PicKit 5 / ICD5 – Making Sense of the New Features

Microchip's MPLAB IDE and various value-added hardware devices constitute one of the finest ecosystems in the microcontroller space. Microchip recently did a lifecycle upgrade, adding valuable features such as Bluetooth support and SMU functionality to the hardware. This text quickly examines what new features developers can look forward to and how to use them in practice. Keep in mind that development tools generally can be price elastic. As of this research, the lower-end PICkit5 has an OEMsecrets price ranging from 86 to 104 EUR. The high-end version ICD5 can be purchased from 380 to 435 EUR. Importantly, use the manufacturer numbers PG164150 and DV164055 for price comparison.

USBC Connectors Across the Board

The most visible improvement concerns how the command devices connect to your workstation. Both MPLABs now use USB-C, which is beneficial in two ways. Firstly, USB-C cables are used on almost all phones and can easily be sourced on the road. Secondarily, the USBC connector can provide more power, allowing Microchip to eliminate the previously needed wall wart power supply on the larger development tool version.

Figure. While not necessarily new, the power-over-ethernet capability of the ICD5 deserves mention. It is useful not only for continuous integration but also for galvanic insulation. When using a galvanic insulated ethernet switch, the ICD5 can be placed in the protective cage, reducing costs and test-rig complexity.

Beware of the Connector Change

While the new MPLAB products are downward-compatible with existing microcontrollers, two problems must be observed. First, the official operating system list starts with Windows 10. In practical tests, Yours truly only got reliable and repeatable connections on Windows 11 - should your company still use Windows 7 for stability reasons, this product line is unsuitable for your needs.

The second problem concerns the connector: old development tools, and the whips intended for microcontroller connection, use an RJ11 connector. On the new product, MicroChip deployed an RJ45 connector instead. The connectors do mate, but the link is somewhat unstable. Fortunately, you can contact us to obtain the Gerber files for the product shown in the figure above. It is a simple connector-adapter design by yours truly. However, remember that it inverts the polarity of the development tool. This means that pin one of the ICSP interface becomes pin six and vice versa – flip the connector around when connecting to the target PCB.

Automatic Microcontroller Firmware Deployment

Putting software into a finished and assembled printed circuit board is a relatively complex problem that often needs more consideration during system design. The programmer-to-go functionality on the PICkit is Microchip's answer. In principle, the system is quite simple. The figure shows a slot for a FAT-formatted microSD card. After that, MPLAB can populate it with a firmware image.

Once this process has been completed, the PICkit is in programmer-to-go mode. In this special regimen, the product connects to a power supply. A push of the button hidden under the MPLAB logo then deploys the firmware image on the memory card. While the PICkit 4 was limited to deploying one image at a time, the new PICkit 5 can provide multiple firmware configurations. This is made possible via a control application that connects using Bluetooth and is available for both Android and iOS phones.

When used with a compatible version of MPLAB (the most recent version of MPLAB 6 works best), the programmer-configuration pane offers the options shown in the figure.

Image Name accepts a file name that will be used for storing the image on the SD card. The assembly worker can then use the Bluetooth LE application to select the image that the PicKit 5 flashes at the next button press.

SMU Feature to Analyze Power Consumption

Microchip's MPLAB programmer family could power the device under test for quite some time. So far, this has taken the form of a programmable DC supply, which has provided more or less power depending on the selected model. In the ICD5, Microchip significantly upgrades this function by adding SMU capability. This means that the programming device supplies power, tracks power consumption, and reports this information back to MPLAB X. In terms of accuracy, Microchip promises the specifications shown in the figure.

Making use of the new function is quite simple. The ICD 5 must be configured as a power source in the first step. After that, click the MPLab Data Visualizer option to activate the data visualization feature found in the MPLAB IDE. The actual creation of the power-analysis window is then done by clicking the option Plot Raw, which leads to the appearance of the dialogue shown in the figure.

After clicking the option, a power consumption diagram like the one shown in the figure will appear.

Incidentally, this bit of code was generated using a PIC16F1503, which was provided with two blue-light-emitting diodes and the following bit of code, which toggled them on and off:

void main(void) 
{ 
 // initialize the device SYSTEM_Initialize(); 

 // When using interrupts, you need to set the Global and Peripheral Interrupt Enable bits 
 // Use the following macros to: 

 // Enable the Global Interrupts 
 //INTERRUPT_GlobalInterruptEnable(); 

 // Enable the Peripheral Interrupts 
 //INTERRUPT_PeripheralInterruptEnable(); 

 // Disable the Global Interrupts 
 //INTERRUPT_GlobalInterruptDisable(); 

 // Disable the Peripheral Interrupts 
 //INTERRUPT_PeripheralInterruptDisable(); 

 IO_RC4_SetLow() ; 
 IO_RC5_SetHigh() ; 
 while (1) 
 { 
 IO_RC4_Toggle() ; 
 IO_RC5_Toggle() ;
 __delay_ms(1000); 
 } 
}

A video showing the feature in live usage can be found at https://youtu.be/yrM78fs-AR8.

Conclusion and Outlook

The fifth generation of Microchip's wildly popular programming devices adds features that make the everyday life of PIC16, PIC18, and 32-bit-PIC microcontroller developers easier. The SMU is highly valuable and is not readily available from other vendors. Finally, the programmer-to-go functionality can significantly reduce assembly costs by enabling the use of lower-priced unskilled workers.