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The article offers information on programmable gain amplifier (PGA) or a variable gain amplifier (VGA). Both PGAs and VGAs usually allow for selection of fixed gains whose values are typically between 1 and 100. Some applications, such as sensing and/or controlling current flow, require applying specific gains to optimize both the sensor output-voltage range and the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) resolution.

The article discusses advances in bipolar digital-to-analog converter (DAC) architectures. Topics discussed include the use of data-acquisition systems (DAQs) to measure electrical or physical singularity, the applications within the industrial automation, and updates on programmable-logic controllers (PLCs). It also discusses the use of DACs in motor-control loops.

The article offers information on the connection between industrial control systems (ICSs) and Ethernet. It discusses several topics which includes simple programmable-logic controllers (PLCs) to supervisory control and data-acquisition (SCADA) systems and distributed control systems (DCSs) and connection between Ethernet and PLC through range of hardware and protocols.

The article focuses on the implication of XMOS Link in off-the-shelf microcontroller devices. According to some technology experts, XMOS Link could be used as a high quality standard and high-speed board interconnect for multiple programmable devices. XMOS Link system offers several innovative solutions for inter-chip communications and easily enforced on a standardized microcontroller. Lastly, the application level of inter-connects are simple and hassle free.

The article offers information on the significance of programmable automation controllers (PACs) in electronics design. It initially provides data on the function and application of PACs in the versatility of programming. It also considers some factors that made the application of PACs more beneficial, regarding its collaboration with other electronics design equipment. Furthermore, PACs advantages in electronics industry including its large volume of memory in a single card and its connectivity are highlighted.

The article discusses the combined signal processors that help in developing visually designed tools. As demanded by an exhibitor, Timelines Industries Incorporated created a tracked robot with no manual coding with three features. It has used an axis accelerometer in altering directions and controlled by H-bridge driver with programmable system on-a-chip (PSoC) mixed signal processor as the brain. Also included are the two state machines, first is for starting up and another for motion control. The embedding of visual tools offers a benefit to focus on the design than in adjusting coded errors however disadvantaged the long time needed with limited components based in the driver catalog. Several diagrams on the developing of the project are presented.

The article provides information about the functionalities of digital signal controllers. DSC is significant in streaming audio, motor control, and power conversion. These digital signal processors combine with the peripherals and onboard memory of a microcontroller, providing single-chip solutions for a range of applications. Its architecture is consistent among different vendors, however details vary significantly. Just like DSC, dual multiply-accumulates and address pointer manipulations, which lets DSCs step through arrays of information and perform manipulation on each cycle, are common.

The article offers information regarding the practicability of use provided by brushless motors in circuit design. Use of the electronic materials is to date effective due to its declining price. The difference between brush and brushless motors is about 10 percent. Brushless motors having the same horsepower with brush motors are smaller and lighter. The availability of microcontrollers that contain motion-control algorithms enable brushless motors to provide the desired performance. To understand the electronics employed to drive a brushless motor, the author reviews the electromechanical commutation of a brush motor and compares its processes to that of the brushless motors.

The article features motor-control microcontrollers that deliver improved performance, efficiency, and control. It discusses the various applications of the microcontrollers. Segway's Human Transporter is described and is used as an example. The article also reports on the use of microcontrollers by designers of kitchen appliances with motors due to their low cost and improvements to the product. For three-phase motors, sensorless feedback systems are the most popular. Freescale's Enhanced Time Processing Unit is described.

Illustrates the use of programmable logic in system design. Evaluation of the PowerPC-compliant system controller; Improvements in complexity and flexibility of complex programmable logic devices; Distinct stages of the typical system-design timeline.

Describes a complex programmable-logic-device-based high-level data link control. Ability to offer a degree of customization that is not available with off-the-shelf products; Integration of the standard in a wide range of communications applications; Open System Interconnect model of communications.

Focuses on the role of leverage flash-based microcontrollers in cutting time to market electronic designs. Effectiveness in meeting the demands of consumers and corporate bean counters; Advantages of reprogrammable flash-based microcontrollers; Contribution of embedded processors in increasing design life cycle; Provision of low-cost emulation.

Cites control solutions for variable-speed ac induction motors. Cost comparison between ac controllers and dc controllers; Emergence of programmable fixed-point digital-signal-processing (DSP)-based digital-control solutions; Anacon Systems Inc.'s 8-bit RISC microcontroller design and motor-control algorithm; Variable-speed controller card.

