Issue 127, February 2001
Working with AVR Microcontrollers

With great cash prizes on the line in the Design Logic 2001 contest, Stuart offers his design expertise on Atmel’s AVR microcontrollers. There’s a whole prize category devoted to the AVR family, so read up and then get started on your entry!

Start • The Hardware • The Software • Tools • Design Considerations • The Bottom Line • Sources • PDF

This month, Circuit Cellar and Atmel are kicking off the Design Logic 2001 contest. If you’re not familiar with Atmel’s AVR family, follow along and I’ll explain some of the details about designing with the AVR microcontroller. The only thing left for you to do is to request your sample part or order the development kit (see Photo 1).

Photo 1—A development kit, like this one for the STK500, is a great place to start on your contest entry.

The AVR series is a RISC-based, 8-bit microcontroller family with 20 devices that are available in package sizes from 8 pins to 44 pins. The AVR architecture is optimized for use with high-level languages such as C.

The core processor in all AVR devices is the same. All devices have flash-based program memory (except the FPSLIC series) and execute essentially the same instruction set. The AVR family is available with an array of options; some parts have a single 8-bit timer, others have multiple 8- and 16-bit timers. Some parts have multiple channels of 10-bit ADCs and some have one or more UARTS for serial communication. Table 1 shows a breakdown of the major features.