Resources: Hardware and Software Senior Design – Spring 2012

Microcontrollers  Useful for analog-digital conversions, timing, counting pulses, serial communications, PWM, digital I/O, and much more!  Code can be interrupt driven  Possible applications  Perform an A-D conversion on a signal and send that data to a PC  Control an LCD display  Receive information from a RF ID reader  Interpret signals from a numeric keypad *Pictures from

Tips for using Micros  Program in C  Read all the documentation for the part!!!!  Code in small steps  Best first step is to make an LED blink  Refer to code examples for help  For digital I/O  Be sure voltages are within permissible range  Check if microcontroller can sink or source enough current  Development boards are a great way to get your hardware running fast!

TI MSP430 *Picture from  Ultra low power Micro  Free samples from TI (we have a university agreement and can get samples and programmers)  Free IDE based on eclipse with integrated debugging  Free GCC compiler  Many RTOS solutions available  Hardware debugging makes finding problems in code easier  Some development boards have integrated wireless ZigBee support ez430-R2500  Many Examples  Very easy to use USB programmers/Debuggers

ATMEL ATMEGA Microcontrollers  Many Different microcontrollers – most commonly used for projects are MEGA168/MEGA128  Powerful user community = Arduino project  Many open source tools, hardware and libraries, entire tool chain runs on Linux/Windows/Mac  Several simple serial boot loaders to load programs, programmers are easy to build  Software USB support  More limited hardware debugging *Picture from

Arduino  Open source microcontroller  Arduino UNO available in the ECE store  Based on ATMEL processor  IDE based on the Processing language  Small boards are easy to use but have limited I/0  Larger boards have more I/0 but are costly *Pictures from arduino.cc

Microchip PICs  Available in lab: PIC16F887  Many other types available to order  Two excellent resources  PIC data sheet  PICC Compiler Help  Receive two PICs for free  Disadvantage: Closed compiler/toolchain *Picture from

Other Microcontrollers  BASIC Stamp  Programmed using BASIC  Can be used when high performance is not necessary  ARM (LPC, TI, etc)  Very Advanced toolchain, very powerful microcontrollers with a lot of features  Hard to program the hardware  Cypress PSoC  GUI based programming software  Development Kits Available *Pictures from and

DSPs  TI TMS320C54x  Same DSPs as used in ECE 420  Programmable in assembly Simulink or C  Useful for audio processing  TI TMS320C6713  Floating point DSP  Useful for image and video processing

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CVS *Images from Real time vision processing system programmed in Labview

FPGAs  We have several new NI FPGA boards  Useful when very high speed calculations are needed  Power hungry  Consider using a microcontroller first  Great for projects which require a lot of recursive or parallel calculations

PSoC  GUI based programming software  Online Tutorials and Training  M8C Processor Speeds to 24 MHz  32K Bytes Flash Program Storage 50,000 Erase/Write Cycles  2K Bytes SRAM Data Storage  Many System Blocks for different Digital and Analog Operations  Development Kits Available

XBee Radios  Low-power wireless sensor networks  Zigbee/IEEE compliant  ISM 2.4 GHz wireless  Serial interface (9600 to )  10 uA sleep current  100 feet indoor range (may vary)  Advanced features include toggling pins on remote radio, Over the air programming of features, and many integrated functions in the radio hardware (Series 2)

Other Radio Chips * Pictures from and  Lynx  Simple wireless data transmitters and receivers  Available in lab  Wifi and Bluetooth  Serial interface to microcontrollers  One starting point for products

Miscellaneous Parts  Large selection of components in the lab  Check the inventory on the website or speak with your TA  NI myDAQ  12V SLA batteries  Various motors  GPS receivers  LCDs  Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, diodes, transistors, etc.

Board Layout Software  Eagle  Installed on lab computers  Free download for board size < 4x3in x 2 layer  Tutorial on class drive  Orcad  Installed on lab computers  More complicated, lots of options * Picture from Kieran Levin

Other Software  Simulators  ADS (for RF)  Pspice  PIC Simulator  LabVIEW  Graphical programming language  Excellent for creating user interfaces and connecting with instruments  Installed on all computers on left side  Agilent VEE  Interact with instruments  Capture pictures off of a scope

SENSORS! Interface between: Real WorldYour CircuitSolutions Temperature Humidity Proximity Light Acceleration Switches Etc. Limited Inputs Limited input ranges Limited bandwidth Limited accuracy Amplification Clamping within a voltage range to avoid damage Debouncing Filtering Current to voltage conversion Etc.

SENSOR CHALLENGES: ChallengePotential Approaches Inadequate voltage / currentOp Amp, buffer, transistors NoiseHardware or software filtering Switch BouncingS/R Latch Capture SignalSample & Hold Limited Sampling RateNew sensor

DATASHEETS! Find them from manufacture or supplier websites. Without a datasheet it is hard to design around an unknown part Some Good places to look Datasheet Repositories