The pages of Circuit Cellar brim with practical yet intriguing information. Our goal is to enlighten and entertain you with every issue. In keeping with our goal, we have a number of features throughout the magazine that inform, teach, and hopefully inspire you. Most of our articles serve as tutorials, giving you step-by-step instructions on how to build with a new part or sophisticated technology. And, you can always count on columnist Tom Cantrell for updates on the industry. In every issue, you’ll also find thought-provoking quiz questions (page 11), announcements about products fresh to the shelves (page 8), and a guide to find the ads of your favorite manufacturers (page 94). But, one of our best staples is our challenging design contests.

Circuit Cellar contests have become one of our most successful ventures. Each one draws out top engineers who specialize in everything from chip design to embedded systems, and from neuroscience to rocket science. The varied backgrounds of the contestants always ensure a plethora of unique entries.

If you haven’t already participated in one of our contests, don’t miss your next opportunity. Start building your project for the Mad Dash for Flash Cash Design Contest 2002, sponsored by Microchip Technology, today! You have until December 16 to enter, so that still gives you a couple of months to work on your project. The Microchip PIC family of microcontrollers has become universally popular; in fact, we continually receive scores of articles about projects that feature various PIC parts. With a well-liked PIC at the center of your design, you’ll have no trouble creating a masterpiece of ingenuity.

Those of you who want an edge in the competition should incorporate one of the following features: TC1047 temperature sensor; MCP6022 op-amp; MCP3002 analog-to-digital converter; MCP42100 digital potentiometer; MCP1541 VREF; at least one communication port; or a CCP to control an event. Entries that showcase any of these features will be given bonus consideration by the judges; for more information, read the official contest rules on our web site (www.circuitcellar.com/flash2002).

Consummate designers get all of the facts first. Before you begin working with these features, I recommend reading columnist Jeff Bachiochi’s article, starting on page 62. Jeff’s thorough introduction to Microchip components will ready you for the task. After reading his article, you’ll be armed with the knowledge needed to design a competitive project.

Aside from the prestige winners earn from succeeding in a Circuit Cellar contest, they also receive prizes. A total of nine entries will be awarded prizes: Grand, First, Second, Third, and five Honorable Mention prizes. The lucky winner of the Grand Prize stands to receive the Microchip MPLAB ICE2000 processor module and free registration to the Microchip Annual Summer Technical Exchange Review (MASTERs). Additionally, don’t forget that we’ll recognize all of the winners in the magazine as well as on our web site.

jennifer.huber@circuitcellar.com

Published: October-2002