OE-9.2 The PIC 18 Microcontroller
You can describe the PIC 18 architecture, instruction set and addressing modes, and use its timers, interrupts, capture/compare and PWM modules.
The PIC 18 is the course's concrete small microcontroller, and the point is not the part number but the pattern: a CPU surrounded by peripherals you configure through registers. Interrupts are the concept to internalize - polling wastes the CPU, interrupts let it sleep until something happens, and that is how battery-powered devices exist. PWM is the workhorse output, driving motor speed, LED brightness and crude analog levels from purely digital hardware.
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PIC 18 family overview
The first concrete device in the course, and a small one on purpose. Treat it as a representative of its class rather than something to memorise.
PIC 18 architecture
How it is built inside, including the memory arrangement that separates code from data. That separation is a real architectural choice with visible consequences.
PIC 18 instruction set
What it can be asked to do. Aim to recognise the shape of an instruction rather than recall the whole set.
Addressing modes
How an instruction says what to operate on. Comparing this list with the one for the other processor later is a quick way to see what is general.
Timers of the PIC 18
Counting time in hardware so the processor does not have to. Timers are the single most used peripheral in embedded work.
Interrupts of the PIC 18
Responding to something without polling for it, which is what makes a small processor able to do several things. The priority and latency questions here are the ones that bite.
Capture/compare modules
Measuring an incoming event's timing, or producing an outgoing one. It is how a small processor talks to the physical world precisely.
PWM modules
Producing an average voltage from a switching output, which is how motors and lamps are driven. Cheap, efficient, and the reason this peripheral is everywhere.
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