The harder you work,
           the luckier you seem to be.  

A PIC project with Light Level Detection, SIRC and
PWM Motor Control

This project demonstrates many aspects of embedded computing (i.e. Computer Engineering).  Among these are powering, interfacing, and programming a microcontroller based system as well as the use of common circuit design and analysis tools.

The system (depicted in Figure 1.) measures ambient light level and decodes a serial message transmitted via the Sony Infrared Remote Communication protocol (SIRC) and uses this information to control the speed of a DC motor using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and an H-Bridge.  Its direction is selected via push button and indicated on LEDs.  Additionally, all control information is made visible on a small LCD panel.

PIC 18F452 microcontroller with

Analog In/Out, Digital In/Out, Serial In/Out

Introduction

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Background—PIC Microcontroller

It would be fair to categorize a microcontroller (like the
40 pin DIP on the left side of the breadboard in figure 1) as a single package that contains a small processor and some surrounding “on chip” resources.  Principal among these are memory (often Flash, Static, and Dynamic RAM) and numerous peripheral circuits (often A/D and D/A converters, Comparitors, UARTs, Line level buffers, etc.).  This packaging results in devices that are inexpensive and sufficiently capable that they are embedded into virtually all modern electronic devices, appliances, consumer electronics, automobiles, etc.

Figure 1