MPLAB code development tool now supports 16-bit PIC MCUs

Microchip has announced the expansion of its MPLAB Code Configurator Plug-In to support 16-bit PIC MCUs, in addition to the 8-bit devices already supported. The code development tool enables developers to enhance the design experience with faster application development. Based on the popularity of this tool for 8-bit products, Microchip has added support for more than 50 16-bit devices into the latest release of the MPLAB Code Configurator. The MPLAB Code Configurator is a free user-friendly plug-in tool for the MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that leverages drivers and GUI for controlling and driving the peripherals inside PIC microcontrollers with simple and clearly documented driver APIs. The configurator tool simplifies software development, using an intuitive GUI to configure peripherals, accelerating time to market for customers designing with 8- and 16-bit PIC microcontrollers. It is easy to change peripheral configurations or add/remove peripherals from a project. Also, the generated code is reliable and designed for efficient use of CPU and memory resources. The tool offers many powerful features such as visual setup for I/O pin management with both a chip-level and tabular view. Also, once a system-level clock rate is set, the tool will automatically calculate timer periods, duty cycles and baud rates for peripherals. With a simple drag-and-drop style interface, this tool generates easy-to-read code that includes peripheral configuration setup, drivers and pin mapping to efficiently solve application development obstacles. Designers can benefit from this easy-to-use code development solution, which is better able to meet their ever-shorter product design schedules and decreasing budgets. The MPLAB Code Configurator is available via a free download. More than 50 16-bit PIC MCU products in six different families are now supported in this latest release, including the PIC24FJ128GA310, PIC24F16KM204, PIC24FJ128GC010, PIC24FJ128GB204, PIC24FJ64GB004 and PIC24FJ64GA104 families. In addition, more than 140 8-bit PIC MCU products are supported in the latest release including the newly added PIC16LF155X, PIC16F161X, PIC16F17XX and PIC18F14K22 families, says the company.