Introduction

Plenty of computation in the embedded solutions can be done independently from the core, thus reducing the load and program memory space used. Most Microchip microcontrollers are equipped with Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs), which can facilitate the processing outside the core and can strengthen the hardware capabilities of the microcontroller.

The CIPs have key attributes that make them powerful and robust. Once initialized, they can provide a steady-state, closed-loop embedded control with no intervention from the CPU. They are smartly interconnected to allow latency-free sharing of data, logic inputs, or analog signals without additional code or interruption of the CPU. Last, but not least, they allow smaller, lower power MCUs to perform extremely complex tasks, such as high-power lighting control and communication.

This document includes an overview of the Configurable Custom Logic (CCL) peripheral, examples, and tips and tricks of its usage, such as how to implement basic functions using truth tables, how to apply delay to a signal, and how to divide a signal.

For a better understanding of the CCL peripheral and its advantages, this training contains a core independent solution: generating a visual SOS signal on the CNANO board LED, with involvement of the core only during the initialization part.

Starting from the Morse representation of the signal, using dots and dashes, this document will present the waveform associated with the SOS message, along with the peripherals used and additional waveforms.

At the end of the document, there will be steps that can be followed in order to generate the SOS signal using MPLAB® MCC and MPLAB® X IDE.