection

Represents code supplied by user

IDE User’s Guide

“Save project before build”

any valid filename

[options] errorlevel {0|1}

void main (void) { ... }

WARRANTY REGISTRATION

Please complete the enclosed Warranty Registration Card and mail it promptly. Sending in the Warranty Registration Card entitles you to receive new product updates. Interim software releases are available at the Microchip web site.

RECOMMENDED READING

This user’s guide describes how to use the MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F. Other useful documents are listed below. The following Microchip documents are available and recommended as supplemental reference resources.

Readme Files

For the latest information on using other tools, read the tool-specific Readme files in the Readmes subdirectory of the MPLAB IDE installation directory. The Readme files contain update information and known issues that may not be included in this user’s guide.

PIC24F Family Reference Manual

This reference manual explains the operation of the PIC24F microcontroller family architecture and peripheral modules. The specifics of each device family are discussed in the individual family’s device data sheet.

This useful manual is on-line in sections at the Technical Documentation section of the Microchip web site. Refer to these for detailed information on PIC24F device operation.

Device Data Sheets and Flash Programming Specifications

Refer to the appropriate device Data Sheet for device-specific information and specifications. Also, refer to the appropriate device Flash Programming Specification for information on instruction sets and firmware development. These files may be found on the Microchip web site or from your local sales office.

MPLAB

This document helps you use Microchip Technology’s language tools for PIC24F devices based on GNU technology. The language tools discussed are the MPLAB ASM30 Assembler, MPLAB LINK30 Linker, MPLAB LIB30 Archiver/Librarian and other 16-bit device utilities.

MPLAB

This document helps you use Microchip’s MPLAB C30 C compiler to develop your application. MPLAB C30 is a GNU-based language tool, based on source code from the Free Software Foundation (FSF). For more information about FSF, see

www.fsf.org

MPLAB

This document describes how to use the MPLAB IDE integrated development environment, as well as the MPLAB IDE Project Manager, MPLAB IDE Editor and MPLAB SIM Simulator. Use these development tools to help you develop and debug application code.

ASM30, MPLAB® LINK30 and Utilities User’s Guide (DS51317)

C30 C Compiler User’s Guide (DS51284)

IDE User’s Guide (DS51519)

Preface

MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F User’s Guide

THE MICROCHIP WEB SITE

Microchip provides online support via our web site at www.microchip.com. This web site is used as a means to make files and information easily available to customers. Accessible by using your favorite Internet browser, the web site contains the following information:

• Product Support – Data sheets and errata, application notes and sample

programs, design resources, user’s guides and hardware support documents, latest software releases and archived software

• General Technical Support – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), technical

support requests, online discussion groups, Microchip consultant program member listing

• Business of Microchip – Product selector and ordering guides, latest Microchip

press releases, listing of seminars and events, listings of Microchip sales offices, distributors and factory representatives

DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS CUSTOMER CHANGE NOTIFICATION SERVICE

Microchip’s customer notification service helps keep customers current on Microchip products. Subscribers will receive e-mail notification whenever there are changes, updates, revisions or errata related to a specified product family or development tool of interest.

To register, access the Microchip web site at www.microchip.com, click on Customer Change Notification and follow the registration instructions.

The Development Systems product group categories are:

• Compilers – The latest information on Microchip C compilers and other language

tools. These include the MPLAB C18 and MPLAB C30 C compilers; MPASM™ and MPLAB ASM30 assemblers; MPLINK™ and MPLAB LINK30 object linkers; and MPLIB™ and MPLAB LIB30 object librarians.

• In-Circuit Emulators – The latest information on Microchip in-circuit

emulators.These include the MPLAB REAL ICE™ and MPLAB ICE 2000 in-circuit emulators.

• In-Circuit Debuggers – The latest information on Microchip in-circuit debuggers.

These include MPLAB ICD 2 and PICkit™ 2.

• MPLAB IDE – The latest information on Microchip MPLAB IDE, the Windows

Integrated Development Environment for development systems tools. This list is focused on the MPLAB IDE, MPLAB IDE Project Manager, MPLAB IDE Editor and MPLAB SIM Simulator, as well as general editing and debugging features.

• Programmers – The latest information on Microchip programmers. These include

the MPLAB PM3 device programmer and the PICSTART development programmers.

Plus and PICkit 1 and 2

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Users of Microchip products can receive assistance through several channels:

• Distributor or Representative

• Local Sales Office

• Field Application Engineer (FAE)

• Technical Support

Customers should contact their distributor, representative or field application engineer (FAE) for support. Local sales offices are also available to help customers. A listing of sales offices and locations is included in the back of this document.

Technical support is available through the web site at: http://support.microchip.com

DOCUMENT REVISION HISTORY

Revision A (March 2008)

• Initial Release of this Document

Preface

MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F User’s Guide

NOTES:

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Starter Kit

Thank you for purchasing Microchip Technology’s MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F. This board is intended to introduce and demonstrate the capabilities and features of PIC24F microcontrollers. In addition, the starter kit has on-board in-circuit debug circuitry so that you may develop and debug your own applications.

This chapter introduces the starter kit and provides an overview of its features. Topics covered include:

•Overview

• Operational Requirements

• Initial Board Setup

1.1 OVERVIEW

The MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F provides an all-in-one solution for debugging and programming applications using Microchip’s own MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE). A USB connection to a host computer supplies communications and power to the board; no additional external power supply is needed. For independent host-side USB operation, the starter kit may be disconnected from the PC and powered at test points for independent functionality.

