USB Bulk Transfers between a PC and a PIC Microcontroller for Embedded Applications

The universal serial bus (USB) has become the most popular communication interface among personal computers and embedded devices because of its ease of use, low cost, data bandwidth and availability in most computing systems. Microchippsilas PIC 18Fx550 microcontroller has an embedded USB controller that allows rapid development of USB enabled devices. This paper presents a system for bidirectional communication between a personal computer and an embedded device using a PIC 18F2550 microcontroller in USB bulk transfer mode. A comparison between three different drivers for host application was done to determine the advantages of each one. Finally, a case of study for a remote home lighting control system is presented.