ELECTRONICS - [designs & projects] - [I²C board] - [page 1/8]
1. GOAL OF THE PROJECT
The goal of this project is to build a I²C controlled interface board, which can be
used to access LEDs and/or switches. The module should be connected with the 8051
evaluation board in an easy way. The great advantage of this board is without doubt
the reduction of the used I/O pins on the 8051 microcontroller. By using only 2 pins,
it will be possible to control many devices like 64 LEDs for systems where a PCF8574
IC is being used as I²C slave.
It must be possible to use multiple I/O boards in a master/slave environment because I²C is addressable. This foreseeing will allow connecting multiple slave boards on the master board. The I²C address of each I/O board must be variable, so more than 1 board can be used where every board has a unique address.
It's obviously necessary to write standard software routines, so other people can write applications for the I/O board very quickly. When having such standard software routines for I²C controlling, they can be added to your existing projects.
At least, a light computer has been made as a practical application. This example shows how switches can be read, and LEDs can be controlled.