PIC Projects - frequency dividers, timers

Simple, cheap, single chip solutions to common precise time & frequency problems.

It turns out that a lowly 8-bit microcontroller, such as the PIC 12F675, is ideal for some niche precise time and frequency applications. Because the PIC 12F-series microcontroller is fully synchronous — and is absolutely cycle accurate, has deterministic (constant) interrupt latency, no internal PLL or cache or hidden optimizations — it can be used for high-precision timing, with jitter down at the picosecond level. One could also use a FPGA to create precise dividers and timers, but for many projects a tiny simple dirt-cheap 8-pin SOIC or DIP running isochronous assembler code is far more convenient.

Over the years I have developed quite a number of these. Click for details:

• picDIV – PIC microcontroller-based frequency DIVider, picDIV™
• picPET – PIC microcontroller-based Precision Event Timer, picPET™

See also:

• Full list of picDIV dividers
• Setup notes for picPET pP06 and pP07
• Source code (asm) and hex files for picDIV dividers
• Notes on PIC divider jitter