New development board for designing with 16-bit and 32-bit PIC microcontrollers

Microchip have launched a new Explorer 16/32 development board for designing with 16-bit and 32-bit PIC microcontrollers. This new board is offered at a lower cost than the company’s popular Explorer 16 development board and comes with an integrated programmer/debugger and several new features that address the latest embedded systems design needs. The board provides a flexible, convenient and easy-to-start tool while being backwards compatible to the classic Explorer 16 Board. The board serves as a platform for customers to evaluate the 16-bit PIC24, dsPIC33 and 32-bit PIC32 families of devices through PIMs for easy device swapping. It facilitates prototyping of the end application for proof of concept before migrating to the actual design. The board features a mikroBUS interface to easily add new functionalities using Click Boards from MikroElectronika. In addition, the board also supports an integrated USB for both power and communication, eliminating the need for an external power adapter and communication accessory. This new board is backwards compatible with the Explorer 16 Board which allows users to continue using existing code, libraries, prototypes, PIMs, and PICtail Plus daughter cards interfaced via a side PICtail Plus connector. The PICtail Plus daughter cards interfaced via a vertical connector can be re-used using the additional PICtail Plus Expansion Board.