Introduces the ZPSD3XX family of programmable devices from WSI. Supporting 5-V digital signal processors and microcontrollers; Benefits in employing integrated solutions; High speed logic implementations with no power-supply and ground connections; Other improvements made; Price and availability information.

Computerization has been a boon to design engineers performing test and measurement tasks integral to the product development process. But computerization isn't without its downside. As products--and testing--became more complex, […]

The article offers information on plans of Dialog Semiconductor to buy Silego Technology in order to expand its offerings including programmable chips which can replace mixed-signal products in connected cars, industrial sensors and Internet of Things devices. It presents views of Dialog's chief executive Jalal Bagherli, regarding benefits of the acquisition. It also discusses the impact of the acquisition of the company's manufacturing, sales and distribution operations.

The article features the proximity-sensing intercommunication system which uses standard programmable system-on-a-chip. It is stated that electronic designers can use specialized integrated circuits as a simple way to add touch-sensing capabilities to a circuit. The chip has digital blocks that can be configurated as a sensitive proximity detector and analog blocks that form programmable audio channels. The article describes a design which uses a CY8C29466 for the touch-sensing modules with a 16-bit pulse width modulator for audio feedback and a serial TX module for a terminal display.

The article evaluates the TrueMotion 3D game controller from Sixense Entertaiment.

The article features the feedback loop circuit required for absolute accuracy in the speed control of dc servo motors. It notes that the application can be done by considering the advantage of the built-in electromechanical constants of the motor itself. It can also be achieved by adding an armature current to the motor drive voltage, which is also required for rivaling tachometer feedback. The circuit describing the novel twist for armature resistance cancellation via positive current feedback combined with a motion-reverse H-bridge circuit topology is presented. INSET: BACKSTORY.

The article discusses the ability of a digital-driver circuit to provide a proportional drive for a solenoid and eliminating the need for a microcontroller or a programmable logic controller (PLC) in the U.S. The authors stated that U2, a 350-mA driver with built-in analog and pulse-width-modulation (PWM) dimming control has been connected directly to the solenoid terminals. Meanwhile, U1, a 32-tap, nonvolatile and linear-taper digital potentiometer has been connected as a variable resistor. Moreover, to guard its output against overcurrent and short-circuit conditions created by a defective solenoid or shorted leads, U2 provided indirect short-circuit and thermal protection.

The article evaluates the LTC4110 battery-backup controller from Linear Technology.

The article offers tips on how to achieve the 10-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) performance with an 8-bit DAC. It recommends that it requires 2(10-8) or four values for each step which refers to the dither value to be outputted. It cites that dithering the DAC between two values is essential by setting the dither value to 0x40 and 0xC0 which generates the desired quarter steps in the DAC output. It also emphasizes that filtering the output to remove any ripple is also essential by applying a looser ripple requirement.

The article features the fido1100, a microcontroller family based on the 30-bit Motorola 680000 which are introduced by Innovasic Semiconductor. Although fido1100 run an enhanced CPU32 instruction set that was used in the 683xx product line, these devices are allegedly more than just a reincarnation of the CPU32 as they target general developers and combine and request of many customers and Innovasic designers. Moreover, these devises are considered unique because of its interface flexibility, owing to the feature called the Universal IO Controller, as well as its major debug features which could single-step one context while the others continue running.

The article provides information about power-supply design. Switch-mode power supplies traditionally are implemented using a basic analog loop. However, recent scientific improvements such as the advent of digital controllers enable designs that begin to make fully design control schemes practical and economical. Adoption of this technology is expected to be in high-end applications, where benefits of full digital control are the most immediate. From the configurability and intelligence provided by these microcontrollers, many analog power applications have been upgraded.

The article provides tips on how to choose the appropriate digital signal controller (DSC) for ones application. In choosing DSC, the basic requirements for the computing performance and management need to be examined in accordance to the processor's architecture. Another consideration that must be regarded is the range of options available when working on a design. Furthermore, one must look for pulse-width-modulators for programmable deadline settings, fault overrides, analog-to-digital converters triggering, and multiple duty-cycle generators. PWM, basically, is critical in power-supply control.

This article presents questions and answers on precision analog microcontrollers, devices which combine analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs), single-chip microprocessor, and computer peripherals. The amount of precision that the device must deliver can range from an 8-bit flash ADC to a 24-bit sigma-delta ADC, depending upon the application. ADC quality and precision can be affected by aliasing, sampling, accuracy, and linearity. Most precision analog microcontrollers are designed to minimize interference problems.

