Interfacing PIC Microcontrollers

MCU is left in circuit at all times, which minimises the possibility of damage,

and is reprogrammed via the same pins as before in Port B. However, the chip

can now be programmed to run in ICD mode; this means, program execution

in the chip itself can be controlled from MPLAB. The program can be stopped,

started and single stepped in the same way as in software simulation mode. The

program can thus be tested within the target hardware, a much more realistic

and powerful option.

MPLAB can be downloaded free from www.microchip.com (development

tools). The essential elements are an editor, assembler, simulator and pro-

grammer. The interface is shown in ...