MCU simulation software is a good tool to grasp the understanding of the hardware without the need for the actual hardware.
And if you have a lot of people, you want to teach and they all need to buy the hardware to learn, it sometimes creates a hurdle, especially in the case of students getting trained.
If the MCU simulation software is reliable and easy to use, one can also learn the MCU platform using MCU simulation software while the actual hardware is not available or you are waiting for it to arrive.
Do you know if any MCU Simulation software is available?
I tried to find this answer recently when I was searching for Electronic Circuit Simulators.
At times you want to quickly simulate your op-amp circuit or power supply circuit or some analog portion of the project by doing simulations and not wanting to do hardware design and wait for the proto boards to arrive to start the testing.
I found a couple of MCU simulators that could be used and here is a list for your easy access.
Hope some of you will find it useful. If you know of any other MCU Simulation software please do let me know in the comments below, and I will add it to the list.
| Sr. No. | MCU Simulation Software / Website link | Supported MCUs |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Proteus VSM (Free / Paid) | 8051, AVR, PIC, NXP LPC21xx, Arduino |
| 2. | Oshonsoft (Free / Paid) | AVR, PIC, Z80, 8085 |
| 3. | TINA (Free / Paid) | AVR, PIC, 8051, HCS08, ARM, Infineon, ARM Sitara, STM32, TI TIVA, Arduino |
| 4. | SimulIDE (Free) | PIC, AVR, Arduino |
| 5. | WOKWI (Free) | Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi PICO |
| 6. | PICSIMLab (Free) | Microchip PIC, AVR, STM32(experimental) |
| 7. | EDGEYÂ Virtual BreadBoard (Free / Paid) | Arduino |
| 8. | TinkerCAD Circuits (Free) | Arduino |
| 9. | HTE 8051 Simulator (Free / Paid) | 8051 |
| 10. | EdSIM (Free) | 8051 |
| 11. | BiPOM Electronics 8051 Simulator (Free / Paid) | 8051 |
Many Development IDEs for different MCUs also provide basic simulators like Keil, IAR, Segger IDE, etc. Please check them out as well.
I hope you found this post useful.
If you have any feedback, you can share it in the comments section or you can also contact me directly.
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