8051 Based Function Generator

Inderpreet Singh
er.inderpreet@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper introduces the development of a simple
function generator using a microcontroller. The system is
capable of producing square, triangular and sine wave. The
sine wave is produced by using lookup table values and a
digital to analog converter. The entire firmware was written in
assembly for exact control over timing and to avoid overheads.
I.
The function generator is a very useful device in testing
and general experiments. The basic functionality includes
multiple signal types and the ability to change the frequency
as required. A simple microcontroller can be used in
conjunction with a digital to analog converter to produce
required outputs.
For our experiment, an AT89C51 microcontroller was
used with the DAC0808. The complete unit operates off a 5
volt supply and all other voltages are generated as per
requirement, by the device itself.
II.
The basic block diagram is shown in fig 1. To make the
device user friendly, an LCD and a keyboard of 5 keys was
used. The DAC0808 requires a negative reference voltage to
function properly. A negative voltage converter can be used,
but for our experiment, we used the charge pump of the
MAX232 level converter.
The circuit diagram is shown in fig 2. The controller
operates at 24 MHz. All components are mounted on a single
PCB and a regulated external power supply was used.
INTRODUCTION
III. THE PROGRAM
The complete program was written in assembly because
an exact control over the timing was required. Also if a
program is written in assembly, the overheads generated by a
compiler are avoided if any. The subroutines for increment
of frequency and decrement of frequency were written as
interrupt routines. The lookup table for the sine wave was
generated by hand calculations and was written into the
code.
IV. TESTING
THE CIRCUIT The system was assembled, programmed and tested using
a cathode ray oscilloscope. All operations were tested
manually for correctness of operation.
+ 5 V

+ 5 V
U 4 R 3 V r e f f
1 1 4 C 8
N CR e f f ( + ) C 6
C 4 1 0 K 1 0 V C 7 A l l c a p s 1 0 u f
1 0 u F U 1 5 R 2
C 3 3 1 3 9 6 A 1 1 5
1 9 E A / V P P 0 . 03 8 7 A 2 R e f f 2( - )

10
11

13
R 1 X 1 P 0 . 13 7 8 A 3 G r n d 5

6
2

8
8 . 2 K 3 0 p F Y 1 P 0 . 23 6 9 A 4 5 K U 5
P 0 . 33 1 0 A 5
C 2-

V-
C 2

V+
C 2+

1 IN
2 IN
1 IN
2 IN
5 4
C R Y S 1 T8 A L P 0 . 43 4 1 1 A 6 I o M A X 2 3 2

T
T
R
R
X 2 P 0 . 53 3 1 2 A 7 1 6
2 9 P 0 . 63 2 A 8 C o m p
VEE

3 0 p F 9 P S E N P 0 . 7
R E S E T 2 1 D A C 0 8 0 8 C 1
P 2 . 02 2 0 . 1 u F
P 2 . 12
T
T
3

J 2
T
T
1 6 3 U
U
U
U
1 7 W R P 2 . 22 4 1O
2O
2O
1O
C 1-
C +

1 4 1 5 R D P 2 . 32 5
R
R
T
T

1 3 T 1 P 2 . 42 6 V e e
1 2 P 2 . 52 7
14

12

1 1 P 2 . 62
1

1 8
1 0 2 P 1 . 0 P 2 . 7
9 3 P 1 . 1 C 5
8 4 P 1 . 2
7 5 P 1 . 3 1 4
6 6 P 1 . 4 T 0 3 0
5 + 5 V 7 P 1 . 5 A L E 1/ P1
4 P 1 . 6 T X D 1
IN T 1
IN T 0

8 0
3 P 1 . 7 R X D
2
8 0 C 5 1
1
12
13

L C D C o n n e c t o r
T R IA N G U L A R
SQ U AR E

D EC
IN C
S IN E

S W 6 S W 7 S W 8 S W 9 S W 1 0

Figure 2. The circuit diagram

T it le
< T i t le >

S i z e D o c u m e n t N u m b e r R e v
A < D o c > < R e v C o d e >

D a t e : S u n d a y , F e b r u a Sr y h e 0 e 5 t 1, 2 0o 0 f 6 1
 Microcontroller
With firmware
DAC V. RESULTS
Buffer & Filter

The device works as expected and the sine wave was

perceived correct. The buffer and filter helps in correcting
step errors. The output frequency is a direct function of the
LCD frequency of the crystal being used. Due to the clock
limitation of the AT89c51 at 24Mhz, very high trails could
not be conducted.
Output
For future work, the device can use a controller with an
Keyboar inbuilt DAC and higher operating frequency.
d of 5
buttons

Figure 1. Basic Block Diagram