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8/7/24, 2:21 PM Top Microcontroller Interview Questions and Answers | Simplilearn

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1. How are timers and counters different in a microcontroller? curriculum by experts
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The timer is used to measure internal clock cycles, whereas the counter counts external 6 Months months
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events.

2. What are the main components of a microcontroller?

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Generally speaking, a microcontroller includes one or more of the following:
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Input/output ports;
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Central Processing Unit (CPU).

Read-Only Memory (ROM);

Counters and Timers

Random Access Memory (RAM);

Disruption controls;

Digital analog converters, analog to digital converters, serial interface ports, and
oscillatory circuits

3. Mention a few applications of a microcontroller?

The voltmeter, ammeter, hand-held metering system, and measuring rotating objects all
employ microcontrollers. Devices for controlling and sensing light employ
microcontrollers. Microcontrollers are utilized in washing machines, cameras, and
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mobile phones.
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4. Which of the microcontroller's pins are most useful, along with their
functions?

ALE: As Harvard architecture is the foundation of the 8051. The program and data
memory are connected externally separately. 16 lines are used to access this external
memory, of which 8 lines are used as data lines in addition to serving as lower order 8
lines of a 16-bit external address. We utilize an 8-bit external latch to make these 8 lines
function first as address lines and then as 8 lines for data. The control signal for
latching the low byte of the address during access to external memory is provided by
the Address Latch Enable output pulse.

5.What exactly is a microcontroller?

A microcontroller is a chip, made to handle a particular function or application. The

microcontroller is made up of the CPU (microprocessor), RAM, ROM, I/O ports, timers,
counters, and other components. There are microcontroller kit providers, timers,
interrupt serial communication, and interface designs.

6. Describe the microcontroller interface with an external EPROM device.

This and similar inquiries about how a microcontroller interacts with ROM or any serial
communication devices are frequently made about hardware positions. Refer to
connecting peripherals to a microcontroller device. I2C is mostly used to interface
EEPROM with microcontrollers. The I2C master-slave protocol goes by this name. I2C
consists of two signals: a clock signal and a data signal. The Master has control over
SCL the clock signal Utilizing clock signal modification data is sent All of the slaves
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8/7/24, 2:21 PM Top Microcontroller Interview Questions and Answers | Simplilearn
SCL, the clock signal. Utilizing clock signal modification, data is sent. All of the slaves
connected
Software to the master are run by the same Articles
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interface with
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can be depicted in the figure.

7. Explain the use of serial communication flags and registers in

microcontrollers

Serial communication is carried out using SCON, SBUF, TI, and RI. The USART Control
and Status Register B (UCSRB) register is used to enable serial communication,
meaning that the microcontroller's Tx and Rx pins are prepared to send and receive
data. The RXEN bit will permit data reception, whereas the TXEN bit will enable data
transmission.

8. What distinguishes a microcontroller's timer from its counter?

Timer counts the cycles of an internal clock while a counter counts outside
occurrences. The only meaningful conceptual distinction between the phrase timer and
counter is that one. Whether you conceive of it as timing a pause between CPU cycles
or as counting off those cycles, it accomplishes the same task.

9. Explain the 8051 microcontrollers' internal architecture.

To answer this question, one must be familiar with the internal modules or building
blocks of a microcontroller and how they are used in applications that are related to
microcontrollers. Internally, the fundamentals are available in the 8051

10. Create a straightforward microcontroller program that blinks an LED every

10 d
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10 seconds.
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A 1-second delay (1 s=1000 ms) will be applied to the flashing of the LED linked to pin
RC1 of PORTC.

Instruction 2's TRISC sets up PORTC as an output port. In instruction 4, pin 1 of the
PORTC is set to 1 (HIGH), then in instruction 6, after a delay of 1000ms, it is set to 0
(LOW). Up until the program is aborted, this process is repeated.

11. What distinguishes a microprocessor from a microcontroller?

While there are many parallels and distinctions between the two, there are also some.
Monitoring and controlling applications are the principal uses of microcontrollers.
Embedded signal processing and other computing-related applications require
microprocessors. The microcontroller contains a CPU, timers, and interfaces. Since a
microprocessor is a CPU, it rarely has ports inside of it.

12. Explain the SPI and CAN interfaces utilized by microcontrollers.

One of the most popular interfaces between microcontrollers and peripheral ICs,
including sensors, ADCs, DACs, shift registers, SRAM, and others, is a serial peripheral
interface (SPI). The SPI interface is briefly explained, and then SPI-enabled switches and
muxes from Analog Devices are introduced, along with how they can assist system
board designer’s using fewer digital GPIOs. Serial peripheral interface (SPI) is one of the
most widely used interfaces between the microcontroller and peripheral ICs such as
sensors, ADCs, DACs, shift registers, SRAM, and others. Devices using 4-wire SPI have
four signals: Chip select (CS), main out, subnode in (MOSI), main in, subnode out (SPI
CLK, SCLK), and clock (SPI CLK, SCLK) (MISO).
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13. What is the basic difference between a microcontroller and a
microprocessor?

A microprocessor consists of only a processor, whereas a microcontroller consists of

several components such as a processor, memory, serial bus interface, and so on.

14. What distinguishes assembly-level programming from programming in C

for microcontrollers?

One can discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each option as well as how an assembly
line of codes can also be called in a microcontroller C program to answer this question.
The only advantage of assembly language is smaller, faster code, but memory is now
inexpensive; a microcontroller with 16 KB of program memory costs little more than one
with 8 KB; and C compilers have improved in their ability to produce smaller code, albeit
free ones aren't as good.

15. What are the different types of microcontroller architectures?

Harvard and Von-Neumann are the two types of microcontroller architectures.

16. State whether the given statement is true or false.

Statement: Intel 8051 is Von-Neumann architecture.

False, Intel 8051 is Harvard architecture.

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17. Mention
Software some types of interrupts in Articles
Development 8051 microcontrollers.
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Here are some of the types of interrupts present in the 8051 microcontrollers.

1. Timer Interrupt 0 (TF0)

2. Serial Port Interrupt

3. External Interrupt 0

4. External Interrupt 1

5. Reset

18. State whether the given statement is true or false.

Statement: Trap interrupt has the highest priority in microcontrollers.

True, the trap interrupt has the highest priority in microcontrollers.

19. Mention a few applications of ARM processors

ARM processors are widely used in laptops, electronic devices, smart players,
multimedia devices, and so on.

20. Expand PIC.

PIC stands for Programmable Interface Controllers.

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