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Issue #218 September 2008
Circuits & Acquisition
by C. J. Abate
Data acquisition and transmission devices are essential tools for cultivating the Average Joe’s personal and professional life. When he needs a data-acquiring device like a simple digital thermometer, he drops his debit card and buys one. You, however, aren’t an Average Joe, at least when it comes to electronic technologies, because you can design custom systems to meet your data acquisition needs. This issue features articles by engineers who did just that.
Starting on page 15, James Blackwell describes a novel data acquisition system that gathers targeted information from the Internet. The design—which is built around a Microchip Technology PIC microcontroller and a WIZnet WIZ810MJ Ethernet module—collects and displays news content from the BBC’s web site.
In a two-part series titled “Dynamic Animatronic Remote,” Peter Montgomery describes how he developed a different sort of data acquisition system. This month, he explains how he designed and programmed a remote controller for a complex animatronics system (p. 32). The design enables him to acquire and transmit data quickly and accurately from different locations. Mobility is key.
If you’ve been reading Circuit Cellar for the past few years, you know that several of Bruce Land’s current and former Cornell University students have published informative articles about well-designed applications. A good example is the February 2007 article by Craig Ross and Ricardo Goto titled “RFID Security System” (Circuit Cellar 199). This month, Bruce presents an article on the subject of fast digital filtering, a topic both students and professional engineers should understand (p. 40).
Helicopters require accurate vibration-measurement technology. Turn to page 48 to read about an MCU-based, real-time system that Juan Tapia Farias designed for the Chilean Air Force (Fuerza Aérea de Chile, FACH). The system was tailored for a Bell Helicopter Model 206 JetRanger helicopter, but you can customize a similar design for the mechanical system of your choice.
Columnist Jeff Bachiochi presents the last data acquisition-related article in this issue. Starting on page 68, Jeff introduces you to one of the newest advances in biometric technology. He explains how Atmel’s AT77C104B sensor chip and the AT91SAM7FP105 FingerChip security processor make fingerprint data acquisition and processing easy.
On page 22, George Martin begins where he left off in July by tackling the important topic of energy acquisition. In this article, he explains how he installed his photovoltaic system. He now lives and works “off the grid.”
To learn about about a more “micro” application, refer to Naubert Aparicio’s article, “Real-Time Operating System Design” (p. 56). The purpose of the article is to teach you how to customize an operating system for an MCU. He designed his “ArmExe” RTOS to harness the power of Luminary Micro’s Cortex-M3 family of microcontrollers.
Did you make it to the 2008 Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, CA? If not, don’t worry. Tom Cantrell describes his experiences at the conference (p. 76). His presentation of new embedded gadgetry is sure to encourage you to begin a new application.
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