Make your own Quiz Controller

The Quiz Controller project centers around the PIC16F877A microcontroller, which acts as the core processing brain to manage inputs and outputs for up to six teams. User interaction is handled via six pushbutton switches, allowing team members to register their responses. When a button is pressed, the microcontroller detects the state change and immediately activates the corresponding team LED and the buzzer to signal a successful response. To clearly display the active team or score, a large 5-inch 7-segment display (DIS1) is driven using a ULN2003 driver (IC2) and a BC547 transistor (T1), which provide the necessary current amplification since the microcontroller output pins cannot directly power such a large display. Powering the entire system begins safely at the wall outlet: a 15V 500mA transformer (X1) steps down the high AC mains voltage, which is then converted into direct current by a bridge rectifier (BR1). Following rectification, linear voltage regulators (the 7812 and 7805 chips) work alongside filtering capacitors and resistors to supply steady, clean 12V and 5V power rails required by the logic chips, display drivers, and peripherals. The firmware governing this entire input-processing-output sequence is written and compiled using Proton IDE v2.0 before being programmed onto the PIC microcontroller.