The time constant(sec) of an RC circuit is equal to the product of the resistance and the capacitance of the circuit.

It is the time required to charge the capacitor through the resistor to 63. 2% of full charge,or to discharge it to 36.8% of its initial voltage.

The voltage of the RC circuit is measured using adc of the ATmega8, input voltage for RC circuit is given from PB0. The timer is started at the time of the PB0 making 1 .

The adc of ATmega8(ADCH) is 8 bit long so corresponding to 5V get 255 in ADCH. The TCNT1 value is taken to a variable when the output voltage of the RC circuit become 63.2% of the input voltage.That is 3.16 v corresponding to these voltage ADCH show 161(appr).

Using an LCD can show the TCNT1 value. TCNT1 is 16 bit long.Here ATmega8 running in 8MHz clock,timer prescaled by 1024.

So if you get the real time multiply the TCNT1 value to (1024/8000000).

Some test examples:

An Arduino board consists of an 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller with complementary components to facilitate programming and incorporation into other circuits. If you wish to study the arduino codes ,then one of the major problems is the availability and cost of the Arduino board. If you have an atmega8 microcontroller then you have to study the Arduino codes by simply changing some options in Arduino IDE.

First download the arduino IDE(I am using Arduino 1.0). Next you have to an avr programmer(I am using usbasp and usbtiny). Launch the arduino IDE as root.Then select your programmer from tools and also select your board in this case select ATmega8. Take care in fuse bytes because arduino codes are running in 8MHz.Y ou can enable internal 8MHz clock by

-U lfuse:w:0xa4:m -U hfuse:w:0xcc:m

Or you can enable the external crystal by setting the fuse byte as

There is a pot connect to the ADC of msp430 Ao(pin p1.0). The values of ADC10MEM displayed using LCD.

The Vcc for pot is taken from msp430 launchpad.so maximum voltage is 3.6v.

The msp430 10 bit ADC operates in the range 0 to 3.6V. If the input voltage is 0V,

the ADC generates a 10 bit value:

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

which is numerically equal to 0.

When the input voltage is 3.6V, the ADC

generates a 10 bit pattern:

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

which is numerically equal to 1023.

These values are stored in ADC10MEM.

Atmel AVR 8-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers deliver a unique combination of performance, power efficiency, and design flexibility. Optimized to speed time to market, they are based on the industry’s most code-efficient architecture for C and assembly programming. No other microcontrollers deliver more computing performance with better power efficiency. Industry-leading development tools and design support let you get to market faster. Once there, the large AVR family lets you reuse your knowledge when improving your products and expanding to new markets—easily and cost-effectively.

package required in linux

binutils: Programs to manipulate binary and object files that may have been created for Atmel’s AVR architecture. This package is primarily for AVR developers and cross-compilers.

gcc-avr: The GNU C compiler, a fairly portable optimising compiler that supports multiple languages. This package includes C language support.

avr-libc: Standard library used for developing C programs for Atmel AVR microcontrollers. This package contains static libraries, as well as needed header files.

sample programme to blink a LED.