Experiments and research activities in a microcontroller laboratory

This paper describes the activities in a microcontroller laboratory where students learn programming microcontrollers by carrying out experiments that provide a hands-on experience with electronics hardware and instruments. The paper will also provide details of a research project that involves the development of a prototype that takes in an analog National Television System Committee (NTSC) video signal, generated by a video camera, and data acquired by a microcontroller and display them in real-time on a digital panel. An 8051 microcontroller is used to acquire power dissipation by the display panel, room temperature, and camera zoom level. The paper will present the major hardware components and show how they are interfaced into a functional prototype. Test data results are presented and discussed.