Week 3 – 8051 Microcontroller

Assembly Language Programming

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Week 3 – Assembly Language

 Introduction
 Instruction Set
 Software - Keil
 Assembler Directives

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Programming Languages
Assembly is a Low Level Language
FORTRAN
 High Level Pascal
COBOL
BASIC

C++
 Middle Level C

 Low Level Assembly

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Assembly Language
Low Level Language
 English-like abbreviations
 Represent basic operations of computer

 Translated to machine language

 Assemblers convert to machine language
 High speed conversion

 Easier for human interpretation as compared to Machine

language
 Still tedious and difficult
 Many instructions for simple tasks
 These problems led to High Level languages

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General Format of Assembly Program

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Assembly Language
 General Format of Assembly Program

mnemonics operand , [operands]

destination, Source

[label]: mnemonics operand , [operands]

destination, Source

Brackets shows that the component is optional

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Assembly Language
 General Format of Assembly Program

[label]: mnemonics operand , [operands]

destination, Source

 Labels: are used to represent address of a line with a

name
 Labels must end with a colon

 Operand: on which the operation is performed

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Assembly Language
 General Format of Assembly Program

[label]: mnemonics operand , [operands]

destination, Source

 Mnemonics: Instruction or command

Example:
mov A,#67h
 mov is mnemonic
 A and #67h are operands

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Assembly Language
Comments

 Comment begins with a semicolon (;)

 Assembler ignores the comments

Example:
; This is a comment

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Instruction Set
 8051 has 111 instructions in the instruction set.
 Instructions have 8-bit Opcode
 Combinations = 28 = 256
 255 are implemented
 139 1 Byte instructions
 92 2 Byte instructions
(139+92+24=255 instructions)
 24 3 Byte instructions

 1 Machine cycle = 12 clock cycles

 Could take 1, 2 or 4 Machine Cycles to execute an
instruction

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Instruction Set Summary

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Instruction Set

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Instruction Definition
 mov a, #data

 Bytes 2
 Cycles 1
 Encoding 0111 0100 dddd dddd
 Operation (A) #data

 Example
 mov a, #3
 7403
 0111 0100 0000 0011

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 Assembly Programming for 8051

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A51 Assembler
Assembler: Converts Assembly code to Why a Two-Pass Assembler?
The main reason for a two-pass assembly is
machine language code to handle forward references in assembly
code. A forward reference occurs when a
label is used before it is defined.
A51 – Two Pass Assembler In a single-pass assembler, it would not
know the address of the label the first time
it encounters it. By using two passes, the
 First Pass assembler can gather all necessary
information in the first pass and resolve it in
 Symbols and Labels are collected the second pass.

 Length of each instruction is determined

 Symbol Table is made
MOV A, #3 ; Move immediate value 3
 Second Pass to the accumulator

 In the second pass, the assembler uses JMP Start ; Jump to the label 'Start’
the information gathered in the first
pass to generate the actual machine Start: ; Label definition
ADD A, #5 ; Add 5 to the accumulator
code.

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Assembler Directives
 Change state of assembler

 Define Symbols, add information to the object file etc

 Must not be confused with Instructions. They do not

produce executable code

 For exp: ORG, END, USING, EQU, SET etc.

Assembler directives (also known as pseudo-instructions) are special
instructions used in assembly language programming that do not
generate any machine code but help the assembler organize the
program, allocate memory, define constants, and control the assembly
process.

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Assembler Directives

1. Address Control
2. Symbol Definition
3. Memory Initialization
4. Others

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Assembler Directives
1. Address Control
 ORG, USING
2. Symbol Definition
 Generic Symbols: EQU, SET
 Address Symbols: BIT, DATA, XDATA
 SFR Symbols: sfr, sbit
3. Memory Initialization
 DBIT, DB, DW
4. Others
 END

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Address Control

 Allows the control of Address Location counter

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Address Control
ORG
 Sets the starting address for the subsequent code or data.
 Sets new origin for subsequent statements
Format:
ORG expression
Where,
 expression must be an absolute address without any forward references
 Only absolute addresses and symbols in current segment can be used
 When ORG statement is encountered, the assembler calculates
value of the expression and changes location counter of current
segment
 Examples
 ORG 100H
 ORG RESTART
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Address Control
USING
 4 Register Banks
 USING specifies which Register Bank to use.
Format:
USING expression

where,
 expression is the register bank number, and it must be a
value from 0 and 3

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Symbol Definition
 Symbols and labels can be composed of 31 characters
from the following list:

A -Z, a - z, 0 - 9, _ and ?

