Hand Held Video Games Using A Pic Microcontroller And Graphic Lcd Module: A Capstone Design Project

Abstract

This paper describes a capstone design project carried out by several groups of senior undergraduate students in the author’s computer engineering capstone design course during the Summer 1998 term at Kettering University. The basic project requirement was to design and build a hand-held video game using a Microchip PIC 16C74A microcontroller, a 128×128-pixel graphic LCD module based on the industry-standard Toshiba T6963C graphic LCD controller, and only incidental additional parts. The paper describes the students’ backgrounds, the project assignment and the motivation for choosing it, and several video games that students designed and built. It concludes with an informal assessment of the project’s success and preliminary ideas for related projects based on this experience.

I. Introduction

ECE 403 Computer Engineering Capstone Design is the capstone design course in the Computer Engineering program in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Kettering University (formerly GMI Engineering and Management Institute). Computer Engineering is a new program in the Department, and this was the first time the capstone course was offered. It is a four credit-hour course lasting twelve weeks, and eight students were enrolled for the Summer 1998 term. Students worked in groups of two, and completion of the project described herein along with appropriate written and oral reporting as the term progressed were the sole requirements of the course.

Student Background

The Computer Engineering curriculum puts a strong emphasis on microcontrollers and embedded systems, with a required three-course sequence in these areas leading up to the capstone course:

1. ECE 374 Microcomputers I gives an introduction to microcontrollers, including assembly-language programming, software design, and some interfacing. It covers Chapters 1 through 6 and parts of Chapter 7 in the text Microcomputer Engineering by Gene H. Miller1 . The text, and therefore the course, is based on the Motorola 68HC11 family of 8-bit microcontrollers, and laboratory projects use Motorola’s 6811 EVB evaluation board.