The article presents an integrated circuit design to add speech capability in embedded systems using a 8-bit microcontroller with a pulsewidth-modulation peripheral (PWM) module , flash memory, and a filter circuit. A custom-written PC conversion program converts standard audio files to the adaptive differential pulse code modulation format that digitizes analog signals. The microcontroller addresses the voice file for playback from memory and decodes the file using the PWM module. he resulting analog signal can be amplified and played through a speaker.

The article evaluates the LPC3180 vector-processing micro controller from Philips Semiconductors Inc. and offers information on key features, capacity to optimize power usage in embedded applications and cost.

Presents a design for a programmable-gain transimpedance amplifier that employs optically isolated digital gain control. Implementation of the transimpedance amp in three main functional blocks; Use of phototransistor optocouplers; Programming of amp transimpedance gain via an optically isolated 8-bit control word.

Features the 8051 microcontroller developed by Cybernetic Micro Systems, which integrated an (E)ISA/PC104-compatible interface on the chip. Inclusion of eight kilobytes of instruction-code random access memory; Allowance of electronic designers to use the controller as a closely-coupled peripheral resource in PC104 and PC systems; Breakpoint and single-step capabilities for easy debugging.

Describes a hot-swap linear regulator circuit based on LTC1422 hot-swap controller and an LT1431 programmable reference. Role of C1 and R1 in hot-swap applications; Use of C2 and R2 for optimum transient response.

The article offers brief information on the PIC16F527 and PIC16F570 8-bit programmable integrated circuit (PIC) microcontrollers from Microchip Technology Inc.

The article evaluates single-channel model LMH6881 and dual-channel model LMH682 programmable differential amplifiers from Texas Instruments Ins.

The article presents the electronic design of an interface circuit. It states that the circuit is designed to provide three levels of speed controls for a direct current (dc) motor, using a personal computer's parallel port. The designated counter inputs are designed to receive the control signals from three of the computer's data pins.

The article offers information about the quantity managed by the sensor signal converters. It notes that the converter is designed to convert an npn input to a pnp signal or can be incorporated in the last stage of the sensor design to give both npn and pnp outputs. Moreover, a circuit used by designers to match a programmable logic controller that accepts only a npn or pnp output is also presented.

The article evaluates the programmable automation controllers for the electronics industry.

The article focuses on the replacement of a dedicated backup-power controller with an inexpensive eight-pin microcontroller. It cites that a dedicated backup-power controller requires an appropriate available power source, the grid or the battery and a dedicated charge controller if the battery is rechargeable. It is argued that using an eight-pin microcontroller, such as Atmel AVR Tiny13 temperature sensor, as a charge controller offers a variety of charging algorithms and battery chemistries. It also provides a flow diagram for the backup-controller program and a schematic diagram for the Atmel AVR Tiny13 microcontroller.

The article describes a simple circuit system necessary to power a microcontroller through its load. An illustration using an automotive check system that monitors an automobile's brake lights and reflects any fault through an incandescent bulb in the instrument cluster is presented to how this simple circuitry is achieved. The arrangement is said to eliminate the cost, weight and bulk associated with a separate supply wire and increase reliability. It shows that replacing the shunt regulator with a low-power series regulator allows for less energy consumption.

The article offers information on the developments of virtualizing microcontrollers in the electronics industry. From memory management units (NMU), an initiative had been deployed to virtualize the entire electronics environment. Initially, the 16-bit virtual machine (VM) supporting the 80386 moves forward to virtualize a 62-bit environments. Better handling of virtual memory page tables is also set to be achieved when a VM context switch occurs. In addition, an I/O MMU processor which will handle peripheral access in the Northbridge system will be launched, while a standardized PCI Express virtualization for devices that still like to be controlled by a single host will be created.

The article highlights the management of a MicroTCA system which has two levels namely, the shelf manager and the carrier manager. The shelf manager monitors overall system health, serving as an aggregation point for hardware information from one or more carrier managers. By using a split power scheme, the carrier manager can implement hot-swapping and prevents an AdvancedMC module from accessing the fabric lanes if the module is malfunctioning.

