BitScope Mixed Signal Capture Engine—Norman Jackson, Stanmore, Australia
The BitScope Mixed Signal Capture Engine is an RS-232 peripheral device intended for data-acquisition applications where a digital sampling oscilloscope or logic analyzer would be used. It is capable of complex triggering and simultaneous recording of analog data and digital logic states as well as time/frequency measurements. This 50 MS/s digital signal oscilloscope and logic-analyzer capture engine is constructed using a PIC16F84, a Lattice 1016 PLD, two 32-KB cache RAMs, and a flash ADC.
A PIC-controlled synchronous clock circuit allows single-step or free-running operation of the sample RAM. High-performance op-amps and a wide-bandwidth ADC chip provide an analog bandwidth of close to 100 MHz. You can therefore use subsampling techniques to reconstruct repetitive waveforms above Nyquist’s sampling frequency.
BitScope is programmed via scripts from a host attached to the serial port. The scripts are virtual machine instructions that synthesize the required functionality.
The PIC communicates to the host via a standard serial communications link, so anything from a palmtop to a workstation can be interfaced to it. According to Norman, this excessive computing power should enable the construction of a complex virtual instrument from a small set of capture primitives implemented in the BitScope microcontroller.
Second Place $2000
Hydrocare Hydrotherapy
System—Troy Harvey, Provo, Utah
Feeling a little tight and achy? Troy has the bed for you.
The hydrocare Hydrotherapy system is a therapeutic massage bed that provides a full body massage via high-pressure warm water jets without getting the user wet. A gel-filled sound-dampening waterproof membrane fully relays the pressure of the water while also keeping the user dry. The water automatically conforms to the user’s body as the water jets move along the length of the bed, providing the massage.
Hydrocare’s electronics are controlled by a PIC16C74A. The chip coordinates many functions: a hand-controller keypad and LCD, a real-time session timer, an external timer interface, a token-vending interface, a user-definable menu with hardware lockout and EEPROM backup, water-jet pump control, a variable-speed PWM water-jet drive motor control, a water-jet position LCD readout, a water-jet memory setting, a multilevel water-jet pressure control, a water temperature control, water-tank level sensing, and a nonvolatile EEPROM-based machine-use odometer.
By using the PIC, the cost of the electronic subsystem fell from $562 to $143. But what I want to know is how much would it cost to adapt it to my waterbed?
Third Place $1000
Mobile Environmental Control from a
Wheelchair
—Dan Leland, Coquitlam, Canada
Dan wants to enable people with little or no limb function to access common household appliances without assistance from other people. His goal: to design and build a simple scanning input device using the PIC16C84 that would serve as the front end for a versatile universal infrared remote. With the device, the user could access a variety of TV and stereo components as well as X-10-enabled devices from anywhere in the home.
Dan first built a Scanning User Interface (SUI) with a 4
´ 10 LED array, corresponding to the buttons on the remote. The device has a variety of ability control switches and operating modes that let the user make a selection.The user scans up, down, and across the LEDs via a sip-and-puff pneumatic switch (other switches—blink, finger-flex, head tilt, or oversize button/paddle—can also be used). Once a selection is made, the SUI sends the appropriate serial control command through a three-wire cable to the infrared remote.
