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Issue #217 August 2008 — Embedded Development
Task Manager
Hone Your Embedded Development Skills, by C. J. Abate
Priority Interrupt
A Reactive Necessity, by Steve Ciarcia
New Product News, edited by John Gorsky
FEATURE ARTICLES
The DMX Portal
Obtain Lighting Control Via Ethernet
Third Place - WIZnet iEthernet Design Contest 2007 — Read
it now!
by Matt Ernst
Ready to build your own DMX lighting controller? Matt’s design enables him to remotely control up to 512 channels through an IP-based network or directly interface them to embedded systems with a serial connection. It is perfect for distributed lighting systems where low-cost Ethernet wiring is a better option than RS-485 wiring. p. 14
Keywords: DMX, lighting, Ethernet, WIZnet 5100, PIC18F4620, RS-485, MPASM, LabVIEW
Electric Vehicle Inverter Design — INTELLIGENT ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Build A System For Powering AC Induction Motors
Subcategory Winner - Microchip 2007 Design Contest — Read
it now!
by Dan Hall, Tristan Kasmer, Doug Krahn, Adam McIntyre, & Dena Ponech
The Electric Vehicle (EV) Inverter project is a starting point for the conversion of a vehicle with a gas engine to one with an electric motor. The inverter was built using a control board and software based on Microchip Technology’s MC-1 development board. The finished design can power a wide range of AC induction motors. p. 22
Keywords: Inverter, AC induction motor, vehicle, EV, ACIM, MC-1, IGBT, CM4000DC-12F, snubber, gate driver, BG2B-5015, dsPIC30F6010, space vector modulation, PID, CAN
A Bootloader For Blackfin
by David Tweed
David designed a two-stage bootloader that allows application firmware to be updated in the field to support bug fixes and additional features for specific end-user applications. It also adds capabilities to the native boot processing of the Blackfin chip. Although some details are specific to the Blackfin family of DSPs, some general features may be helpful on other CPUs. p. 34
Keywords: Blackfin, bootloader, field updates, DataFlash, EEPROM, boot process, AT45DB081D
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
PSoC Design Techniques (Part 2)
Add DSP Effects, A User Interface, And More
by Chris Paiano
Chris continues explaining PSoC design techniques by describing his eight-channel mixer project. This month, he covers how to enhance the single-chip design with DSP effects, an intercom mode, a user interface, speech, and permanent setting memory. p. 44
Keywords: PSoC, mixer, DSP effects, intercom, UI, speech, DelSig ADC, sampling, pitch shifting
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
Create A USB Virtual COM Port
by Jan Axelson
Physical COM ports are disappearing from PCs, but the right firmware can make a USB device appear as a virtual COM port. As Jan explains, you can use almost any microcontroller with an embedded or external full- or high-speed USB controller to design and program your own USB virtual COM port device. p. 70
Keywords: USB, virtual, COM port, serial port, bridge, FT232R, FT245R, driver, UART, CDC, AT89C5131, PIC18F4550, LPX214x, descriptors, performance
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
COLUMNS
ABOVE THE GROUND PLANE
IR Proximity Sensing
by Ed Nisley
Ed takes a look at IR proximity sensing after seeing a colleague’s homebrew chord keyboard. Even if you don’t need a hand-mounted keyboard, knowing how a contactless switch works should come in handy. p. 40
Keywords: IR, Proximity, chord keyboard, contactless switch, reflected light, BPV23NF photodiode, modulation
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
FROM THE BENCH
Water War Prevention
An MCU-Based Monitor For A Communal Well
by Jeff Bachiochi
Jeff’s Microchip Technology PIC12F510-based system monitors the water filtration system in an underground well. The design indicates when the communal filtration system’s brine tank is out of salt. p. 52
Keywords: Water filtration monitor, PIC12F510, shift register, Hall effect sensor, level measurement
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
THE DARKER SIDE
Direct Digital Synthesis 101
by Robert Lacoste
Need a refresher on direct digital synthesis? Robert brings you up to speed by covering DDS theory, a few chip-based solutions, and some firmware implementations. p. 60
Keywords: Direct Digital Synthesis, DDS, counter, DAC, oscillator, waveform generation, noise, jitter, nonlinearity, quantization errors, MCP6002, PIC16F629A
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
SILICON UPDATE
Icy Hot
The Soft-Core Concept, FPGAs And You
by Tom Cantrell
Question: Does a “soft-core” make sense for your current application? Tom covers the history of the soft-core technology and introduces the ARM Cortex-M1 soft-core and the FPGA chips it runs on. As you’ll see, this solution from Actel and ARM makes the soft-core concept more viable than ever for new applications. p. 78
Keywords: Soft-core, FPGA, Cortex-M1, performance, memory, code density, uC/Probe, Thumb, Libero, CoreConsole, Igloo, softConsole
(A link to the article will be emailed to you.)
PREVIEW
Issue #218 September 2008 — Data Acquisition
◊ Content Collection And Display: Build An Internet-Connected News Ticker
◊ Dynamic Animatronic Remote (Part 1): Build A Custom Controller With A Color LCD
◊ Fast Digital Filtering
◊ Prototyping With QFP Parts
◊ MCU-Based Flight Data Acquisition
◊ Intelligent Energy Solutions LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES Living And Working Off The Grid (Part 2): Installation And Performance
◊ FROM THE BENCH Fingerprint Data Acquisition: Print Sensing With Embedded Technology
◊ SILICON UPDATE Embedder Than Ever: ESC Delivers The Goods
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