#142 May 2002 Signal Processing

Table of Contents Task Manager Getting the Right Signal —by Jennifer Huber New Product News—edited by John Gorsky Power Line Modems Meet Home Control by Brian Millier Energy conservation is an important consideration when building a house. But, a poorly designed control system prevented Brian’s heat recovery ventilators from being as effective as possible. So, he tried some new power line modems to get the sensing units to talk to each other. p.12 Keywords: Power line modem, home control, temperature, humidity, SC-600, LM34DZ, Plinius, FSK, X10, AT90S2313, SNAP   Tiny Planet—A One-Bit Wireless I/O Port by Claudio Lanconelli & Alberto Ricci Bitti Claudio and Alberto took a closer look at the connector on a cell phone and designed a circuit that would allow users to keep in touch with machinery and hardware anywhere in the world. Staying in touch with products can be just as easy as staying in touch with people. p.20 Keywords: Wireless, I/O, cell phone, SMS, AT command, ATtiny2L, serial Working with EMC by George Novacek Teamwork involves give and take. How-ever, when it comes to EMI, every circuit wants to give, but none of them want to take. George explains some differences between magnetic and electric emissions and how your next project can be designed to handle both. p.28 Keywords: EMC, electromagnetic compatibility, EMI, protection, emission level, interference, shielding, transient ROBOTICS CORNER Behind the Scenes Part 1: Controlling an Animatronics System by Daniel Ramirez Hollywood is one of the biggest markets for automation systems, but beneath the makeup lies a number of engineering challenges. Daniel takes a shot at a DIY animatronics project that involves a controller board, motors and controllers, sensors, and a host robot. p.34 Keywords: Animatronics, robot, RC controller, PIC16C84, PIC18C452, joystick controller, H-Bridge, power supply, SERVO84, servo controller, noise, I2C, PWM, stepper motor   Hand-Soldering Fine-Pitch QFP Devices by John Taylor John walks us through the basics of working by hand and explains some techniques that can be used for replacing SMT devices or installing sockets. His practice exercise shows us that most components aren’t too compact for hand soldering, at least not yet. p.46 Keywords: Construction, soldering, fine pitch, TQFP, SMD, iron, temperature, technique, removal, flux, cleaning, installation, inspection RoCK Specifications Part 2: The Circuitry by Joseph Jones & Ben Wirz In the second part of this project, Joe and Ben take the cover off of their prize-winning hardware and show us what makes their robot conversion kit tick. After a closer look, you’ll see why the Design Logic 2001 judges selected this project as one of the top submissions. p.50 Keywords: RoCK, Robot Conversion Kit, light sensor, obstacle detection, AT90S8535, power supply, motor driver, Si9986 —Sponsored Article— Read it Now! APPLIED PCs Taking a Swim with Atmel's STK500 by Fred Eady Ready to dive in and take a closer look at a few of the ATmegaxxx offerings from Atmel, Fred found no better place to start than with the starter kit. He found that there’s plenty of processing power and before long, he was into the deep Atmel-blue realm of embedded.  p.56 Keywords: STK500, ATmega16, ATmega163, ATmega128, AT90S8515, AVR Studio, ICCAVR, TCP/IP, C, JTAG, ICE Sponsored by ImageCraft Creations Inc.   —Feature Article of the Month— Design Your Own Microprocessor Read it Now! by Jim Turley Problem with your microprocessor? Complications with micros are often the case. But, what if you designed your own that did exactly what you needed it to? Jim provides a tutorial on creating a microprocessor. The bonus: You don’t have to be Bill Gates to build it. p.62 Keywords: Microprocessor, FPGA, Nios, MicroBlaze, LEON-1, VHDL, CMOSexod, Free-IP, VAutomation, OpenCores, ARCtangent, Xtensa, instructions, Verilog, Handel-C, ST210, Jazz     —Sponsored Article— Read it Now! From The Bench You're Not Alone—Dealing with Isolation by Jeff Bachiochi Jeff hasn’t turned into a self-help writer, but you can help yourself by following along as he outlines the challenges and effects of isolation. Knowing what the options are will help keep your next project on track. p.70 Keywords: Isolation, optical, magnetic, Hall effect, GMR effect, giant magneto resistive, power, DC-DC converter, IL-485, LT1424-5, MAX253, ground loop Sponsored by NVE Corporation —Sponsored Article— Read it Now! SILICON UPDATE I-Way the Hard(ware) Way by Tom Cantrell Getting on the em-bedded Internet bandwagon is easy, but putting an actual product on the production line is challenging. i2Chip’s latest offering looks promising, but delivery will be everything for this newcomer. p.76 Keywords: Embedded Internet, 7660A, W3100, Ethernet, 802.3u, MAC, PHY, MII, memory, interface, TCP, UDP, 8051 Sponsored by i2Chip, Inc. Test Your EQ Advertisers Index PREVIEW June  #143 Embedded Programming Extreme OSCMC—Part 1: Open Source Motor Control Project Ultra-Low Power Flash MCU MSP430 Design Contest Winners Selecting the Best CAN Controller BatMon to the Rescue—A Battery Monitor for RC Applications Robotics Corner: Behind the Scenes—Part 2: Software Control RoCK Specifications: The Goal of a New Machine—Part 3: Programming Above the Ground Plane: Invisible Components From the Bench: SmartMedia File Storage—A Windows/DOS- Compatible File System Silicon Update: FPGA Power Play Applied PCs: Still Swimming with the STK500—Onto the JTAG ICE Priority Interrupt The Insanity of Sucess—by Steve Ciarcia Cover Photography by Meadows Marketing