Technical Articles

Future-proofing embedded automotive systemsMaking the right microcontroller architecture choose can reduce development costs and future-proof automotive embedded systems developmentDan Termer, Vice President, Vertical Markets Group, Microchip TechnologyThe automotive electronics industry continues to expand its usage of 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers (MCUs). As the MCU is the cornerstone of electronic control modules (ECMs), from safety to convenience systems, and from chassis and driver information to security systems, the selection of the appropriate 8- or 16-bit MCU supplier is critical for the ... more

The current picture of South-Eastern European (S.E.E.) biomass energy marketBy Giacomo BizzarriThe continuous changes in the composition of European Union (E.U.) imply continuous focuses on some major markets of common relevance. Biomass energy market is indeed one of these. The potential of the various biomass sources is evaluated through an analysis that focuses especially on the opportunities still unexploited. By providing detailed knowledge of some national strategies and policies on biomass energy, the study aims at enabling a better estimation ... more

Appliance designers can now take advantage of the latest Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs), such as Microchip’s dsPIC33F motor-control family, to improve energy efficiency and cost savings in motor systemsJorge ZambadaMicrochip TechnologyGiven that motor-driven equipment, including motors, pumps and fans, can account for 64 percent of the electricity consumption, improvements to motor systems could result in dramatic savings in energy and cost. The Brushless DC (BLDC) motor is used in both consumer and industrial applications, owing to its compact size, controllability ... more

South East Industrial Market is offering its readers the chance to win the new PIC32 Starter Kit!! The Starter Kit provides the easiest and lowest cost method to experience the PIC32 microcontroller for the first time.Microchip’s PIC32 family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), add more performance and memory while maintaining pin, peripheral and development compatibility with Microchip’s 16-bit MCU/DSC families. The new PIC32 family is fully supported by Microchip’s free MPLAB® Integrated Development Environment (IDE) which now offers unprecedented compatibility by ... more

Deeply embedded applications can now enjoy leading edge processing power, thanks to 32bit developments in microcontrollers.Coming from a background of desktop applications, it would seem strange to consider using a processor that offers anything less than leading edge performance. For an engineer more entrenched in embedded applications, processing power has always been measured not just against the benefits it brings but by the resources it consumes.Within the embedded domain, the irresistible force that is ‘faster, smaller, cheaper’ has always been ... more

Electronics industry in Bulgaria has long standing traditions and highly-qualified, experienced work force. It’s generally export oriented - 75% exports. Main markets served are automotive, telecommunications and consumer electronics. The good level of expertise in multimedia solutions, microwave communication, fiscal memory electronic devices and electronic energy meters attracted over 180 million USD foreign investments. Most of the electronics producers have quality management systems applied – ISO 9000, ISO 16949. Up-to-date manufacturing technologies, high level of the production ranges and the ... more

by Bonnie C. Baker, Microchip Technology Inc.Often, analogue-to-digital converter users employ averaging algorithms with their controller or processor on the output of several samples from the converter. A converted signal can be smoothed by using this technique (see Figure 1), and the effective resolution can be improved by reducing system noise.Smoothing converted dataThe smoothing effect on the converted data is implemented by acquiring multiple signals at a constant sample rate, averaging a predetermined group or number of the samples, and ... more

Kevin Tretter,Microchip Technology Inc.The world of data acquisition is extremely diverse, encompassing measurements of temperature, pressure, humidity, strain and a variety of other physical phenomenon. In addition, these measurements may be required under harsh conditions, such as extreme temperatures, centrifugal forces and electrically noisy environments. System designers must be diligent in not only selecting the correct sensor for their application, but also in designing appropriate signal conditioning to deal with these issues. This article will focus on the signal conditioning ... more

South-East European Industrial Market Magazine is offering readers the chance to win a Microchip MPLAB REAL ICE emulation system. This tool supports the development of applications that use Microchip’s PIC microcontrollers and dsPIC Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). The MPLAB REAL ICE offers next-generation emulation support, including faster memory interfacing and longer distance, higher speed target connections.The new emulation system is fully integrated into the free MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE) used for writing code, building projects, testing, verification and programming. ... more

Gaurang Kavaiya,Microchip Technology Inc.From the early days, the ‘mantra’ for the semiconductor industry has been “Smaller, Better, Faster and Cheaper”. The current Pocket PCs are more powerful than the first computer, which required a separate building. The way this goal has been achieved, so far, is to reduce the size of the individual transistor used to create the semiconductor device. This has an interesting side effect. As the transistor gets smaller, the operating voltage gets lower. The 5V power-supply rail ... more

Lucio Di Jasio, Microchip Technology Inc.Switch-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) are traditionally implemented using a basic analogue control loop. Recently, advances in Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) have enabled designs where full digital control schemes begin to become practical and economical. Still, early adopters of digital technology are expected to be at the high-end of the applications spectrum, where the benefits of full digital control are the most immediate. However, there are a large number of applications that can greatly benefit from ... more

Lucio Di Jasio,Microchip Technology Inc.One of the basic rules of evolution is that adaptation is the key to survival and perhaps no other technology demonstrates this as well as the 8-bit microcontroller (MCU). Throughout its thirty-year history, the 8-bit MCU has undergone continual adaptation and, even today, is colonising slots which would once have been the exclusive territory of the more powerful 32-bit MCU or the smaller 4-bit MCU.Thirty years of 8-bit MCUsThe first single-chip 8-bit microprocessor was released by ... more

Bonnie C. Baker, Microchip Technology Inc.A sensor with a non-linear output need not be difficult to deal with if all that is needed is coverage of a small portion of the output range. In such a case, it is possible to set up a simple, piecewise linearisation algorithm in a microcontroller or microprocessor. If a wider part of the output range is required, analogue linearisation circuits can be used. For example, a resistor in series or parallel with a (non-linear) ... more

Microchip are offering readers of South East Industrial Market the chance to win a PICSTART Plus Programmer! The latest version of Microchip’s popular microcontroller programmer kit includes the PICC Lite ANSI-C Compiler for use with the PIC16F84A Flash microcontroller. The PICSTART Plus supports all existing Microchip 8-bit OTP and Flash MCUs including the popular PIC12CXXX, PIC16cXX and PIC17CXX devices.Additionally, this kit includes a sample PIC16F84A MCU - an 18-pin 300 mil DIP package RISC controller with 68 bytes of RAM, ... more

Bonnie C. Baker, Microchip Technology Inc.A designer presented with the task of producing a 100Hz sine-wave signal will probably consult analogue cookbooks and/or the web for a quick and suitable solution. This can be a good way to start, but it ignores another, potentially powerful, solution. Designers are always under pressure to produce their designs quickly, but before leaping to use an analogue circuit, it may be beneficial to consider using a digital engine, such as a microcontroller or microprocessor.A ... more