The article introduces VRS51L3074 microcontroller from Ramtron International Corp. VRS51L3074 incorporates ferroelectic random-access memory into its memory complement. It is relatively a conventional 8-bit memory control unit with no analog peripherals. It comes in a quad flat no-lead-64 package for less than $5. Its complement of digital interfaces includes a pair of universal asynchronous receiver transmitters, an I2C serial interface, an eight-channel pulse-width modulation controller, and plenty of general-purpose input/output and interrupts. Moreover, it also supports Joint Test Action Group debugging.

The article evaluates the DCIC9907 MCU microcontroller from Dual-Core with dual ARM946 microprocessors.

The article evaluates the AT32AP7000 AVR32 32-bit microcontroller from Atmel.

The article features the USB2828 system-on-a-chip microcontroller developed by Agere Systems Inc. which combines a USB 2.0 interface and a 32-bit embedded processor to triple the data-processing throughput of similar controllers based on 8-bit 8051 embedded processors. The author presented the features and functions of the product. The performance and effectivity of the program is assessed.

The article reports that the HC08 and Coldfire microcontroller (MCU) dynasties from Freescale Semiconductor Inc. continue with the MC9S08Q 8-bit family and the 32-bit MCF532x and MCF537x MCUs. The MC9SO8Q targets low-power applications requiring a wide range of peripherals and a small footprint. It includes a high-resolution analog-to-digital converter and an on-chip clock. The 32-bit Coldfire family targets connectivity, control, and security applications. It includes hardware encryption support and a range of communication options. The MCF532x includes an LCD controller for user-interface applications. The MCF537x targets networking applications like Internet telephony. Development tools include the Metrowerks CodeWarrior IDE. Low-cost development kits come with applicationcode limited C compilers. Full development kits also are available. The Coldfire kit includes uClinux support.

The article reports that Eclipse Corp. gives a lift to 16-Bit MCUs Toolset. Based on Eclipse 3.0, the code composer essentials toolset from Texas Instruments Inc. targets the company's low-power, MSP430 16-bit microcontroller product line. This set uses the Eclipse CDT, but it employs a Texas Instruments-based code generator that's much more efficient than the GNU implementation. Average code size reduction is about 30%. TI also customized the GDB debugger to handle the MSP430. Among the other tweaks are platform configuration and project wizards. But for the most part, Code Composer Essentials has the familiar look and feel of Eclipse 3.0. By using Eclipse as a base for its development tools, TI has made it possible for customers to utilize other Eclipse plug-ins in addition to employing a well-recognized development environment. A version of Code Composer Essentials with limited code size is available as a free download from TI's Web site. The unlimited version costs $495. Versions are available with and without Java development support. The TI plug-ins also can be incorporated into an existing Eclipse 3.0 installation, enabling developers to use one tool for a multiple processor project.

The article informs that One-time-programmable (OTP) nonvolatile storage arrays based on antifuse programming elements and floating-gate storage cells are now available as blocks of intellectual property (IP). The IP comes by way of Kilopass Technology Inc. and eMemory Technology Inc., respectively. The Neobit OTP floating gate memory arrays crafted by eMemory range from 256 bytes to 64 kbytes. Specialty arrays with word widths of 14 bits come in 2-, 8-, or 16-kword depths. Also available are extremely small arrays with capacities of 8, 16, 32, and 128 bits.

The article informs that by pushing max clock speed from 400 to 500 MHz, the MSC8122 and MSC8126 quad core DSP chips can implement higher channel densities in codecs for wireless base stations. The MSC8126 includes both a Turbo and Viterbi coprocessor. The Turbo engine can support 20 384-kbit/s channels or four 2- Mbit/s channels when running at 500 MHz. The channels comply with 3GPP and CDMA2000 standards. The Viterbi coprocessor supports 400 3GPP 12.2-kbit/s AMR channels and performs fully programmable feed-forward channel decoding.

Reports that the embedded target for the TI C2000 Digital Signal Controllers features automatic code generation and peripheral programming support from the MathWorks company.

This article reports that Standard Arm-based products are quickly becoming the standard for midrange microcontrollers (MCU). The ADuC702x family from the Analog Devices company puts these products in the middle of analog space. It is not surprising, given Analog's previous endeavors with its 8052-based, single-cycle, 8-bit ADuC8xx MCU family. Most Arm-based MCU vendors have opted to make a low-cost development kit available to developers. Although this trend is leading to less expensive Arm development tools in general, it may take a while before solutions over one thousand dollars disappear.