Getting Started with the MSP430 Launchpad

Adrian Fernandez · Dung Dang

Apr 2013 · Newnes

About this ebook

This book explores the world of microcontroller development through friendly lessons and progressively challenging projects, which will have you blink LEDs, make music with buzzers & interact with different sensors like accelerometers and temperature sensors. This book is focused on the MSP-EXP430G2 LaunchPad Evaluation Kit, which is a complete microcontroller development platform that includes everything you need to start creating microcontroller-based projects. Many of the 25+ projects will also leverage external components, such as the highly-integrated Educational BoosterPack, which is a modular extension to the LaunchPad and includes many components such as an RGB LED, character LCD & potentiometer.

This book provides helpful guides that break down hardware circuits through visual diagrams and includes fully-commented code examples. Concepts are broken down and explained in an easy to follow language and analogies to help you understand the principles behind each project/system. The projects will encourage you to use and even combine the fundamental concepts to develop your ideas in creating new microcontroller solutions.

Coverage includes:

• Digital Input/Output: buttons, LEDs, turning anything into a button
• Analog Input/Output: sensors, temperature, accelerometer, potentiometer, etc.
• Programming fundamentals: conditional branches & loops, flow, logic, number systems
• Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM): square wave, buzzer, analog signal simulation
• Serial Communication: UART, SPI & I2C
• Code development using Energia, a free, open-source code editor and compiler
• Debugging through serial communication with a computer
• Interfacing with external components such as LEDs, buzzers, potentiometers, sensors & more.

With the help of this book, you will be challenged to think about developing your own unique microcontroller-based application, and you will be equipped to start solving various problems, adding intelligence to existing products, or even developing your own innovative creations with a LaunchPad development kit.

• Includes over 25 projects which focuses on a learn by doing approach
• Contains easy to follow diagrams and code examples
• Covers Programming fundamentals, such as conditional branches and loops, flow, logic, number systems

Ratings and reviews

The authors did a fine job of covering the bases with or without using the companion Educational BoosterPack. The EBP has a definite advantage for moving along quickly and being able to make variations easily to check out all sorts of code and sensor changes. Energia provides the best way to tackle the complex chip level code and make it accessible. I would recommend highly this guide to any newbie to the microcontroller world that decided to start with the MSP430 LaunchPad as a great introduction to this technology.

Good

About the author

Adrian Fernandez is the manager of the Microcontroller Customer Experience team at Texas Instruments and holds a B.S.E.E from the University of Texas at Austin. In his role, he is responsible for defining the microcontroller development ecosystem and augmenting the ways developers interact and develop with TI microcontrollers. In recent years, Adrian has focused on the LaunchPad Evaluation Development Platform to create a low-cost, easy-to-use and friendly tool for enabling people of all experience levels to start making stuff with microcontrollers. Through developing the LaunchPad ecosystem, Adrian has had the pleasure of working and interacting with the online & maker community. Adrian lives in Dallas, TX with his better-half Ellen and pug Ollie.

Dung Dang is an applications engineer for Texas Instruments Microcontroller Group and holds an M.S.E.E from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Serving various roles in new product development, he is responsible for shaping new microcontroller definitions and using the products to realize and enable innovative applications. Dung has also defined and driven several microcontroller software solutions and development tools. Within the area of development tools, Dung started the work on the LaunchPad since its inception, created the very first BoosterPacks, and has since continued to develop and support the ecosystem surrounding this tool. Through this work, he has been privileged and fortunate to witness the excitement and the warm reception of the LaunchPad in the community. This inspires Dung to keep on making and contributing to this incredible and ever-growing community of makers.Dung lives in Dallas, TX with his wife Kacy, who lovingly puts up with his late nights, and Buck, a Border Collie who never fails to outsmart him.