Project entry:

Along with hackaday logs on the project page...

The project is summed up by the following document (including build instructions, BoM, etc): Switcher.pdf

The hardware and software is available in the github repo: https://github.com/ashleyjr/Switcher

The final project meets the 1KB criteria and majority of the project goals have be achieved.

Personal reflection:

My knowledge of switch mode power supplies was already fairly complete but I tend to use off the shelf controllers which, when treated with respect, are quite simple to get up and running. I chose to develop a SMPS from scratch as a way of putting myself in design position of a commonly used component so that I might better understand why they behave as they do.

Using the Keil c51 compiler and diving deep in to the assembler was a valuable experience. I often tend to avoid assembly like the plague but monitoring the code size byte by byte has taught me subtle changes in C can make huge changes in the assembler. I also have a greater appreciation of the 8051 architecture and can understand why new chips based on the this design are still entering the market.