Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction
Microprocessor
Microprocessor: Microprocessor is a digital integrated circuit device that can be
programmed with a series of instruction to perform specified function on data. When
microprocessor is connected to a memory device and provided with means of transferring
data to and from the “out side world” you have microcomputer.
Introduction
A microcomputer is a complete personal computer (PC), which is on a smaller scale
computer designed for an individual. A microcomputer contains a microprocessor (a
central processing unit on a microchip), memory in the form of read-only memory and
random access memory, I/O ports and a bus or system of interconnecting wires, housed
in a unit that is usually called a motherboard.
Microcomputer
Even though electronic digital computers have existed since the 1940's, microcomputers
have been around only since the late 1970's. The appearance of microcomputers
coincided with the development of large-scale integrated circuits (LSI chips). An
integrated circuit is a tiny chip of silicon on which is layered multiple electronic
circuits. Figure 1.1 illustrates the size of a common silicon chip.
Fig. 1.1 Silicon Chip Fig. 1.2 Chip in a DIP Fig. 1.3 Chip and Socket
A chip like the ones shown in Figure 1.1 can hold thousands of electronic circuits
containing millions of individual components. In order to connect wires to the chip so that
signals can be sent to and from it, the chip must be mounted in a plastic package
containing wire leads. This plastic case is called a dual in-line package, or DIP for short.
The name is quite descriptive since a DIP consists of two rows of leads on each side of
the plastic case. A DIP is shown in Figure 1.2.
corner of Figure 1.4. These sockets are designed to hold additional printed circuit boards
for such things as video display adapters, serial interfaces, and instrument interfaces.
the brain of the computer. CPU stands for central processing unit and it is the chip that
contains all the circuitry for performing arithmetic and logic operations and for directing
data to and from memory. In a microcomputer, the CPU is contained on a single chip.
Minicomputers and mainframe computers have CPU's that occupy several chips.
All of the Intel CPUs are downwardly compatible with earlier models which
means that software written for the original 8088 will still run on the newer Pentium class
CPUs. Indeed, Intel has set downward compatibility with the 80x86 instruction set (the
instructions used by the CPU to perform arithmetic and logic operations) as a design goal
for all of its PC microprocessors. This emphasis on compatibility is one of the reasons
why the Intel-based PC has been so popular among business and scientific users.
How rapidly the CPU can process data is partially a function of the internal
timing crystal, known as the system clock, that controls the timing of CPU operations.
Every operation the CPU performs, whether it is an arithmetic/logic operation or a
transfer of data to memory, occurs under the precisely controlled timing of the system
clock. The faster the clock "ticks", the faster data can be processed. The clock crystal in
the original IBM-PC ran at 4.77 MHz. This seems remarkably slow when compared to
today’s CPUs which are approaching clock speeds of 1 GHz (giga = 109).
Early CPUs (8088, 80286, and 80386) could only perform integer arithmetic
in hardware and therefore had to rely on software to perform floating point operations and
When the CPU performs a calculation, the data for the calculation are held in
registers inside the CPU. Each piece of data must be in a register. The size of these
registers determines the number of bits that the CPU can manipulate in one operation.
This is referred to as the word length of the CPU and is directly related to the processing
power of the CPU. The larger the word length of a CPU, the more data it can manipulate
during each clock cycle. The original Intel 8088 CPU had a 16-bit word length. The Intel
Pentium CPU has a 32-bit word length.
Connecting the CPU to the rest of the computer is the function of the bus. The
bus is a set of wires that carries signals from one component of the computer to another.
Figure 1.7 shows a portion of the bus on the motherboard of a microcomputer.
The standard bus found in all PCs today is the PCI (Peripheral Component
Interconnect) bus. This bus consists of 32-bit and 64-bit sections depending on which
CPU it is used with and which components are being connected (e.g. the bus that goes to
memory is wider than the bus that goes to disk drives). To remain compatible with older
machines, most modern PCs also contain a bus called the ISA (Industry Standard
Architecture) bus. This is a 16-bit bus that is compatible with both 8-bit and 16-bit
devices. (The original ISA bus that appeared in the 1981 IBM-PC was an 8-bit bus.)
Table 1.1 contains information on all of the major Intel CPU chips used in PCs
since 1981. Some of the items described in the preceding sections will make more sense
as you compare CPU specification in the table.
Register
Bench- Bus lock Rate ransistors
Intel CPU Date Width Notes
mark Width (MHz) (106)
(Word)
4 GB RAM limit, 32
Pentium II 1997 570 32 64 233 7.5 B cache, FPU, MMX
instruction set
As you can see from Table 1.1, the speed, power, and complexity of CPUs has been
increasing at a tremendous rate. Gordon Moore, Co-founder along with Robert Noyes of
Intel, stated in 1965 that the data density of integrated circuits would double every 18
months. This has certainly held true for microprocessors and has turned out to be true for
other computer components as well. The statement made by Dr. Moore has become
known as Moore’s Law.
ALU:
This is the are of the microprocessor where the various computing functions
are performed on data. The ALU unit perform such arithmetic operation as addition and
subtraction, and such logic operation as AND, OR, and exclusive OR.
