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  • Tiny graphene wrinkles create surprisingly powerful electrical effects
    Scientists have discovered that tiny, sharply curved wrinkles in graphene can dramatically alter its electrical behavior, creating surprisingly strong charge separation. The finding suggests future electronics could be tuned by reshaping materials at the atomic scale instead of changing what they’re made of.
  • Ordinary WiFi can now identify you with near-perfect accuracy
    Ordinary WiFi networks could quietly become powerful surveillance tools, allowing people to be identified without cameras, special sensors, or even carrying a connected device. Researchers showed that unencrypted signals routinely exchanged between WiFi devices and routers can be used to create radio-based images of people and recognize them within seconds. In tests involving 197 participants, […]
  • Chemists set electrons free and break a decades-old chemistry barrier
    Chemists have developed a catalyst that breaks a long-standing rule governing which molecules receive electrons during chemical reactions. By releasing electrons directly into solution, the technique could unlock reactions—and potentially useful new molecules—that were previously out of reach.
  • Scientists just 3D printed one of the hardest metals on Earth
    A new 3D printing technique can produce exceptionally hard tungsten carbide cobalt while using less of its expensive raw materials. By softening rather than fully melting the material, researchers created defect-free samples with industrial-grade hardness and opened the door to more efficient manufacturing.
  • Mysterious Milky Way object accelerates protons beyond one quadrillion electron volts
    Scientists have identified LHAASO J1912+1014u as a cosmic accelerator that can push protons beyond one quadrillion electron volts. The finding may help reveal where the Milky Way’s most energetic cosmic rays come from and how they influence the galaxy.
  • New process turns plastic waste into hydrogen fuel while trapping the carbon
    A new chemical process can transform three of the most common plastics into high-purity hydrogen without sorting them first. The technique operates at much lower temperatures than traditional gasification and captures most of the plastic’s carbon in solid or liquid forms instead of releasing it as carbon dioxide.
Illustration of a 3-phase AC motor showing three sets of stator coils (U, V, W) around a rotor with north and south poles. A waveform graph of phase shifts for Phase 1, 2, and 3 is included. On the right, text reads "Types of AC motors – Working principle" with an MPLAB X IDE microcontroller chip visual at the bottom.

Types of AC Motors – Working Principles

Motors are primarily categorized as either AC or DC, with further classifcation based on their inherent rotation characteristics. In this article, we will commence by explaining the operation of the induction AC motor. The subsequent section delves into another type, specifically the synchronous AC motor. Finally we will provide an ...
Diagram showing SPI communication between PIC16F877A microcontroller (master) and a slave device using SCK, MOSI, MISO, and SS lines, with MPLAB X IDE branding.

SPI for microcontrollers

In this article we will take a closer look at Serial Peripheral Interface, also called SPI. This is the third and last serial communication module in the PIC16F877A. Previously we have seen UART and I2C, and we discussed how those modules operate. Here we focus solely on SPI; what it ...
Featured image of I2C for PIC microcontrollers

I2C for PIC Microcontrollers

In this article, we will take a closer look at the I2C serial communication protocol. This is the second in a series of three articles covering serial communication; the others focus on USART and SPI. In this post we will explain what I2C is, how it functions, and how you ...
Diagram showing USART communication between two microcontrollers labeled µC1 and µC2, with TX of µC1 connected to RX of µC2 and vice versa. Includes MPLAB X IDE logo and microcontroller image.

USART for PIC Microcontrollers

The USART module, also referred to as the Serial Communications Interface (SCI), is a crucial hardware module that enables a microcontroller to communicate with other devices via serial communication. This mode of communication transmits data one bit at a time. In this tutorial, we will discuss the two different modes of ...
Educational graphic showing the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) process using the PIC16F877A microcontroller. On the left is a graph of a smooth analog voltage waveform sampled at discrete points (shown as red dots), and on the right is the PIC16F877A chip with MPLAB X IDE branding. The image illustrates how analog voltages are digitized for processing in microcontroller-based systems.

PIC16F877A Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)

The ADC module in microcontrollers indeed allows them to interface with the analog world by converting continuous analog signals into discrete digital values. This capability is crucial for various applications such as sensing, control systems, and communication. It is distinct from PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), which uses discrete pulses to ...
Graphical illustration of PWM signal showing narrow and wide pulses with varying duty cycles. Includes a 10V signal graph, labels for voltage levels, and mentions PIC16F877A microcontroller and MPLAB X IDE.

Using PWM in PIC16F877A

Digital signals (0 or 1) and analog signals (range of values) are both used in electronics. Analog inputs can be converted to digital through an ADC. To control analog devices with a microcontroller, DACs are used but they're costly and space-consuming. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is a cost-effective technique that ...
Educational slide introducing Timer2 of the PIC16F877A microcontroller. It includes a stopwatch icon with the phrase “Alarm, Timers, how does it work?” on the left, and an image of the PIC microcontroller with MPLAB X IDE branding on the right. The tutorial focuses on Timer2's use in generating precise delays and pulse-width modulation (PWM).

PIC16F877A Timer2 tutorial

The Timer2 module is an 8-bit timer/counter within most PIC MCU devices. Timer2 can increment up to a value of 255 before it overflows back to zero. Timer2 has other built-in features that make it very useful for many different applications.
Educational slide introducing the Timer1 module of the PIC16F877A microcontroller. The left side shows a stopwatch icon and the question “Alarm, Timers, how does it work?”, while the right side features the microcontroller image and MPLAB X IDE logo. The tutorial focuses on Timer1's role in timing, delays, and interrupts.

PIC16F877A Timer1 Tutorial

The Timer1 module is a 16-bit timer/counter within most PIC MCU devices. Timer1 can increment up to a value of 65535 before it overflows back to zero. Because the timer is built into an 8-bit device, the 16-bit timer register is broken into two 8-bit registers (TMR1L and TMR1H) and ...
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