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Issue #217 August 2008
Hone Your Embedded Development Skills
by C. J. Abate
If you are looking for up-to-date information about embedded development techniques and technologies, this is the issue for you. Our feature writers and columnists present in-depth articles about several design projects and advanced technologies that will help you take your embedded development skills to the next level.
Beginning on page 14, Matt Ernst explains how he harnessed the power of a WIZnet Ethernet interface and a Microchip Technology PIC microcontroller to build a DMX lighting controller. The system enables him to remotely control distributed lighting systems.
As you know, most of the ground-breaking intelligent energy solutions of the 21st century will feature well-designed, integrated embedded technologies. During the past several months, we’ve been featuring such projects in our “Intelligent Energy Solutions” section. This month’s project is the electric vehicle inverter described in “Electric Vehicle Inverter Design” (p. 22). The innovative design enables you to power AC induction motors.
Do you have a design that needs to be updated in the field in order to support bug fixes and other features for specific end-user apps? If so, check out Dave Tweed’s two-stage bootloader that adds additional capabilities to the native boot processing of the Blackfin chip (p. 34).
Turn to page 44 for the second part of Chris Paiano’s series about helpful PSoC design techniques. He describes how to enhance his eight-channel mixer project with DSP effects, a user interface, an intercom mode, and more.
Starting on page 70, Jan Axelson describes the development of a USB virtual COM port. As you know, physical COM ports are becoming a thing of the past. This project proves you can use an MCU with a USB controller to build and program a USB virtual COM port of your own.
In “IR Proximity Sensing,” Ed Nisley describes the basics of reliable IR sensing (p. 40). He explains how he updated a hand-mounted chord keyboard with sensors that enable him to activate switches with his thumb. You can use the technique for many of your future designs.
Do you get your water from a well? Columnist Jeff Bachiochi does. In fact, his neighbors use the well too. Because several households pull from the same water source located on his property, Jeff is the guy who handles its upkeep. Being the inventive engineer that he is, Jeff recently built an MCU-based monitoring system for the well. In “Water War Prevention,” he explains how the design enables him to keep tabs on the system without having to “periodically enter the dungeon pit” (p. 52).
At the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose last April, several readers told me how much they loved Robert Lacoste’s solution-focused columns. This month, Robert delivers another handy article. He reintroduces you to direct digital synthesis (DDS) by covering the topics of DDS theory, firmware implementation, and chip-based solutions (p. 60).
Tom Cantrell wraps up this issue with an interesting article about “soft-core” technology. Does it make sense for your current application? Before you answer this question, check out what Tom has to say about the ARM Cortex-M1 and FPGA chips (p. 78).
Happy embedded developing!
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