Register Unit:
This area of microprocessor consist of various registers identified by letters such as
A,B,C,D,E,H, and L. These register are primarily used to store data temporarily during
the execution of the program and are accessible to the user through instructions.
Control Unit:
The control unit provide the necessary and control signals to all the operation in the
microcomputer. It control the flow af data between the microprocessor and memory and
peripherals.
Here various bus is commonly known as system bus which are differentiating
in three parts category according to the different function of bus Address Bus, Control
Bus, and Data Bus.
Understand the basic function among programmer’s instruction, the ALU, and
the control unit with example of full adder circuit.
Full adder circuit can be designed with registers, logic gates, and clock. The
clock initiates the adding operation similarly, the bit pattern of an instruction initiate a
sequence of clock signals, activates the appropriate logic circuit in the ALU, and perform
the task. This is called microprogramming, which is done in the design stage of the
microprocessor. In many ways this is similar to the process of how our brain operates. In
early childhood, in our brain. When we here a word “ sit “. Our brain activates a series of
action for our muscles and bones and we sit down . in this analogy the word sit is an
instruction in a microprocessor, and action initiated by our brain are like micro programs.
The bit pattern required to initiate these micro program operations are given to
the programmer in the form of the instruction set of the microprocessor. The programmer
selects appropriate bit pattern from the set for a given task and enters them sequentially in
memory through an input devices. When the CPU reads these bit patterns one at a time, it
initiates appropriate micro program through the control unit, and perform the task
specified in the instructions.
1.1.6 Memory
Memory stores the binary information as instructions and data, and provides
that information to the microprocessor whenever necessary. To execute programs, the
microprocessor reads instruction and data from memory and performs the computing
operation in its ALU section. Result are either transferred to the output section for
display or stored in memory for later use.
Basically memory can be Read- only memory (ROM), Read/Write memory
(R/WM), popularly known as Random- Access memory (RAM).
The ROM is used to store program that not need alteration. Program stored in rom
can only be read; they can’t be altered.
The read/Write Memory (R/WM) is also known as user memory : its used to stored
user program and data. The information stored in this memory can be easily read and
altered.
Random Access Memory (RAM) is also known as a volatile memory or temporary
storage memory. Once the power turn down, this memory is cleared.
1.1.7 Input/Output
The third microprocessor based –based system is I/O is communicate with the
out side world. It include two types of devices which is known as Input and Output
devices we studied in other chapter.
Assignment: Questions
• What is Micro Computer& micro processor? Give Example of
Microprocessor based system.
• Describe Evolution of Microprocessor.
• Explain, How Microcomputer work?
The number of bits are fixed for words with different combination of bits.
For example, ACSII (2^8 )combination of eight bits-thus a language of 256 words. The
microprocessor design engineer select combination of bit patterns and gives a specific
meaning to each combination by using electronic logic circuits; this is called an
instruction.
The 8085 Microprocessor has a 8-bit word length : 8085 is earlier version of 8080A
0011 1100 –instruction increment the number in register called the accumulator by 1.
1000 0000-add number in the register called B to number to accumulator and keep
sum in accumulator.
In 8085 mp 246 such bit pattern and 74 different instruction are called its instruction
sets. Instruction sets is called the 8085 machine language, but it is difficult to write in
binary language instruction sets are convert in to hex format so here you gives this
instruction as 3C instead of 0011 1100. The monitor program of the system translates
these keys into their equivalent binary pattern.
-Add B add stands for addition. And B represent the content in register B. This
symbol suggests the addition of the contents in register B and the contents in the
accumulator.
The complete set of 8085 mnemonics is called the 8085 assembly language,
and a program written in this mnemonics is called the assembly language, and a
program written in this mnemonics is called an assembly language program. An
assembly language program written for one microprocessor is not transferable to
another microprocessor unless two microprocessor are compatible in their machine
codes. Here machine language and assembly language are microprocessor-specific
and are both considered low- level languages. The mnemonics can be written
electronically on a computer using a program called an editor in the ASCII codes and
translate in to binary code by using the program called assembler.
Write the instruction in mnemonics obtain from the instruction set written by the
manufacturer.
find hexadecimal machine code for each instruction by searching to through the set of
instruction.
Enter the program in the user memory in a sequential order by using the hex keyboard
as the input device.
Execute the program by pressing the execute key. The answer will be display by the
LEDs.
Here when execute the commands microprocessor fetch each instruction, decode it,
and execute it in a sequence until the end of the program.
Microprocessor
Show 8085 processor with a system bus; processor read the binary instruction
from memory and execute those instruction continuously, display it at the LCD
display panel, at turn on/off the fan and the heater based on the temperature.
Memory
The system includes two types of memory. ROM will be used store the
program, called the monitor program that is responsible for providing the
necessary instruction to the processor to monitor the system. This will be
permanent program stored in ROM and will be altered. The R/W memory is
needed for temporary storage of data.
Input
Output
Out put devices are connected to microprocessor using letch called output ports.
Fan: this is output device connected to microprocessor with port no 1.that is turn
on by the processor when the temperature reaches a set higher limit.