I have been experimenting with PWM on a PIC 16F877A. Initially, I used an example program that came with my development board & tweeking the values to see what effect they had on the trace of my oscilloscope.
Having done that, I am now attempting to get a waveform to my specifications. I am having a little difficulty in understanding the Microchip datasheets (or maybe it is just general ignorance!). I just cannot fathom out what is meant by PWM Resolution.
I am a novice to electronics, but I understand that, say, a 10-bit A/D converter would give you a reading of 0-1023 or an 8-bit one a reading between 0-255, but the datasheet gives a formula to work out the
*Maximum PWM Resolution* in bits. I don't fully understand why that is a variable.
ATM, I am guessing that the higher the frequency of the PWM the less resolution you have available to specify the duty cycle. So with a low frequency PWM, you could have 10-bits of resolution i.e. the duty cycle could be 1/1024 of the period. A much higher frequency, may only allow you to have 3-bit resolution i.e. 1/8 of the period.
Am I on the right track?
Thx in advance,
Cap'n Ahab