 A symbol can start with any of these except the digits 0 –

9

 A51 is not case sensitive

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Symbol Definition
EQU and SET
 Used to create symbols that represent registers, numbers
and addresses
 Similar to Define in C
 Assign a numeric value / register symbol to the specific
symbol name
Difference between EQU and SET
 Symbols defined with EQU can not be redefined as it
creates fixed constants.
 The SET directive allows later redefinition of symbols

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Symbol Definition
EQU and SET name EQU value
 Formats of SET / EQU statements are: PI EQU 3.14

symbol EQU expression

symbol EQU register

symbol SET expression name SET value

symbol SET register COUNT SET 10

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Symbol Definition
EQU and SET
 symbol is the name of symbol to define

 expression specified will be substituted for each

occurrence of the symbol used in program. expression is
numeric expression which has no forward references

 register is one of the 8 registers (in the active bank)

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Symbol Definition
Example

 LIMIT EQU 1200

 VALUE EQU LIMIT-200
 SERIAL EQU SBUF
 VALUE SET 1000
 COUNTER SET R1
 TEMP SET COUNTER
 TEMP SET COUNTER*VALUE

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Symbol Definition
EQU and SET
 Symbols defined with EQU and SET directive may be used
anywhere in operands, expressions, or addresses etc.

 Symbols that are defined as register name can be used

anywhere a register is allowed

 Assembler replaces each occurrence of defined symbol in

assembly program with the specified numerical value or
register name

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Symbol Definition - Address Symbols

 The BIT, DATA, and XDATA directives assign an address

value to the specified symbol

 Symbols defined with the BIT, DATA and XDATA directives

can not be changed or redefined

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Symbol Definition - Address Symbols
Format: BIT, DATA, XDATA

symbol BIT bit_address ; defines a BIT symbol

symbol DATA data_address ; defines a DATA symbol

symbol XDATA xdata_address ; defines XDATA symbol

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Symbol Definition - Address Symbols
Format: BIT, DATA, XDATA

 Symbol: name of symbol to be defined

 Bit_address: is the address of a bit in internal data memory in

the area 20h to 2Fh

 Data_address: data memory address in the range 0 to 127 or a

special function register (SFR) address in the range 128 .. 255.

 xdata_address is an external memory address in range 0 to

65535

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Symbol Definition – SFR Symbols
sfr, sbit:
sfr (Special Function Register) and sbit (Special Function Bit)
are used to define and manipulate control registers and their
individual bits in microcontrollers.
sfr
 sfr symbol = address
sbit
 sbit symbol = bit-address

 sfr_symbol is the name of symbol to be defined.

 address is an SFR address with which the symbol is to be
associated
 bit-address is address of an SFR Bit
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Symbol Definition – SFR Symbols
sfr, sbit
Examples

 sfr mine = P0 ; SFR symbol

 sbit motor = P3^0 ; SFR Bit symbol

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Memory Initialization
 Memory initialization directives are used to initialize code
or constant space in byte units

 DBIT
 Used to define a bit
 DB
 Used to define byte – 8 bit
 DW
 Used to define Word – 16 bits

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Memory Initialization - DB
DB
 The DB directive initializes code memory with byte (8-bit)
values
 Format
label: DB expression, expression
where
 label is the symbol that is given the address of the initialized
memory
 expression is a byte value. Each expression may be a value or a
symbol etc
 Example
ORG 100h
REQ: DB 1,2,3,4,’A’
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Assembler Directives - Others
END

 Signals the end of assembly module

 Any text that appears after END is ignored

 END directive is required in every assembly module

 If missing, a warning message is generated by assembler

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Number Representation
 D (or nothing) Decimal
 H for Hex
 Q for Octal
 B for Binary

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M icrocontrollers and E mbedded Systems: Course Project Overview Welcome to a course where
your project could be the first step toward becoming a tech entrepreneur! Many successful companies
began with simple ideas, driven by passion and resourcefulness. Now it’s your turn to embrace that
spirit. For your project, you'll design and develop a microcontroller-based system. Think of it as building
something you’d want to sell in the next few years. Identify a clear goal for your product and focus on
delivering a real solution.

The theme is flexible—you can choose what excites you, like creating an innovative children's toy.
Replicate a toy’s core functionality and enhance it with features that add value or excitement. Get
creative and use materials you already have at home.

Your project must:

- The project shall be done in groups (4 students/group)
- Submit a project proposal and get an approval about the content of the project by 21-Oct-24.
- Implement features like timers, interrupts, or communication protocols to ensure complexity.
- Generate at least one PWM signal to control an actuator.

- Assessment will be done on the basis of:

- Oral exam (viva)
- Functional Prototype Demo
- A short Youtube video describing the project

This will challenge you to explore microcontroller workings, like the 8051 architecture (but feel free to
use any controller). You’ll build a functional system and push your creative limits. This project is a step
toward
57 your future as a builder, innovator, and entrepreneur.