Study of 8051 microcontroller

Study of 8051 Microcontroller
Abstract:
8051 is an 8-bit family of microcontroller developed by Intel in the year
1981. This is one of the most popular family of microcontroller being
used all across the world. This microcontroller was also referred as
“system on a chip” because it has 128 bytes of RAM, 4Kbytes of ROM, 2
Timers, 1 Serial port, and four ports on a single chip. The CPU can work
for only 8bits of data at a time because 8051 is an 8-bit processor. In
case the data is larger than 8 bits then it has to be broken into parts so
that the CPU can process conveniently. Most manufacturers have put
4Kbytes of ROM even though the quantity of ROM can be exceeded up
to 64 K bytes.
The 8051 has been in use in a wide number of devices, mainly because
it is easy to integrate into a project or build a device around. The
following are the main areas of focus:
i. Energy Management
ii. Touch screens
iii. Automobiles
iv. Medical Devices

Introduction:
The Intel 8051 is an 8-bit microcontroller which means that
most available operations are limited to 8 bits. There are 3 basic "sizes"
of the 8051: Short, Standard, and Extended. The Short and Standard
chips are often available in DIP (dual in-line package) form, but the
Extended 8051 models often have a different form factor, and are not
"drop-in compatible". All these things are called 8051 because they can
all be programmed using 8051 assembly language, and they all share
certain features (although the different models all have their own
special features).
Some of the features that have made the 8051 popular are:
 4 KB on chip program memory.
 128 bytes on chip data memory(RAM) [ 32 bank reg + 16 bit
addressable reg + 80 general purpose reg ]
 4 reg banks.
 128 user defined software flags.
 8-bit data bus
 16-bit address bus
 16 bit timers (usually 2, but may have more, or less).
 3 internal and 2 external interrupts.
 Bit as well as byte addressable RAM area of 16 bytes.
 Four 8-bit ports, (short models have two 8-bit ports).
 16-bit program counter and data pointer.
 1 Microsecond instruction cycle with 12 MHz Crystal.
8051 models may also have a number of special, model-specific
features, such as UART, ADC, Op_Amps, etc... it is a very powerful micro
controller.

Theory:
What is microcontroller?
A microcontroller (sometimes abbreviated µC, uC or MCU) is a small
computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core,
memory, and programmable input/output peripherals.
Block diagram of 8051 microcontroller
Central Processor Unit(CPU): As you may know that CPU is the
brain of any processing device. It monitors and controls all
operations that are performed in the Microcontroller. User have
no control over the work of CPU. It reads program written in ROM
memory and executes them and do the expected task.

Interrupts: As its name suggests, Interrupt is a subroutine call that
interrupts Microcontroller's main operation or work and causes it
to execute some another program which is more important at
that time. The feature of Interrupt is very useful as it helps in
cases of emergency. The Microcontroller 8051 can be configured
in such a way that it temporarily terminates or pause the main
program at the occurrence of interrupt. When subroutine is
completed then the execution of main program starts as usual.
There are five interrupt sources in 8051 Microcontroller. 2 of
them are external interrupts, 2 timer interrupts and one serial
port interrupt.
Memory: The memory which is used to store the program
of Microcontroller, is known as code memory or Program memory.
It is known as code memory or Program memory . It is known as
'ROM'(Read Only Memory.
The memory which is used to temporarily store data for operation is
known as Data Memory and we uses 'RAM'(Random Access Memory)
for this purpose. Microcontroller 8051 has 4K of Code Memory or
Program memory that is it has 4KB Rom and it also have 128 bytes of
data memory i.e. RAM.
Bus: Basically Bus is a collection of wires which work as a
communication channel or medium for transfer of Data. These buses
consists of 8, 16 or more wires. Thus these can carry 8 bits, 16 bits
simultaneously. Buses are of two types:
 Address Bus
 Data Bus
Address Bus: Microcontroller 8051 has a 16 bit address bus. It used to
address memory locations. It is used to transfer the address from CPU
to Memory.

