Circuit Cellar Ink 269
December 2012

Table of Contents

2


CJ Abate

HTML Task Manager

Break Through Designer's Block

10


CJ Abate

HTML New Product News

15


David Tweed

HTML Test Your EQ - Answers for Issue 268

16


Dan Karmann

Build an MCU-Based Bicycle Computer

The EBikeMeter is a microcontroller-based bicycle computer that displays a variety of data. The design continuously stores the data on an on-board SD memory card and features a firmware file system that supports a PC-compatible, FAT-based file format.

Download: 268-Karmann.zip

26


Joe Pfeiffer

Electrically Actuated Sound Effects

A Circuit and Firmware to Ring a Phone Bell

Integrating modern technology and old-school equipment can lead to exciting results. This article details the development of microcontroller-based circuitry and firmware that's used to ring a retro telephone bell during a theatrical production.

Download: 269-Pfeiffer.zip

30


CJ Abate

The RL78 Green Energy Challenge Winners Announcement

The RL78 Green Energy Challenge set forth to revolutionize the way engineers approach new designs in a world where low-power consumption, high efficiency, and renewable resources are integral parts of daily life. Participants from over 67 countries were invited to showcase their skills in developing green energy designs for applications -- such as energy harvesting, metering, low power, and control systems -- using Renesas's RL78 microcontrollers and a robust software environment, powered by Renesas and its alliance partners.
  • First Prize: Electrostatic Cleaning Robot - Scott Potter
  • Second Prize: Cloud Electrofusion Machine - Michael Hamilton
  • Third Prize: The Sun Chaser: A GPS Reference Station - Sjoerd Brandsma
  • Honorable Mention: Water Heater by Solar Concentration - Pierre Berquin
  • Honorable Mention: Air Quality Mapper - Raul Alvarez Torrico
  • Honorable Mention: High-Altitude Low-Cost Experimental Glider (HALO) - Jens Altenburg
  • Honorable Mention: Wireless Remote Solar-Powered "Meteo Sensor" - Grzegorz Kaczmarek
  • Honorable Mention: Portable Power Quality Meter - Andre Barbosa

34


Scott Weber

Controlling Access with a Proximity Card

Open the Door to Manchester Encoding

A radio frequency proximity card and reader can be used to control access to many things. This article explains how the data is Manchester encoded on the card, how to find the bitstream's beginning, and how you can use the data and clock lines to bit bang the waveforms into a microcontroller.

Download: 269-Weber.zip

Questions & Answers

42


Nan Price

Engineering Innovation, Experimentation, & Explanation

An Interview with Stuart Ball

Beginning with his early fascination with electronics, Stuart Ball has always nurtured his curiosity, figured out how things work, and designed useful projects. We recently discussed some of his early microprocessor designs, his interest with Atmel's AVR C coding, and his dream project, which involves enabling future engineers to learn through experimentation.

Above the Ground Plane

44


Ed Nisley

Arduino Survival Guide

Power Supply

Arduino boards appear in many projects that call for a microcontroller, because they're easy to use and program. In this column, Ed explores the often-overlooked Arduino power supply, shows why Arduino projects sometimes exhibit difficult-to-debug problems, and describes how to keep your Arduino project running smoothly.

The Darker Side

50


Robert Lacoste

Locked In

Synchronous Detection Explained

At some point in your electronics engineering career, you'll need to extract a signal in a noisy environment. When the time comes, consider a lock-in amplifier. You'll find the information in this article about lock-in amps and synchronous detection invaluable when you need to measure a small and noisy signal's amplitude or phase.

Embedded in Thin Slices

58


Bob Japenga

Concurrency in Embedded Systems

Part 4: Introducing Linux and Concurrency

This is the fourth article in a multi-part series about concurrency in embedded systems. Here you learn how embedded Linux provides the mechanisms to design robust systems with concurrency.

The Consummate Engineer

64


George Novacek

Product Reliability

Part 2: The Meaning of Failure Rate

Now that you know various calculations for determining a product's failure rate, it's time to investigate how the numbers figure into your design. A successful product designer must understand the concept of reliability and know how to make smart decisions about components based on failure rate data.

From the Bench

68


Jeff Bachiochi

Energy Extraction

Powering Up with Heat Transfer

If you can generate the right amount of heat, you can produce electricity for a variety of purposes. Here you learn how to use fire, a Peltier device, and little ingenuity to power up small devices.

Download: 269-Bachiochi.zip

76

Crossword Puzzle

79

Crossword Puzzle - Answers for Issue 268

80


Steve Ciarcia

HTML Priority Interrupt

Onward and Upward

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