PIC-king up the Pieces!
A Beginner’s Guide to Microcontrollers and Their Families
Microcontroller families are a bit like programming languages. They exist under many different families, and yet many of them can perform similar tasks required by the user (such is the case of a general purpose controller). However, the key wording is "similar" as many of them do come with their own quirks and qualities, along with their development environments, required hardware peripherals and other factors as well. Which as a beginner (possibly starting out from just an Arduino) may be difficult to wrap their heads around.
The aim of this talk is to provide a clear path on getting started with development on key major microcontroller families (ESP32, STM32, RP2040 and PIC). Concepts like communication protocols, underlying core architectures and interoperability with other devices and ICs will all be discussed along with each families proposed longevity. These concepts will all be explored alongside the development of a simple embedded device, a guitar tuner utilising the YIN algorithm and an OLED display. Thus, concepts such as audio signal path through analogue components before arriving at the MCU, along with optimising the MCU processing to deliver accurate and real-time outputs of the detected pitch will also be point of discussion
By the end of this talk, each attendee should have a key grasp on what family they want to utilise for an upcoming project, whether that be for non-commercial and commercial use. Laying the groundwork for your choice of MCU family going forward!
Simeon Joseph
Previous guest speaker for the Dynamic Cast workshop in ADC2025, with a strong interest in Digital Signal Processing and embedded software development. Current student at University of Westminster, studying Software Engineering with Electronics. Main creator behind the Cinamark Youtube channel, showcasing the building process of many different project on different architectures.
Born and raised in Saint Lucia, located in the Caribbean, Simeon has been around and has been influenced by numerous styles of music, which cemented his passion for audio, especially when it comes to the technology side. Resulting in a final year project for Community College in the form of a RMS Compressor/Noise Gate/Limiter Desktop Application for their final year project on the Associate's Degree course for Computer Systems Engineering.
Write and composes music during non academic times (really likes guitars and synthesisers specifically. Prophet V5 and NI Massive enthusiast)