， 18, 2017 16:13 CST

Seven Segment Display Operation by

Using Atmega32 and CD4511B
Let’s first have a look on the seven-segment display and its pinout.

The Seven-segment consists of 7 LEDs arranged in a way that allows

constructing a display of the numbers of (0-9). It has 10 pins assigned as
follows:

1. 7 pins act as the Vcc for the 7 LEDs (1 pin for each LED,
assuming that we are dealing with common cathode seven
segment display)
2. 1 pin is the VCC for decimal point display at the lower right
corner.
3. 2 pins represent a common ground to all the LEDs.

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 7 segment LED display

There are 2 types of seven-segment, that are “common anode” and “common
cathode”. In common anode seven segment, VCC is common for all the LEDs
and each has a different pin for the low voltage (that is ground). In the case
of a common cathode, all LEDs have a common ground and each has a
different pin for the high voltage (Vcc). In this tutorial, we will be using a
common cathode 7 Segment display.

Interfacing 7 Segment Display with AVR Atmega32:

The straightforward way to do that is to connect each pin from the seven-
segment to a pin on the MCU and use the software to control the LEDs
lighting and display the numbers we want. However, this way is not efficient
as it wastes a lot of valuable MCU pins. Imagine that you want to connect 2
seven-segment devices to display the numbers (0-99), in this case, you will
need to use 14 pins of the MCU I/O pins which may leave you in a shortage of
pins for other external peripherals.

Fortunately, there is a better way to do it, using the CD4511B IC (BCD to 7

Segment Decoder), shown in the below picture.

This is an easy to use IC that takes the number you want to display as an
input in BCD (Binary Coded Decimal) format and outputs the 7 bits needed to
illuminate the seven-segment with the desired number. The below diagram
clarifies the input and output to the CD4511B.

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The input pins (A, B, C, D) take the input number as BCD and the output pins
(a, b, c, d, e, f, g) are the 7 bits output that will be connected to the seven-
segment as will be demonstrated in the schematic.

For more clarity, the below table shows the inputs and corresponding outputs
of the CD4511B,you also can get more information from the data-sheet of
CD4511B:

Hard Input Output to

wire coming the seven-
d from segment
MCU

LE BL LT D C B A a b c d e f g Numbe Comment
r
display
ed

X x 0 x X x x 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Used for
testing
the
display

X 0 1 x X x x 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank Used for

testing
the
display

0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1

3
0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 2

0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 3

0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 4

0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 5

0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 6

0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 7

0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 9

0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank

0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank

0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank

0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank

0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blank
Using the CD4511B IC allows us even to connect more than 1 seven-segment
on the same 4 pins of the MCU. In such case, we will add a BJT transistor
between the cathode of each seven-segment and the ground and use the
base of this BJT as an enable bit for each seven-segment as demonstrated in
the schematic.

In such case, we save around 10 pins, as we connect 2 seven-segments with

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only 4 MCU pins.

Now, according to the above schematic, in order to illuminate the two seven-
segments at the same time, we need to follow these steps:

1. Write BCD of the number we want to display on the first seven-

segment on PORTC pins (PC4-7)
2. Write 1 to PORTC pin 2 (PC2) to enable the first segment.
3. Allow a delay of 10 ms.
4. Write 0 to PORTC pin 2 (PC2) to disable the first seven-segment.
5. Write BCD of the number we want to display on the second
seven-segment on PORTC pins (PC4-7)
6. Write 1 to PORTC pin 3 (PC3) to enable the second seven-
segment.
7. Allow a delay of 10 ms.
8. Back again to step1.

You might think that this sequence will cause the seven-segments to blink as
we enable and disable them, but in fact you will not notice this blinking.

The persistence of the seven-segments LEDs will cause it to stay illuminated

after being disabled until it is enabled again in the next cycle.

In our program, we will define a counter that counts from 0 to 99 and

displays the counting on the two seven-segments connected as above.

Below is the program code, circuit picture and video.

Program/Code
#define F_CPU 8000000UL #include <avr/io.h> #include <util/delay.h> void
Sev_Seg (char Number); void Sev_Seg (char Number) // Function to write the
BCD of a number to the seven segment pins (PC4-7) { switch(Number) { case
0: { PORTC&=~(1<<5)&~(1<<6)&~(1<<7)&~(1<<4); break; } case 1: {
PORTC|=(1<<4); PORTC&=~(1<<5)&~(1<<6)&~(1<<7); break; } case 2: {
PORTC|=(1<<5); PORTC&=~(1<<4)&~(1<<6)&~(1<<7); break; } case 3: {
PORTC|=(1<<4)|(1<<5); PORTC&=~(1<<6)&~(1<<7); break; } case 4: {
PORTC|=(1<<6); PORTC&=~(1<<4)&~(1<<5)&~(1<<7); break; } case 5: {
PORTC|=(1<<4)|(1<<6); PORTC&=~(1<<5)&~(1<<7); break; } case 6: {
PORTC|=(1<<5)|(1<<6); PORTC&=~(1<<4)&~(1<<7); break; } case 7: {

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PORTC|=(1<<4)|(1<<5)|(1<<6); PORTC&=~(1<<7); break; } case 8: {
PORTC|=(1<<7); PORTC&=~(1<<4)&~(1<<5)&~(1<<6); break; } case 9: {
PORTC|=(1<<7)|(1<<4); PORTC&=~(1<<5)&~(1<<6); break; } } } int main(void) {
char count=0; // This is the variable that will be displayed on the seven-
segment char i=0; DDRC|=0b11111100; // Set direction for port B as output
PORTC&=0b00000011; // Set the all the seven segment pins to 0 in the
beginning while(1) { for (count=0;count<=99;count++) // This loop is to
increment the number that will be displayed { for (i=0;i<=17;i++) // This loop
introduces some more delay so that the counting is slow enough for our eyes
to recognize it { Sev_Seg(count%10); //write the first digit of "count" value to
the first seven-segment PORTC|=(1<<2); //Enable the first seven-segment
_delay_ms(10); PORTC&=~(1<<2); //disable the first seven-segment
Sev_Seg(count/10); //write the second digit of "count" value to the second
seven-segment PORTC|=(1<<3); //Enable the second seven-segment
_delay_ms(10); PORTC&=~(1<<3); //disable the second seven-segment } } } }

Photograph

Video