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Latch-Up Protection For MOSFET Drivers

planright — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:50:09 PST

Most of the CMOS ICs, when in proper condition, can “latch” just like an SCR, thus creating a short circuit from the positive supply voltage to ground.

OMAP and DaVinci Software For Dummies

allankliu — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:50:58 PST

The creation and consumption of cool gadgets has become a way of life for many designers, engineers, and billions of consumers. These gadgets, whether for music, video, Web navigation, games, or communications, keep getting ever more sophisticated, smarter and smaller.

RKE in a Body Controller Unit Application

Ionela — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:50:57 PST

This article introduces a concept about how new technology can be used within the body controller unit (BCU) vehicle system.

Selection Guide of Low Cost Tools for Cortex-M3

allankliu — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:50:38 PST

As I mentioned in another article, ARM Cortex-M3 is not compatible with ARM7TDMI in interrupt, ISA, bus structure and JTAG protocol (SWD). You have to upgrade ARM7TDMI tools to support Cortex-M3 microcontrollers. After a small research, I summarize following tool related information for your reference.

Freescale ColdFire V1 for FPGA

allankliu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:50:48 PST

Freescale offers various custom devices for important customers. In order to reduce the cost for SoC customers, Freescale has licensed its PowerPC 440/405 to Xilinx.

Hygrochron Temperature/Humidity Logger iButton with 8KB Data-Log Memory

wordpainter — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:50:22 PST

The DS1923 temperature/humidity logger iButton® is a rugged, self-sufficient system that measures temperature and/or humidity and records the result in a protected memory section.

Temperature Logger iButton with 8KB Data-Log Memory

wordpainter — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:50:03 PST

The DS1922L/DS1922T temperature logger iButtons are systems that measure temperature and record the result in a protected memory section.

High-Speed Op Amp Enables Infrared (IR) Proximity Sensing

wordpainter — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:50:48 PST

This sensor is basically a simple IR transceiver that generates IR modulated signal at 10kHz, then amplifies the reflected signal with a single op amp (MAX4230), which is also configured as a 2nd-order bandpass filter to demodulate the 10kHz IR signal.

Give colors to your log trace with ANSI Escape sequences

slovati — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:50:07 PST

The scope of this article is to show how you can enhance your serial trace logs adding a touch of originality and distinction: the colors. Colored trace logs are very useful, since by using a common communication program (such as Tera Term Pro on Windows or minicom on Linux, both freeware), you can give a different level of priority (importance) to your trace logs.

Speed Up Caculation with eMAC and MAC in ColdFire

allankliu — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:50:34 PST

ColdFire integrated enhanced multiply accumulate (eMAC) unit as a fundamental function block. Many algorithms of DSP processing and cryptography heavily rely on add and multiply operations, which can be boosted with MAC and eMAC.

Digital Media System-on-Chip - TMS320DM6467

wordpainter — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:50:09 PST

The TMS320DM6467 (also referenced as DM6467) is a Digital Media System-on-Chip. It leverages TI's DaVinci technology to meet the networked media encode and decode application processing needs of next-generation embedded devices.

Freescale Medical Applications USB Stack Architecture

Ionela — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:50:07 PST

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is used to connect external devices to the host computer. The Medical Applications USB stack enables you to use Freescale S08 and CFV1 silicon to make some devices.

Ubuntu Enabled PMP

allankliu — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:50:52 PST

I have not checked PMP market since I purchased my last player. The market is changing so quickly. Today I am impressed by the brand new MID-like PMP (Smart Q5/Q7) by Zhiqi, China.

Set Your Holiday Lights to Music

wordpainter — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:50:42 PST

This circuit which allows you to set your holiday lights to music does so by digitizing music with a 12-bit A/D converter, monitoring the resulting digital outputs, and producing a logarithmic thermometer-code format to control multiple power outlets.

Smart Cable Aids Quality Control and Authentication

wordpainter — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:50:59 PST

Cable authentication problem are very common. Embedding a DS2431 (1-Wire) chip in the near end of a cable allows a system processor to identify a cable (manufacturing date, revision, configuration, calibration data, etc.) and to authenticate it (to prevent the use of inferior counterfeits).

DS1842A -76V, APD, Bias Output Stage with Current Monitoring

wordpainter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:50:54 PST

The DS1842A is a APD Bias Output Stage and Fast Current Monitor on a Single Chip. It integrates the discrete high-voltage components necessary for avalanche photodiode (APD) bias and monitor applications.

OBD-II Scanner with Freescale Silicon

allankliu — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:50:24 PST

On Board Diagnostic (OBD, it is also called Enhanced OBD in European) is installed in many vehicles for on board self-diagnostic and reporting purpose. OBD systems give the owner or a technician access to the state of health information for various vehicles.

i.MX51 ARM Cortex A8 Family supported by MC13892

Ionela — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:50:43 PST

The i.MX51 processor features Freescale's first advanced and power-efficient implementation of the ARM Cortex-A8 core.

How to configure the TSS (Touch Sensing Software)

Ionela — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:50:20 PST

Last week we saw how we can create a TSS (Touch Sensing Software) project. Now, let's see how to configure the TSS.

Reasons for using secure microcontrollers

brumbarchris — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:50:12 PST

As soon as any benefit can be drawn out of such an activity, deployed electronic systems are subject to hacking in the same manner as regular PCs are. This article will briefly describe the methods employed by microcontroller hardware hackers and will also shed some light on the method employed by the micro manufacturers to prevent this kind on activities.