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Issue #228 July 2009 — Internet & Connectivity
Task Manager
’Net Tech and You, by C. J. Abate
Priority Interrupt
The Critter Chronicles, by Steve Ciarcia
New Product News, edited by John Gorsky
FEATURE ARTICLES
Internet Weather Display
by Steven Nickels
The Internet Weather Display is a weather station that operates without external sensors. The design gathers weather data and alerts from the Internet and displays it on a color TFT monitor. An LED flashes when alerts are transmitted. p. 16
Keywords: Weather, Internet, TFT, WeatherBug, API, Propeller, P8X32A-40, W5100, SPIN
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Web Camera Design
by Minas Kalarakis
This versatile web camera system can take a picture at a resolution of 640 × 480 or 320 × 240, pan the camera horizontally and vertically, and change its IP and gateway address to match a network. After each photo is divided into 64-byte segments, an Ethernet module transmits the packets over the Internet. p. 26
Keywords: Webcam, dsPIC30F4013, camera, C328-7640, WIZ810MJ, DHCP, servo, PWM, MikroC
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
iMash
An Ethernet-Controlled HERMS
by Kirt Weakman
After reading a 2006 Circuit Cellar article about the development of a heat exchange recirculating mash system (HERMS), Kirt set out to update his own Ethernet-controlled design. In this article, he describes how upgrading the system involved metal bending, TIG welding, MIG welding, embedded Linux code, VB.NET code, and more. p. 38
Keywords: HERMS, heat exchange recirculating mash system, Linux, VB.NET, GESBC-9302E, MPXV400X, ARM, ADS7871, PID
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Master Control
Implement an I2C Master Bus Controller in an FPGA
by Enoch Hwang
Enoch explains how to implement an I2C master bus controller using an FPGA. He presents the I2C bus protocol, and then describes how to build the controller using VHDL or Verilog code. The design accesses a real-time clock chip via the I2C bus and displays the time on a seven-segment display. p. 46
Keywords: I2C, FPGA, Cyclone II, DS3232, VHDL, finite state machine, Altera DE2, Quartus II
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
COLUMNS
FROM THE BENCH
Embedded Speak
A Text Library for Allophone Translation
by Jeff Bachiochi
Do you need to add text-to-speech capability to a project? If your design requires more than a few canned phrases (strings of allophone codes), you must build up the system’s vocabulary. Jeff explains how to develop a text library for real-time translation. p. 56
Keywords: Embedded speech, text-to-speech, allophone, Liberty Basic, SpeakJet, dsPIC30F3013, UART
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
SILICON UPDATE
LiOn King
A Look at “Battery-in-a-Chip” Technology
by Tom Cantrell
Got Energy? Energy harvesting is all the rage, but like a real harvest you need a place to store the crop. This month, Tom introduces the next advance in thin-film rechargeable lithium battery technology: a battery-in-a-chip. p. 62
Keywords: Battery, EnerChip, LiOn, CBC050, charge, SuperCap, capacity, CBC-EVAL-08, eZ430-RF2500, energy harvesting
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES
C Start-Up
Get a C Program Up and Running
by George Martin
You’ve decided to try the C language and have a new design ready to go. Now it’s time to get your embedded system up and running.
p. 70
Keywords: C, start up, .bss segment, .data, RAM, EPROM, stack, heap, memory leak, MSP430
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
PREVIEW
Issue #229 August 2009 — Embedded Development
◊ Get Started With Embedded Development (Part 1): “Bare Metal” Implementations and “CircleOS” Apps
◊ Cable Tracer Design (Part 1): Underground Cable Detection Made Simple
◊ Infrared Radiation Measurement: FFT Double Beam Infrared Spectrophotometer
◊ THE DARKER SIDE Power Analysis Primer: From Power Line Measurements to PFC
◊ ABOVE THE GROUND PLANE A Blast for the Past: High-Voltage DC Dosimeter Charger
◊ FROM THE BENCH Threat Level Indication System: Implement a Simple USB-to-Parallel FIFO Interface
◊ SILICON UPDATE Thin Is In: High-Profile Energy in a Low-Profile Package
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