Circuit Cellar Ink 63
October 1995

Table of Contents

2 Ken Davidson	Editor's INK Birth of the Firebot
6	Reader's INK Letters to the Editor
9 Harv Weiner	New Product News
14 Matthew Linder Kent Harris-Warren	A Robot Firefighter A firefighting robot must navigate a floor plan, find the fire source, and extinguish it. Sound simple? Well, it's not so very. Out of a field of 30-40, this robot was one of only four to complete the course. Download: FIREROBO.ZIP
24 Chuck McManis	Turning Toys into Tools Chuck transforms Radio Shack's Wild Cougar RCV into a functional robot, complete with sensors and the ability to navigate. He focuses on getting the robot to respond properly to sensor feedback.
36 Ed Lansinger	Developing an Engine Control System Part 2: Ignition Subsystems Getting chips to work in the electrically noisy environment of a race car is a critical problem in a microprocessor-controlled ignition system. Ed shows us how to bring 2-8 V spikes under control.
42 Maurizio Ferrari	Self-Testing the M68HC11 The MC68HC11 contains a unique feature that many are not aware of. In bootstrap mode, the designer can load test code into the chip without system EPROM. Maurizio shows us how to use this mode. Download: BOOTSTRP.ZIP
Home Automation & Building Control 49 Harv Weiner	Innovations in Home Automation & Building Control
Home Automation & Building Control 51 Joe DiBartolomeo	Detecting CO in the Home A lot of attention in home automation focuses on the quality of indoor air. With new safety regulations, this concern is going to grow. In this article, Joe offers a thorough review of what CO is and how it is detected before moving on to show how to integrate CO sensors in your own home-control system.
Home Automation & Building Control 57 Paul Moews David Moews	The X-10 Spy Making X-10 Signals Visible Although X-10 saves you the bother of running extra wires between your controller and appliances, dealing with the unpredictable power line can be a problem. Here's an X-10 monitor which can trace the timing and execution of commands. X-10 debugging will never be the same again. Download: X10SPY.ZIP
Home Automation & Building Control 63 John Morley	A Solid-State Barometer for the HCS II Want to predict weather with more than your bones? Then, listen up. John lets us in on his design, shows us how to calibrate it, and then hooks it up to the HCS II. Presto! You have the option of including atmospheric pressure readings in your home control system.
Home Automation & Building Control 71 Don McLane	An RS-232 Thermometer We've covered the Dallas Semiconductor DS1620 digital thermostat chip before, but it's overkill if all you want is to read temperature. The DS1820 is a neat little 3-pin chip that does the job nicely. Check out some tricks for interfacing it to a standard serial port. Download: RUN1820.ZIP
76 Ed Nisley	Firmware Furnace Journey to the Protected Land: Looking at the Virtual-86 Monitor This month, Ed builds a simple V86 monitor. After going over what it takes to keep the monitor running smoothly, he shows what to do when it stops.
84 Jeff Bachiochi	From the Bench Creating the Smart-MD: Part 2: Quadrature Decoding for the Motor Driver In INK 62, Jeff used National's H-bridge motor driver with the I2C and PWM functions of a PIC16C73. This month, he adds the decoder circuitry necessary to keep track of the motor's rotation, an essential part of achieving accurate positioning. Download: FTB63.ZIP
90 Tom Cantrell	Silicon Update I Want My DTV: Philips Chips Bring Digital TV One Step Closer Tom reviews digital video before moving on to Philips' new SAA7111 video input processor. Tom zooms in on how this chip simplifies and improves processing. Digital TV may soon be off the ground.
81	Advertiser's Index
98 Ken Davidson	ConnecTime -- Excerpts from the Circuit Cellar BBS
112 Steve Ciarcia	Steve's Own INK Now it's Lollipops

FTP Directory for INK 63
Follow this link to order a copy of INK 63
<<< Ink 62	Ink 64 >>>
Main Index	Author Index