Circuit Cellar Ink 272
March 2013

Table of Contents

2


Mary Wilson

HTML Task Manager

Issue of Ingenuity

10


CJ Abate

HTML New Product News

19


David Tweed

HTML Test Your EQ

20


Nelson Epp

RIP-Roaring Fun

Rotational Inverted Pendulum Design

Rotational inverted pendulums (RIPs) help test nonlinear control theory. This article explains how to use hardware and control algorithms to design a RIP that you can activate and control using a TV infrared remote.

Download: 272-Epp.zip

28


Bruce Land

Markov Music Box

Build a Microcontroller-Based Music Device

You can build a music device with an 8-bit microcontroller that enables you to change the device's note sequence, timbre, tempo, and beat. The design uses the Markov process to sequence the notes and frequency modulation to enrich the sound.

34


Dean Boman

Energy Monitoring System

This energy monitoring system provides real-time home electrical usage monitoring to help you make informed energy usage decisions. The system hosts a web server that provides a webpage with your current energy usage on a circuit-by-circuit basis. In addition, the system interfaces with your home automation system for long-term monitoring and logging.

Download: 272-Bowman.zip

Questions & Answers

41


Nan Price

Problem Solving, Programming, and PSoC-Based Design

An Interview with Chris Paiano

Chris Paiano is a problem solver and fast learner. His father introduced him to programming at an early age, and Chris has continued to team with his father writing software and firmware for some of his hardware designs. Chris has written dozens of unique application notes for the Cypress Programmable-System-on-Chip (PSoC) chipset. He is currently using PSoC in an innovative household project and dreams of finishing his concept for environmentally friendly electric/hybrid vehicle wheel-drive retrofit kits.

Embedded Security

45


Patrick Schaumont

Chip Biometrics

Digital chips have biometrics, just like humans. Chip biometrics -- or fingerprints -- are unique features that distinguish one chip from another of the same type. This article describes how a fingerprint can be extracted from a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and used in an authentication protocol to test a chip's identity.

Download: 272-Schaumont.zip

The Consummate Engineer

52


George Novacek

Quality and Reliability in Design

Product quality and reliability go hand in hand. This article examines causes of field failures, their distribution, and methods to reduce them.

Above the Ground Plane

56


Ed Nisley

Arduino Survival Guide

Analog I/O

The analog inputs and outputs on Arduino microcontroller boards can connect directly to real-world sensors and actuators. Ed explains why the analog inputs may deliver surprising results and how to get true analog voltages from the Arduino's PWM outputs, while avoiding problems along the way.

From the Archives

62


Jens Altenburg

SOPHOCLES

A Solar-Powered MSP430 Robot

Worried about the side effects of that presumably noxious gas that's lingering in your basement? Rather than trying to waft samples into an empty jar for your local health department to assay, try following Jens' lead by building your own gas-detecting robot.

From the Bench

68


Jeff Bachiochi

Microcontroller-Based Morse Coding

You can use a development kit to design a tool for correctly transmitting Morse code. The design includes a microcontroller, I/O routines, an RS-232 interface, and an LCD.

Download: 272-Bachiochi.zip

76

Crossword Puzzle

79

Crossword Puzzle - Answers for Issue 271

80


Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio

Tech the Future

The Future of Data Acquisition Technology

FTP Directory for INK 272

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