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Issue #227 June 2009
Forward-Thinking Designers
by C. J. Abate
I’ve said here before that we think of each project described in these pages as a key contribution to 21st-century technological development. Each design is the result of thousands of previous projects, and in turn each will surely lead to exciting new advances in the embedded design industry and beyond.
This month, some of the projects we present represent exciting new contributions to some of the most important scientific topics of our time. From Cambridge to Silicon Valley to Tokyo, engineers and scientists are devoting their work lives to the important topics presented in this issue: virtual reality designs, autonomous vehicle construction, wireless navigation, precision sensor technologies, high-speed signal transmission, solar power acquisition, and more. Our authors are truly forward-thinking designers!
In “Keystroke Communication,” Naweed Paya and Venkat Ganesh describe how they designed a customizable virtual keyboard around a microcontroller and some affordable parts (p. 14). This flat keyboard design is the size of a piece of standard paper, which makes it perfect for use on virtually any flat surface.
Starting on page 22, Ed Nisley presents the second part of his “Solar Data Logger” series. With a redesigned layout, better power supplies, and a superior inductor, Ed’s data logger project is back on track. Here he presents the new circuitry and covers the topics of inductor core saturation, solar panel output, and more.
Do you need an SSI controller to retrieve sensor readings? Before you shell out a lot of money to buy one, try your hand at Robert Bowen’s project on page 30. Now you can build your own SSI readout display for position sensors.
On page 42, a team of engineers from Camosun College describes an autonomous vehicle design. They cover every aspect of the project, from the embedded system to motor control and sensor technology. This project can serve as a prototype for future military, industrial, or healthcare autonomous applications.
Data transmission speed is important topic to everyone from engineers working on industrial applications to editors trying to move megabytes of photos to coworkers. Speed is king. In “High-Speed Signal Transmission,” Robert Lacoste covers signal transmission theory (p. 52). He introduces the important topic of transmission on low-bandwidth cables, and in doing so, he covers the topics of preemphasis and equalization.
GPS technology isn’t always a good fit for an embedded application that requires navigation capabilities. Check out Jeff Bachiochi’s article “Location Notification” for a description of an accessible alternative to GPS technology (p. 60). He introduces the topic of magnetoresistance and explains how to use an anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) sensor in a design.
Having trouble with the software side of an embedded design project? Tom Cantrell presents a new chip and a web-based technique for software development (p. 68). It’s an alternative approach to embedded programming that’s sure to make your future design endeavors a lot easier.
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