Data Bus: Microcontroller 8051 has 8 bits data bus. It is used to carry
data.
Oscillator: As we know Microcontroller is a digital circuit device,
therefore it requires clock for its operation. For this
purpose, Microcontroller 8051 has an on-chip oscillator which works as
a clock source for Central Processing Unit. As the output pulses of
oscillator are stable therefore it enables synchronized work of all parts
of 8051 Microcontroller.
Input/Output Port: As we know that Microcontroller is used in
Embedded systems to control the operation of machines. Therefore to
connect it to other machines, devices or peripherals we requires I/O
interfacing ports in Microcontroller. For this purpose Microcontroller
8051 has 4 input output ports to connect it to other peripherals.
Timers/Counters: Microcontroller 8051 has 2 16 bit timers and
counters. The counters are divided into 8 bit registers. The timers are
used for measurement of intervals , to determine pulse width etc.

Pin diagram of 8051 Microcontroller:
Pinout Description:
Pins 1-8: Port 1 Each of these pins can be configured as an input or an
output.
Pin 9: RS A logic one on this pin disables the microcontroller and clears
the contents of most registers. In other words, the positive voltage on

this pin resets the microcontroller. By applying logic zero to this pin, the
program starts execution from the beginning.
Pins10-17: Port 3 Similar to port 1, each of these pins can serve as
general input or output. Besides, all of them have alternative functions:
Pin 10: RXD Serial asynchronous communication input or Serial
synchronous communication output.
Pin 11: TXD Serial asynchronous communication output or Serial
synchronous communication clock output.
Pin 12: INT0 Interrupt 0 input.
Pin 13: INT1 Interrupt 1 input.
Pin 14: T0 Counter 0 clock input.
Pin 15: T1 Counter 1 clock input.
Pin 16: WR Write to external (additional) RAM.
Pin 17: RD Read from external RAM.
Pin 18, 19: X2, X1 Internal oscillator input and output. A quartz crystal
which specifies operating frequency is usually connected to these pins.
Instead of it, miniature ceramics resonators can also be used for
frequency stability. Later versions of microcontrollers operate at a
frequency of 0 Hz up to over 50 Hz.
Pin 20: GND Ground.
Pin 21-28: Port 2 If there is no intention to use external memory then
these port pins are configured as general inputs/outputs. In case
external memory is used, the higher address byte, i.e. addresses A8-

A15 will appear on this port. Even though memory with capacity of
64Kb is not used, which means that not all eight port bits are used for
its addressing, the rest of them are not available as inputs/outputs.
Pin 29: PSEN If external ROM is used for storing program then a logic
zero (0) appears on it every time the microcontroller reads a byte from
memory.
Pin 30: ALE Prior to reading from external memory, the microcontroller
puts the lower address byte (A0-A7) on P0 and activates the ALE
output. After receiving signal from the ALE pin, the external register
(usually 74HCT373 or 74HCT375 add-on chip) memorizes the state of
P0 and uses it as a memory chip address. Immediately after that, the
ALU pin is returned its previous logic state and P0 is now used as a Data
Bus. As seen, port data multiplexing is performed by means of only one
additional (and cheap) integrated circuit. In other words, this port is
used for both data and address transmission.
Pin 31: EA By applying logic zero to this pin, P2 and P3 are used for data
and address transmission with no regard to whether there is internal
memory or not. It means that even there is a program written to the
microcontroller, it will not be executed. Instead, the program written to
external ROM will be executed. By applying logic one to the EA pin, the
microcontroller will use both memories, first internal then external (if
exists).
Pin 32-39: Port 0 Similar to P2, if external memory is not used, these
pins can be used as general inputs/outputs. Otherwise, P0 is configured
as address output (A0-A7) when the ALE pin is driven high (1) or as data
output (Data Bus) when the ALE pin is driven low (0).
Pin 40: VCC +5V power supply.

Conclusion:
In this practical session we studied what is microcontroller?,
architecture and pin structure of 8051 microcontroller.
References:
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Study of 8051 microcontroller

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Study of 8051 microcontroller