ah, November. The early sunsets, final leaves dropping off the trees, and 30° nights here in the Northeast remind me that the holidays are upon us. It’s time to prepare for family get-togethers with enormous meals and never-ending towers of desserts. And the questions are mounting. Who’s hosting what this year? Who wants what this year? But, before you get wrapped up in the frenzy, take some time for yourself.

This year, one of your gifts comes early. We’re kicking off the holiday season with our tightly packed Embedded Development issue. Instead of shopping, shopping, and then shopping some more (think of Pamplona during the running of the bulls), you can get busy planning your next application. The ideas you get from reading about the interesting projects in this issue will keep you down in your own Circuit Cellar throughout the cold winter.

Why not start off by designing an embedded thermal sensor system? A group of five engineers lead by Divyata Kakumanu joined efforts to create a stand-alone temperature-sensing system that uses low amounts of power. Designed with wireless remote sensors, this project could be used for any number of applications that require electronic control of computing and communication. It is suitable for everything from coffee makers to industrial applications, in which effective thermal sensing can be critical.

If you work with Java, or perhaps you’ve just been wondering about it, make sure you turn to page 12 to read Shahzad Umar’s article, “Embedded Real-Time Java in an MPU.” As he explains, in recent years, Java has become widely accepted and its popularity continues to grow. Shahzad uses the Motorola 68HC11 microprocessor to demonstrate the quality of Java technology. With the Java programming language, you can utilize the full set of features on the 68HC11.

Also this month, the wait is over for those of you who entered the PSoC Design Challenge 2002. Using the Cypress MicroSystems PSoC devices, the entrants produced skillful designs that I’m sure you’ll want to read about. Be sure you head over to our web site, too, for expanded coverage of the entries. For the first time, we’re posting the full projects including source code for all of the winning entries. Additionally, we’ve chosen a number of distinctive entries to post.

So relax, and forget about dealing with whatever holidays you celebrate. Forget about getting a turkey, tagging a tree, picking up your in-laws, buying gifts for every niece and nephew, stringing up lights, and the imminent Secret Santa fiasco. Unwrap our present to you, and then hibernate in your workroom. OK, so the hibernation advice is facetious (you’ll still have to pick up your in-laws), but you should slip away for some much needed relaxation.

jennifer.huber@circuitcellar.com

Published: November-2002