Introduction to Microcontrollers Lab Manual - Microchip

3.2.4 I/O Ports with Peripheral Pin Select (PPS)
The Peripheral Pin Select (PPS) module controls the connection between digital hardware
modules and the external device pins. Traditionally, microcontroller pins would
only be internally connected to a specific hard module with a dedicated function. As
microcontrollers became more complex, configuration options were provided to select
the I/O of a hardware module from a small number of preconfigured options.
The PPS module allows for ultimate configuration. For any pin controlled by the PPS
module, a completely flexible connection matrix exists between the I/O of the hardware
module and the device pins. Thus, any hardware module can be connected to any
device pin. This allows for a much more flexible user configuration of hardware modules.
The hardware modules managed by the PPS are all digital-only peripherals. These
include general serial communications (UART and SPI), general purpose timer clock
inputs, timer related peripherals (input capture and output compare) and external interrupt
inputs.
In comparison, some digital-only peripheral modules are not currently included in the
Peripheral Pin Select feature. This is because the peripheral's function requires special
I/O circuitry on a specific port and cannot be easily connected to multiple pins. These
modules include I2C, high-speed communication (Ethernet and USB), change notification
inputs, RTCC alarm output and all modules with analog inputs, such as the A/D
Converter.
A key difference between remappable and non-remappable peripherals is that remappable
peripherals are not associated with a default I/O pin. The peripheral must always
be assigned to a specific I/O pin before it can be used. In contrast, non-remappable
peripherals are always available on a default pin, assuming that the peripheral is active
and not conflicting with another peripheral.
When a remappable peripheral is active on a given I/O pin, it takes priority over all other
digital I/O and digital communication peripherals associated with the pin. Priority is
given regardless of the type of peripheral that is mapped. Remappable peripherals
never take priority over any analog functions associated with the pin.
The PIC24FJ256GB110 has a total of 44 remappable pins, which includes 12 input only
pins:
• RP0-RP31 Remappable Peripheral (input or output)
• RPI32-RPI43 Remappable Peripheral (input ONLY)
2011 Microchip Technology Inc. DS51963A-page 27