#143 June 2002 Embedded Programming

Table of Contents Task Manager Summer Fun—by Jennifer Huber Priority Interrupt Broadband—A Report Card—Editorial by Steve Ciarcia New Product News—edited by John Gorsky BatMon to the Rescue–A Battery Monitor for RC Applications by Thomas Black For years, hobbyists have relied on voltmeters and guesswork to monitor the storage capacity of battery packs for RC models. Now, Thomas introduces a more precise high-tech battery monitor that is small enough to be mounted in the cockpit of an RC model helicopter. p.12 Keywords: Battery, monitor, NiCd, NiMH, capacity, LED, PIC16C63, DS2438   Extreme OSMC Part 1: Open Source Motor Control Project by Sonny LIoyd Whether you’re a Formula One racer or commuter weaving through rush-hour traffic, speed control is a concern. Brakes alone won’t suffice, so you need a motor that pitches in. With this step-by-step guide, you can tailor Sonny’s OSMC project for RC cars, boats, or robots. p.20 Keywords: Motor control, open source, speed control, H-Bridge, HIP4081A, protection, TVS, LM2574-HV12 Ultra-Low Power Flash MCU MSP430 Design Contest Winners Announments p.24 ROBOTICS CORNER Behind the Scenes Part 2: Software Control by Daniel Ramirez Last month, Daniel described the design of his DIY animatronics project, which involved a controller board, motors, controllers, sensors, and a host robot. In this article, he demonstrates how his system works and how you can use it in your own animation project. p.28 Keywords: Robotics, animatronics, Hero I, PIC18C452, servo, software, joystick, C, MSART, USART, calibration, diagnostics, PWM   Selecting the Best CAN Controller by Olaf Pfeiffer Selecting the right CAN controller for your specific application can be a daunting task when you consider the numerous options on the market today. Fortunately, Olaf has some great advice that can help you minimize cost and maximize performance. p.40 Keywords: CAN, controller, hardware filtering, Basic, Full, buffer, FIFO Staring Down the Pipeline Part 1: Hyper-, Super-, Whatever-Pipelines by Jim Turley The best way to approach a project is with as much knowledge as possible. Do you know everything there is to know about microcontrollers? In Part 1 of Jim’s two-part article, he teaches us a lesson about pipelines, the key ingredient in microcontrollers. p.44 Keywords: Microcontroller, pipeline, speed, size, stages, fetch, decode, read, memory, execute, load-use penalty, write-back, branch, cache   RoCK Specifications Part 3: Behavior-Based Programming by Joseph Jones & Ben Wirz It’s easy to see why Joseph and Ben’s Robot Conversion Kit was successful in the 2001 Design Contest. So far, they’ve covered the specifications and circuitry, and now it’s time to describe the fundamentals of the module’s behavior-based programming scheme. p.50 Keywords: Robotics, programming, behavior-based, primitives, task, selection, beeper, serial —Sponsored Article— Read it Now! APPLIED PCs Still Swimming With the STK500—Onto the JTAG ICE by Fred Eady Last month, Fred introduced us to Atmel’s STK500, which is the starter kit for the company’s AVR flash memory microcontrollers. This month, he tackles coding and debugging with Atmel’s JTAG ICE. He’s thrilled with the result, so don’t miss this follow-up. p.58 Keywords: STK500, JTAG, ICE, AVRStudio, AVR C, ATmega, break point, TCP/IP Sponsored by ImageCraft Creations Inc.   —Feature Article of the Month— Invisible Components Read it Now! by Ed Nisley What you can’t see can hurt you—at least in the analog domain. In this article, Ed flags all of the hidden obstacles you’re likely to encounter on the road to building a trouble-free bicycle headlight. This project goes nicely with Ed’s earlier instruction on building a taillight. p.66 Keywords: Analog, lighting, battery, capacity, density, temperature, discharge rate, resistors FROM THE BENCH SmartMedia File Storage Part 1: A Windows/DOS-Compatible File System by Jeff Bachiochi Jeff has showed us how a small PIC processor reads and writes portions of a SmartMedia memory device. This month, he shows us a project that will help you to exchange embedded data with your PC applications. p.70 Keywords: SmartMedia, file system, physical format, SSFDC, logical format, master boot sector, partition, FAT   SILICON UPDATE FPGA Power Play by Tom Cantrell Xilinx deserves an award. Why? Well, they turned Virtex-II parts into pros. This month, Tom takes a look at the new Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGAs and compares it to the Virtex-II and other “super-duper” chips. p.76 Keywords: Virtex-II Pro, FPGA, PAL, LUT, SRAM, Rocket I/O, routing, clocking, DCM, FIFO, processor, PPC 405 core Test Your EQ Advertisers Index PREVIEW July #144 Graphics & Video RoCK Specifcations —Part 4: Tying Up Loose Ends 80C31-Controlled Power Supply Starting Down the Pipeline—Part 2: The Long and Short of It Short Solutions: An AVR MCU-Based AC Phase Controller and Build a Graphics LCD Bias Supply Robotics Corner: Extreme OSMC—Part 2: The Modular OSMC Brain An LCD Controller for a PIC Driving the NKK Smartswitch From the Bench: SmartMedia File Storage—Directory Entries Silicon Update: Eight Isn't Enough Applied PCs: Building a Modular Programming Platform—Part 1: The Program Module Cover Photography by Meadows Marketing