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Issue #206 September 2007 — Data Acquisition
Task Manager
Blogs & Video, by C. J.
Abate
Priority Interrupt
Chronic Subscription Overdose,
by Steve Ciarcia
New Product News, edited by John Gorsky
FEATURE ARTICLES
Smart Power — Read it now!
An Intelligent Power Supply for Embedded
Systems
by Alexander Popov & Jordan Popov
This “intelligent” power supply was designed specifically for testing
embedded systems. In addition to its numerous useful features, the ATmega169-based
power supply can provide any voltage from 0 to 5 V with 10-bit resolution.
p. 10
Keywords: Power supply, ATmega169, TC1321, LM723CH, preset, brown-out, drops
PIC-an-LCD
A Character-Based Serial LCD Controller
by Dale Wheat
Dale describes his useful PIC-an-LCD device, which is a character-based
serial LCD controller. Based on a Microchip Technology PIC16C621, the
LCD controller chip is programmed in C language and works with most alphanumeric
LCD modules. It accepts normal or inverted serial data and connects to
either TTL or RS-232-level signals with a single resistor. p. 18
Keywords: LCD controller, PIC16C621, serial, HD44780, KS0066U
(A link to the article will be emailed to
you.)
High-Performance Motor Controller
by Daniel Ramirez
With a USB interface, Daniel can issue high-level commands to his motor
controller from his laptop. This enables his laptop to process algorithms
while an embedded controller handles the rest of the work. Motor control
has never been easier. p. 26
Keywords: Motor control, USB, PIC18F4450, dsPIC30F4011, security, camera, PWM, H-bridge, LMD18200T, encoder, PID, Ada
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
1-Wire in the Real World (Part 2)
The Solutions
by Steve Hendrix
Steve continues explaining how he turned a laboratory prototype into an
electrically powered ice protection system for aircraft. He describes
how he built a 1-Wire master and then covers some of the application structures
that take full advantage of the 1-Wire bus. p. 42
Keywords: 1-Wire, bus, master, slave, C, enumeration, PICC-18, DS2751
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Resilience in Embedded Design (Part 1)
Power Supply, Inputs, and Ground
by Aubrey Kagan
In this series of articles, Aubrey describes techniques for minimizing
the chances of problems occurring during the embedded design process.
He also outlines the major causes of system failure, such as power supply
noise and electromagnetic interference. p. 52
Keywords: Resilience, failure, design, power supply, protection, MOV, TVS, PTC resistor, EMI, filter, input, ground loop, optoisolator
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Pulse Generation
Encoder Interfacing to Microcontrollers
by Stuart Ball
Try a continuous rotary knob in your next design instead of keypads or
buttons. With an optical encoder and an ATmega8515 microcontroller, a
digital output is produced in Stuart’s system. p. 58
Keywords: Pulse, optical encoder, ATmega8515, range, resolution
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Embedded Scripting
by Thiadmer Riemersma
With the Pawn scripting language, less is more. As Thiadmer explains,
the language requires so little from its embedded host system that it
can be added to an NXP LPC2106 microcontroller with few resources. Now
you can extend your firmware without changing it. p. 62
Keywords: Scripting, Pawn, LPC2106, open source, virtual machine, native function, GCC
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
COLUMNS
LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES
String Theory
by George Martin
George explores how C language supports strings. He wrote a program using
C that runs on a PC and converts an input file containing PCB assembly
information into a file that can be used by a Philips pick-and-place machine.
p. 70
Keywords: C, strings, Borland C++ BuilderX, compiler
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
FROM THE BENCH
I-Zip Dashboard
by Jeff Bachiochi
Jeff applies what you learned last month to design a display for his electric
bicycle. The system uses a LIN bus to present real-time information about
your driving habits and fuel efficiency. The system displays information
such as voltage, current, slope, distance, and speed data. p. 74
Keywords: LIN bus, MCP2150, MCP2120, GP2W0110, PIC16F690, MCP201, NS Basic, serial communication, Visor
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
SILICON UPDATE
Game On
by Tom Cantrell
When the coding gets tough, the tough get coding. And the rest of us should
be glad they do. Recently, Tom turned to game expert André LaMothe to
see how to teach new-school hardware some old-school programming tricks.
Are you game? p. 80
Keywords: Multicore, Propeller, Hydra, parallel, game programming, Andre LaMothe
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
PREVIEW
Issue #207 October 2007 — Signal Processing
◊ Signal Recovery: Restore
the Attenuated Portion of an AC-Coupled Signal
◊ Embedded
Speech: Speech Synthesis for Small Applications
◊ Simple Ethernet
◊ The Monarch Butterfly: Build a Barometric
Altimeter
◊ Wireless Thermostat System
◊ Resilience
in Embedded Designs (Part 2): RS-485, Voltage Supervisors, Watchdogs,
& Outputs
◊ THE DARKER SIDE No Fear with FIR: Put a FIR Filter to Work
◊ ABOVE THE GROUND
PLANE Hearing Clearly: Hardware
◊ FROM THE BENCH RoboGrowth
◊ SILICON UPDATE I Sense, Therefore I Am
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