The starter kit includes integrated debug and programmer circuitry that allows applications to be programmed onto the board’s PIC24F MCU device and then debugged, all using MPLAB IDE. The need for an additional programmer or hardware interface has been completely eliminated.

The application side of the starter kit contains a range of hardware components to demonstrate the utility and processing power of Microchip’s PIC24F family of 16-bit microcontrollers.

MPLAB STARTER KIT FOR PIC24F

USER’S GUIDE

1.2 OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

To communicate with and program the MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F, the following hardware and software requirements must be met:

• PC compatible system with CD-ROM drive

• One available USB port on the PC, or a powered USB hub

•Microsoft

Note: Only initial testing has been performed on 32-bit Windows Vista for this

In addition, the following is needed for some of the application demos:

• USB Flash Drive (not included)

Windows® 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, or Windows Vista™ (32-bit)

release. The 64-bit version is not supported at this time.

MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F User’s Guide

1.3 INITIAL BOARD SETUP

With its pre-installed demo application, the MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F is designed to be used straight out of the box. Except for a single connection to a computer, no additional hardware or configuration is necessary.

1.3.1 Installing the Software

Before connecting the starter kit to any computer for the first time, it is very important to install the accompanying software on the MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC24F CD first. This ensures that the proper USB drivers for communicating with the starter kit programmer/debugger are installed and ready to recognize the board.

To install the software and driver, insert the starter kit CD into the CD-ROM drive. The installation process starts automatically. The process pauses for user responses to accept the Microchip software licenses and to confirm the installation directories; respond appropriately.

1.3.2 Connecting the Hardware

Once the starter kit software is installed, connect the provided USB cable (A to mini-B) to any available USB port on the PC or powered hub, then to the starter kit at the mini-B receptacle, J1, on the programmer/debugger side of the board (Figure 1-1). The PC USB connection provides communication and power to the board. A USB Flash drive, used for portions of the demo application, may be connected to the starter kit at any time.

If the cable is connected correctly, the green Power and Target Power LEDs (D2 and D4) are lit. LED1 displays a reversed raster and start-up screen, while the tri-color LED cycles through a sequence of colors. After this power-on sequence, LED1 will display the “PIC24F Starter Kit” main menu.

At the same time, a sequence of pop-up balloons in the system tray (lower right of desktop) should appear, stating that (1) new hardware has been found, (2) drivers are being installed and (3) the new hardware is ready for use. If you do not see these messages and the starter kit does not work, try unplugging and reconnecting the USB. If this does not work, refer to Section 4.8 “Troubleshooting”.

FIGURE 1-1: STARTER KIT SETUP

A to mini-B USB Cable

Starter Kit

USB Flash Drive

(not included)

MPLAB STARTER KIT FOR PIC24F

USER’S GUIDE

Chapter 2. The Demonstration Application

This chapter describes the demonstration application that is preprogrammed on the PIC24F microcontroller, and how various features highlight the device’s processing power and hardware functionality. These include:

• Features Used Throughout the Demo Application:

- Interactive Display System (Processing Power and Parallel Master Port)

- Touch Interface (CMTU)

- Time and Date (RTCC)

• Specific Demo Highlights:

- RGB LED Control (Three PWMs and Peripheral Pin Select)

- USB Flash Drive Interface (USB Embedded Host)

- Real-Time Data Graphing (A/D and Display Multitasking)

- Real-Time Data Capture (Multitasking with USB Embedded Host)

- Other Interactive Demos

2.1 FEATURES USED THROUGHOUT THE DEMO APPLICATION

2.1.1 Interactive Display System (Processing Power and Parallel Master Port)

With the exception of input and display hardware, the entire demo application runs on the starter kit’s PIC24FJ256GB106 microcontroller, without the need of additional interfaces or external logic for processing support. This microcontroller simultaneously controls and monitors all activities through a processing intensive interactive display system (Figure 2-1).

The microcontroller directly drives the on-board graphics organic LED (OLED) display through its Parallel Master Port (PMP). This is an 8-bit parallel, highly-configurable I/O module that allows users to exchange data with a variety of peripheral devices. In the demo application, the PMP provides the simple data interface needed to control an advanced display device.

Even with a simple visual interface, a graphics display requires a great deal of processing power to maintain and update the display while executing its associated application. At 16 MIPS, the PIC24FJ256GB106 microcontroller has more than enough processing power for this type of application.

FIGURE 2-1: STARTER KIT MENU DISPLAY (MAIN MENU SHOWN)

PIC24F Starter Kit

Flash Drive

Demos Games

Nov 01, 2007 Tue 10:00:01

Utilities

+ 29 hidden pages

MICROCHIP MPLAB Starter USER’S GUIDE

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Starter Kit

1.1 OVERVIEW

1.2 OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

1.3 INITIAL BOARD SETUP

1.3.1 Installing the Software

1.3.2 Connecting the Hardware

FIGURE 1-1: STARTER KIT SETUP

Chapter 2. The Demonstration Application

2.1 FEATURES USED THROUGHOUT THE DEMO APPLICATION

2.1.1 Interactive Display System (Processing Power and Parallel Master Port)

FIGURE 2-1: STARTER KIT MENU DISPLAY (MAIN MENU SHOWN)