Circuit Cellar Ink 221
December 2008

Table of Contents

4 CJ Abate	HTML Task Manager 2008 I/O
8 John Gorsky	HTML New Product News KickStart Kit for NXP LPC2478 from IAR Systems LatticeECP2M PCI Express development kit from Lattice Semiconductor Corp. MT Series Transcoder IC from Linx Technologies, Inc. MLX90614 infrared thermometer module from Parallax, Inc. TMS320C6745 and TMS320C6747 low-power floating-point DSPs and OMAP-L137 floating-point-DSP-plus-ARM applications processor from Texas Instruments, Inc. AMIS-30511 and AMIS-30512 bipolar stepper motor controllers from ON Semiconductor BD62xx series PWM output H-bridge driver ICs from ROHM Electronics WEBENCH online Sensor Designer tool from National Semiconductor Corp. V2V and BugHunter Pro VHDL/Verilog tools from SynaptiCAD, Inc. WILDSTAR 5 series of Xilinx FPGA-based PCI-E processing boards from Annapolis Micro Systems, Inc.
14 John Peterson	A Dynamic Tile Display Board Layout, Real-Time Animation, and More John designed an expandable platform for light and animation. You can use it to create modular animated signs, animated puzzles, and more. The system features a tray and tiles, which are based on 8 x 8 LED displays. Once the tiles are synchronized, you can pick them up and rearrange them. Download: Peterson-221.zip
Silicon Update 24 Tom Cantrell	Tool Time Tom has often bemoaned that the tools electronic designers rely on haven't kept up with the silicon. The answer to his complaint may be Altium's Designer, which allows you to complete an entire design, including hardware and software, from start to finish. When you're done, debug with Altium's NanoBoard.
32 Mandar Bagul	Cost-Effective Mobile Data Storage Interface an SD Memory Card with an MCU When it comes to designing an embedded application, memory matters. In this article, Mandar explains how to expand a microcontroller's nonvolatile data storage capacity with an SD card. It's an intelligent way to handle the excessive memory requirements of typical embedded applications. Download: Bagul-221.zip
Above the Ground Plane 38 Ed Nisley	Real-World NiMH Charging During bike trips, Ed uses Icom handie-talkies for communication. To keep the radios' batteries working, he uses a three-pack charger that he designed at his workbench.The charger has three 250-mA channels and one 100-mA channel so he can charge different packs. Download: Nisley-221.zip
44 Jan Szymanski	Electronic ID System A Display for Text, Photos, and Slide Shows Jan's electronic ID system is an MCU-based electronic badge that displays color slide shows. Many electronic badges display scrolling text using a matrix of discrete LEDs. This low-power system features a graphical OLED display and can be easily upgraded to handle animation, video, or RF communication. Download: Szymanski-221.zip
The Darker Side 54 Robert Lacoste	PID Control Without Math If you need to design an optimized control loop for a hardware control problem, consider a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller. In this article, Robert explains that trying PID regulations are simple to code, wire, and tune to find the results you're looking for. Download: Lacoste-221.zip
From the Bench 62 Jeff Bachiochi	Component Control A Tool for Finding and Handling Small Parts It's time to take control of your components. You can identify tiny surface-mount parts with a handheld LCR meter. The lightweight tool automatically determines the type of component, inductor, capacitor, or resistor (LCR), and selects the proper range and signal frequency for the most accurate measurement. The component type, measurement results, and test conditions used to determine the results are displayed on a dot-matrix display.
69 Martin Courtney	Beamforming 101 Beamforming enables you to find problems in your system before they occur. As Martin explains, you can perform your own investigation with a computer, a dual-channel A/D card, a pair of microphones, and some software. Download: Courtney-221.zip
78 Kareem Matariyeh	An Introduction to Verilog If you are new to programming FPGAs and CPLDs or looking for a new design language, Kareem has the solution for you. In this article, he introduces you to Verilog. Although the hardware description language has been used in the ASIC industry for years, it has all the tools to help you implement complex designs, such as a creating a VGA interface or writing to an Ethernet controller.
93	Crossword Puzzle
94	Advertiser's Index / January Preview
96 Steve Ciarcia	HTML Priority Interrupt My Life and Paper -- Take 2

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