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Issue #208 November 2007
New Initiatives
by C. J. Abate
I enjoy attending conferences because I get to leave the editorial office and meet face to face with our readers, writers, advertisers, and contest sponsors. In September, I drove to the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston. As usual, I had a great time meeting with everyone who stopped by our booth.
This year’s conference was important for a few reasons. Most notably, we launched two new exciting initiatives: the WIZnet iEthernet Design Contest 2007 and a call for articles about “intelligent energy” (IE) solutions.
As for the WIZnet contest, check out Fred Eady’s contest primer on page 34. Fred introduces you to the power of the WIZnet W5100 hardwired TCP/IP Ethernet controller. If you’re inspired, you can easily join the Ethernet revolution at www.circuitcellar.com/wiznet/. Registering for for a project number will take only a few minutes. With $15,000 in total cash prizes up for grabs, it’s well worth the effort.
Next month, we will run a new section of the magazine called Intelligent Energy (IE) Solutions. To kick things off, the new section will feature Part 1 of Steve Ciarcia’s series about his new photovoltaic (PV) installation. As you know, Steve has mentioned his PV system in his monthly Priority Interrupt columns. Next month, you’ll get to read about the details.
The purpose of the IE section is to highlight exciting new designs that address topics such as solar-powered systems, energy-efficient embedded designs, and power-saving applications. As many of you learned in Boston, we’re challenging you to draw up an IE design, build a system, and send us an article proposal. If your proposal intrigues us, we might ask you to submit an article for this new section. Are you up for the challenge?
As you prepare to enter the WIZnet contest or start an IE design (or both), be sure to read through this issue’s batch of compelling articles. Our authors cover a wide variety of well-designed applications.
On page 12, David Rowe describes how he combined his interest in embedded systems and telephony to design a µClinux-powered IP-PBX. If you follow his lead, you too will be able to switch analog and VoIP calls.
Want to know what it took to win a top prize in the Luminary Micro DesignStellaris2006 Contest? Check out Thomas Alldread’s versatile NimbleSig design on page 22.
In his well-known ECE 576 course at Cornell University, Bruce Land and his students use FPGAs to build embedded systems. In “Hybrid Computing on an FPGA” (p. 44), Bruce explains how he simulates the parallel functions of an analog computer on an FPGA.
Because we like variety, the second half of this issue features articles on topics that are a bit less hardware-centric: communication protocols (p. 50), software design techniques for small embedded systems (p. 58), and product development (p. 63). We’re confident that the advice provided in these three articles will serve you well as you start your next project. Good luck!
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