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Issue #187 February 2006 — Embedded Programming
Task Manager
Become a Better Embedded Programmer, by Jennifer Huber
Priority Interrupt
50 Years of Invention, by Steve Ciarcia
New Product News, edited by John Gorsky
FEATURE ARTICLES
Multifunctional Home Control System
by Jack Benjamin & Michael Benjamin
Do you really want to take on a project like building a home control system? Jack and Michal thought it was worth it to get a customized system that works with their lifestyle. It controls their alarms, shades, utilities, and more. Wait until you learn about what they’re planning next. p.14
Keywords: Home control, direct wire, I/O, ENDAT-3201MH, PCI-1753, PCI-1753E, buffer, relay, optocoupler, keypad, LCD, Windows, XML, scheduler, alarm
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Robust Bootloader for FPGAs
by Colin O'Flynn
Colin built his LoonBoard Unified Bootloader (LUB) to program Xilinx FPGAs. The LUB, which takes only 207 words of program memory, can self-calibrate its internal RC oscillator. p. 44
Keywords: Bootloader, LoonBoard, LUB, ATmega88, Xilinx FPGA, AT45DB041B, memory, DataFlash, communications, self-calibration, AVR-GCC, X1226
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Embedded Object-Oriented Programming
by Chris Cantrell
To be an effective software engineer, you must have the right tools on hand for generating top-notch code. Object-oriented programming is one such tool. Chris explains how to use object-oriented programming to take your embedded designs to the next level. p. 52
Keywords: Object-Oriented Programming, OOP, classes, C++, inheritance, encapsulation, polymorphism, memory management, Xport robot controller, Game Boy
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Rooting Around
RInteger Square Roots on Small Processors
by Michael Dvorsky
There are numerous ways to compute square roots. Have you ever tried the sum-of-odds method? What about the bisection method? Michael goes over the basics and shows you how to choose algorithms to suit your particular applications. p. 60
Keywords: Square root, algorithm, Newton-Raphson method, sum-of-odds, bisection, RMS, AVR GCC, ATmega8, AT90S8515
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Output Real Numbers
by Mariano Barron
When Mariano first started developing his talking calculator, he used the scanf and printf functions to enter numbers from the keyboard and show the results on the display. But he soon discovered that using the printf function to output real numbers was soaking up a lot of code memory. Implementing the float-to-ASCII (ftoa) function solved the problem. p. 67
Keywords: C, I/O functions, ftoa, float-to-ASCII, floating point, IEEE 754, AVR, 8051
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Number Crunching on a Budget
Custom PIC MCU Solution Trumps PC
by Tom Napier
Your expensive desktop PC isn’t always the best solution for all of your number crunching problems. As Tom explains, some computations can be done more economically on a $4 custom programmed PIC microcontroller than on a PC. p. 73
Keywords: Number crunching, PIC, PC, noise generation, bit shifting, memory, speed, power, loops, Gaussian, filter
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Voice Changer Technology
by Aviad Bechori, Shlomo Engelberg, & Roi Rapoport
Shlomo, Aviad, and Roi built a voice changer for a research project they undertook for an Israeli police unit. Here they explain everything they learned along the way. p. 76
Keywords: Voice changer, linear predictive coding, single sideband suppressed carrier, modulation, pitch, Simulink, demodulator, MATLAB, FDATool block, modeling, FIR, ADSP-21065, Visual DSP++
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
DTMF Decoder
by Chris Coulston, Brian Nypaver, & Jeffrey Rimko
Using some serious math and timing-saving design techniques, you can build a PIC18F452 microcontroller-based device that decodes the tones generated by a telephone keypad. Chris, Brian, and Jeffrey describe a system that can decode a touch-tone in 1 s. p. 80
Keywords: DTMF, PIC18F452, CH1840, POTS, Fourier, FFT, Goertzel
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
COLUMNS
APPLIED PCs
Discover True 16-Bit Functionality
Explorer 16 Offers Welcome Flexibility
by Fred Eady
With Microchip Technology’s Explorer 16 development board, you now have true 16-bit mode functionality. Fred takes you inside. The inexpensive board features the new PIC24FJ128GA010 microcontroller and dsPIC33F128GP710 digital signal controller PIMs. p. 22
Keywords: Explorer 16 development board, PIC24FJ128GA010, dsPIC33F128GP710, 16 bit, memory, program space visiblility, C compiler
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
ABOVE THE GROUND PLANE
Sampled Data Bandwidth
Filtering
by Ed Nisley
In his last article, Ed described the horrors of an unfiltered system. This month he examines what happens with both good and bad filters. p. 28
Keywords: Sampling, data, bandwidth, filtering, sample-and-hold, harmonics, Nyquist, Butterworth, antialiasing, images, oversampling
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
FROM THE BENCH
Power Over Ethernet Primer
by Jeff Bachiochi
Sick of dealing with wall warts? Try power over Ethernet (PoE). Many devices (e.g., security cameras) are now PoE-compatible. Jeff shows you how to establish PoE on an Ethernet link between a hub and an endpoint device. p. 34
Keywords: Power over Ethernet, PoE, Cat 5, wiring, power management, TPS2384, PD, PSE, TPS2375
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
SILICON UPDATE
Something Old, Something New
by Tom Cantrell
Naysayers are eulogizing the dearly beloved 8-bit microcontroller. Once again, Tom says not so fast. A new generation of chips proves there’s still a long life ahead for the 8-bit MCU. p. 40
Keywords: 8-bit microcontrollers, PIC24, dsPIC, MC9S08QG, C8051F316/F317, SSP1492, mixed signal, CC2430, ZigBee, IEEE 802.15.4, motor control, Z8 Encore! MC, MSP430F20xx, H8, PSoC, AVR
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Crossword
PREVIEW
Issue #188 March 2006 — Robotics
◊ Robot Localization and Control
◊ Outdoor Mobile Robot
◊ Optical Proximity Sensor for Robots (Part 1): Simple PCB Design with the gEDA Suite
◊ Image Processing for Robots
◊ Servo Animation Controller
◊ Low-Cost Serial Servo Controller
◊ Digital Compassing: Build a Tilt-Compensated Digital Magnetic Compass
◊ Concurrent Small C for PIC18 MCUs
◊ APPLIED PCs Remedy for USB-to-MCU Pain: Embedded USB with HIDmaker FS
◊ FROM THE BENCH Simple Robotics Experimentation
◊ SILICON UPDATE FIR Factor
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