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Issue #228 July 2009
'Net Tech and You
by C. J. Abate
With each passing year, we receive more and more article submissions about projects in which Internet and Ethernet technologies figure prominently. Why is that?
Perhaps all you designers out there are constantly hard at work trying to develop the next big thing in ’Net-connected technology. There’s a lot of money to be made designing innovative ’Net-related hardware and software. Or maybe you’re just so connected that the majority of your designs are linked to the ’Net out of sheer necessity?
The answer is that it’s probably a bit of both.
We begin this issue with three examples of such projects. Perhaps one of theses articles will provide you with just the right info to start your next exciting ’Net-connected design.
On page 16, Steven Nickels presents his Internet Weather Display design. Many people have weather stations, but this one is unique in that it doesn’t require external sensors. The design gathers weather data and alerts from the Internet and displays it on a color monitor.
Turn to page 26 to learn how Minas Kalarakis combined his interest in embedded design, cameras, and the Internet to build his own webcam. The compact design pans the camera horizontally and vertically, and it can change its IP and gateway address to match a network. An Ethernet module transmits the packets over the Internet.
We’ve run articles about HERMS projects in the past, and Kirt Weakman took notes. In “iMash,” he describes how he updated his own Ethernet-Controlled heat exchange recirculating mash system (p. 38). This project required Kirt to implement skills ranging from metal-bending and welding to working with embedded Linux and VB.NET code.
In previous Circuit Cellar articles, Enoch Hwang covered the topics of ALU chip design and VGA monitor control. In this issue he tackles a new topic: implementing an I2C master bus controller using an FPGA. Turn to page 46 to learn how to build the controller using VHDL or Verilog code.
If you’re thinking about adding text-to-speech capability to a project, check out “Embedded Speak” on page 56. Jeff Bachiochi explains how to build a design’s vocabulary by developing a text library for real-time translation.
In “LiOn King,” Tom Cantrell presents an exciting new development in “Green” technology: a battery-in-a-chip (p. 62). This is truly an advance in embedded energy harvesting.
George Martin wraps up the issue with some useful information about C language (p. 70). This time around he explains how to get a C program up and running on an embedded system.
All of this exciting new content should keep you busy well into August! Let me know how it goes.
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