Chapter 4: Making Your Own Programmer

We have already explored some theory. We can't wait to start building embedded projects. I discussed the embedded system development process in chapter 2. Programming a Microcontroller requires some hardware & some software. The upcoming chapters will cover the following two parts,

• Setting up your Hardware
• Setting up your Software

We will need a computer. We will devise an interface that will connect our Programmable Device to the PC.

Firstly, we will set up our hardware. The AVRs support In System Programming. I will give you some idea about it. This chapter will exclusively deal with In System Programming.

In System Programming

AVR Microcontrollers can be programmed in system. They support In System Programming (ISP). There is no need to remove the chip from the embedded system. It can be programmed or reprogrammed on the run.

 

Fig: In System Programming

In many cases we will program the AVR before installing it in a permanent board. We may need to reconfigure or update the program. We will just need access to