Getting started with the Raspberry Pi Pico multicore microcontroller board using C
Figure 2: The Raspberry Pi Pico is available in three configurations. Image source: Beningo Embedded Group, LLC
Written by Jacob Beningo
One interesting note about the Raspberry Pi Pico is that there is not just a single development board available. Instead, there are three; the original SC0915 with a standard configuration, the SC0917 which includes header connectors, and the SC0918 which includes a
low-cost Wi-Fi chip for connected applications (Figure 2). For each of these versions, the general footprint of the board remains the same. The edge connections for the board consist of 40-pin edge connections for
An extensive ecosystem The Raspberry Pi Pico already has an extensive ecosystem that allows developers to choose between using MicroPython or C software development kits to write applications for the board.
Figure 1: The Raspberry Pi Pico is a low-cost development board that contains everything necessary to develop applications on the RP2040 microcontroller. Image source: Raspberry Pi
There is an inherent need in embedded systems to have a powerful, low-cost microcontroller unit (MCU). These devices play an important role not just in the product, but also in supporting tests, rapid prototyping, and capabilities such as machine learning (ML). However, getting started with MCUs generally requires an in-depth understanding of MCU technology and low-level programming languages. On top of that, development boards often cost between $20 and $1000, which can be too expensive for many developers. Also, it’s not always the case that a development board is available, and even when they are, designers often struggle to get a board up and running. This article introduces the Raspberry Pi Pico (SC0915) as a low-cost development board for the RP2040 MCU that provides developers with a wide range of capabilities. The article explores
(Figure 1). Between the Pico’s sub $5 cost and its multipurpose use, it has become a popular solution for both makers and professional developers. The RP2040 features a dual- core Arm Cortex-M0+ processor clocked at 133 megahertz (MHz) and includes up to 264 kilobytes (Kbytes) of SRAM. The RP2040 does not include flash on-chip. Instead, the Raspberry Pi Pico provides an external 2 megabyte (Mbyte) flash chip that interfaces with the RP2040 over a quad serial peripheral interface (QSPI). The board also provides a user LED, a crystal oscillator that the phase lock loop (PLL) uses to create a stable high-speed CPU clock, and a pushbutton to configure whether the processor boots normally or into a bootloader.
the Pico and some expansion boards, examines the different software development kits that the Raspberry Pi Pico supports, and demonstrates how to create a blinky LED application using the C SDK.
Introduction to the Raspberry Pi Pico
The Raspberry Pi Pico was first introduced in 2021 as the development platform for the RP2040 microcontroller. The Pico can be used as a standalone development board, or it can be designed into a product directly due to edge connections that can be soldered to a carrier board
Figure 3: The Raspberry Pi Pico edge-connected pinouts provide a wide variety of peripheral access. Image source: Raspberry Pi
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