Have you ever realized how much application-specific functionality is built into new microcontrollers? Take a look at the new home appliance MCU from Winbond Electronics Corp.
The company's W541 series of microcontrollers provides a typical solution for use in home appliances such as remote controllers, thermometers, pedometers etc. The user experience is made even more convenient through the code programming and editing features.
The new W541C480/W541E480 is a low-power and low-noise microcontroller that can be used in various battery-driven products and low-power applications. Various technological advantages lower the total power consumption to a minimal level and preserve battery lifespan.
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Among the other products that drew heavy visitor attention in the past month are Cypress Semiconductor's PSoC mixed signal array evaluation kits For PIR motion detection And I2C port expansion.
The pyroelectric infrared (PIR) motion detection Evaluation Kit contains all of the hardware and software necessary to implement motion detection applications using a PIR motion sensor intelligently controlled by one Cypress PSoC device-the CY8C27443. The PIR Motion Detection Kit addresses applications such as automatic lighting controls, automatic door openers, security systems, kiosk wake-up and activating wireless cameras.
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Steve Kennelly's blog on the future of implanted electronic medical devices racked up not only the highest number of clicks for the month but also the most comments from visitors to SemiApps.com. The senior manager, medical products group at Microchip believes it's up to the companies who develop, design, manufacture and market the coming generations of implantable electronic devices, as well as the doctors who implant them, to make sure that they don't lose the trust of the public. If all else fails, the government will step in, most likely with big clumsy feet.
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Blogger Manuel Alves Alves from Freescale Semiconductor Corp. recently sparked some controversy with his question of why choose 16-bit microcontrollers for automotive applications? In the midst the industry trend to upgrade directly from 8-bit MCUs to 32-bit devices, Alves believes there is lots of reason to stick with the 16-bit generation, especially in automotive applications. "Granted that a 16-bit device might not be the most comfortable MCU choice for software designers who want performance headroom, this potential drawback is offset by the inherent simplicity of 16-bit solutions, i.e., fewer registers to initialize, fewer operating modes to worry about and easier-to-use development tools," said Alves in his very interesting blog in the automotive section of SemiApps.com.
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National Semiconductor Corp.'s Rick Zarr created lots of interest with his very recent blog on the challenges of handheld video. In addition to the extremely important issue of minimizing the power requirements for full motion video, Zarr rauses the issue of what it takes to move that uncompressed video to a display. He says there are several issues that plague video streams which include Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI), routing, and driving LCD glass. "Many of today's personal media players have VGA resolution screens even though they are only 2.5 inches diagonal. These displays provide the sharpest possible picture in a compact size; however, it also means a large number of rows and columns to drive in a very small space."
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Reference Design for MicroTCA
Actel Corp.'s reference design for its Fusion mixed-signal FPGA aimed at MicroTCA applications enables designers to drastically reduce risk, component count, and time- to-market. MicroTCA is a standard that reduces the cost of telecommunications, industrial, medical, and military equipment. The high integration of Actel MicroTCA solutions also provides increased functionality in a fixed form factor.
Actel Fusion mixed-signal FPGAs enable customers to improve MicroTCA system management implementations. Fusion Programmable System Chips (PSCs) integrate analog, embedded Flash memory, and live at power-up FPGA fabric in a single chip. This integration reduces system cost and board space and provides the flexibility to support proprietary and standards-based system management. Fusion single-chip implementation improves reliability, low power operation, and system security.
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Net Seminar on high speed clocking Architecture
Altera invited system designers to learn about high-speed clocking architecture and oscillator selection for its newest FPGAs. In high-speed or wide-bus interfaces, such as gigabit transceiver or high-speed memory interfaces, room for clock uncertainties and variations is small. Unfortunately, we live in a world where clock oscillators do have frequency variations and are exposed to jitter. The company offered a net seminar that covers various clock network topologies for FPGAs as well as a detailed discussion of jitter, its components and causes. Finally, guidelines are provided for how to select the right oscillator for your high speed design.
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Reference Design for Appliance Applications
International Rectifier offers the IRADK31 reference design for Appliance applications. This reference design kit includes a fully assembled and tested demo board along with applicable datasheets and application notes.
Included in the reference design is a 3-phase motor drive, Opto-isolated RS-232 serial link interface to the GUI software and the GUI Displays driver status, DC-link current, motor speed.
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