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How to Build a Fixed-Point PI Controller That Just Works: Part I

Jason Sachs February 26, 20127 comments

This two-part article explains five tips to make a fixed-point PI controller work well. I am not going to talk about loop tuning -- there are hundreds of articles and books about that; any control-systems course will go over loop tuning enough to help you understand the fundamentals. There will always be some differences for each system you have to control, but the goals are the same: drive the average error to zero, keep the system stable, and maximize performance (keep overshoot and delay...


Embedded Software Creation II - European Normative & Legislation

Dr. Maykel Alonso December 20, 20116 comments

In this post I will explain the European Normative. I will answer the main questions and I will be open to answer all the doubts any of you could have. Please leave a comment and I will answer if i could.

Why I need to look and accomplish some standards? 

The main reason is if you want to comercialize the product in the European Union, if exists any European Directive that cover the product, the product must be marked with the CE mark. For USA it work in the same way by the...


C++ on microcontrollers 4 – input pins, and decoding a rotary switch

Wouter van Ooijen November 12, 20112 comments

previous parts: 1, 2, 3

 This blog series is about the use of C++ for modern microcontrollers. My plan is to show the gradual development of a basic I/O library. I will introduce the object-oriented C++ features that are used step by step, to provide a gentle yet practical introduction into C++ for C programmers.  Reader input is very much appreciated, you might even steer me in the direction you find most interesting.

So far I...


C++ on microcontrollers 3 – a first shot at an hc595 class with 8 output pins

Wouter van Ooijen November 2, 2011

 previous parts: 1, 2

This blog series is about the use of C++ for modern microcontrollers. My plan is to show the gradual development of a basic I/O library. I will introduce the object-oriented C++ features that are used step by step, to provide a gentle yet practical introduction into C++ for C programmers.  Reader input is very much appreciated, you might even steer me in the direction you find most interesting.

In the first part of...


C++ on microcontrollers 2 - LPCXpresso, LPC-link, Code Sourcery, lpc21isp, linkerscript, LPC1114 startup

Wouter van Ooijen October 24, 20115 comments

 previous parts: 1

This blog series is about the use of C++ for modern microcontrollers. My plan is to show the gradual development of a basic I/O library. I will introduce the object-oriented C++ features that are used step by step, to provide a gentle yet practical introduction into C++ for C programmers.  Reader input is very much appreciated, you might even steer me in the direction you find most interesting.

I teach my students that...


Using XML to describe embedded devices (and speak to them)

Martin Strubel October 12, 20111 comment

This article discusses one of the typical development cycles in embedded device and communication design and presents a possible, light weight solution using the free DClib/netpp framework.

The challenge

Assume we're faced with the design of an embedded device, be it a simple SoC unit or a more complex, uC controlled engine with various attached peripherals. From first prototype to the market, the following development cycle is typically walked through:


C++ on microcontrollers 1 - introduction, and an output pin class

Wouter van Ooijen October 9, 20117 comments

 

This blog series is about the use of C++ for modern microcontrollers. My plan is to show the gradual development of a basic I/O library. I will introduce the object-oriented C++ features that are used step by step, to provide a gentle yet practical introduction into C++ for C programmers.  Reader input is very much appreciated, you might even steer me in the direction you find most interesting.

I am lazy. I am also a programmer. Luckily, being a lazy...


Which MOSFET topology?

Jason Sachs September 1, 20119 comments

A recent electronics.StackExchange question brings up a good topic for discussion. Let's say you have a power supply and a 2-wire load you want to be able to switch on and off from the power supply using a MOSFET. How do you choose which circuit topology to choose? You basically have four options, shown below:

From left to right, these are:

High-side switch, N-channel MOSFET High-side switch, P-channel MOSFET Low-side switch, N-channel...

Kind of Buggy! The state machine fantastic//

Richard Dorfner August 31, 20112 comments

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to experience a lot of different kinds of coding mistakes. There were many that most programmers are familiar with, counting errors, indexing errors (the infamous 'off by one' bug), memory space sharing errors (A threading issue) as well as numerous others.  I ran into one recently that I wound up using an old trick to help find.

My current project is a Pan/Tilt camera that was, upon occasion, not homing properly in one axis. The camera is a...


Deeply embedded design example - Logic replacement

Gene Breniman July 9, 2011

I have always believed that some of the low-cost, low-pin count, low-resource microprocessors would make an excellent choice for the replacement of discrete logic components.  In these cases the deeply embedded microprocessor would become less of a general purpose computer and more of a logic replacement, providing a prescribed function with no connection to the outside world.  In a world of bigger, faster and more expensive, it is a pleasant change of pace...


C++ on microcontrollers 3 – a first shot at an hc595 class with 8 output pins

Wouter van Ooijen November 2, 2011

 previous parts: 1, 2

This blog series is about the use of C++ for modern microcontrollers. My plan is to show the gradual development of a basic I/O library. I will introduce the object-oriented C++ features that are used step by step, to provide a gentle yet practical introduction into C++ for C programmers.  Reader input is very much appreciated, you might even steer me in the direction you find most interesting.

In the first part of...


Designing Embedded Systems with FPGA-2

Pragnesh Patel November 13, 200710 comments

In last part, we created hardware design of basic system. The next step is to generate (compile) hardware design. Compiled hardware design is known as bit-stream andstored in *.bit file. To compile hardware, use hardware->generate hardware tab. The complete hardware design generation takes several seconds to several minutes depending on computer speed and design complexity. In back ground, the whole design process involves many different steps including synthesis, placement, routing and...


An Introduction to Embedded Development

Peter Johansson June 14, 20133 comments
This blog is a series to provide an introduction to embedded development for the aspiring embedded developer. No prior embedded development experience will be assumed, but you should have a reasonable understanding of the C language and knowledge of basic electronics. It will focus on the TI MSP430, but present topics in a generic way that can be easily translated to other processors. Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to my blog! This blog will be somewhat different from most...


Five Embedded Linux Topics for Newbies !

George Emad May 9, 2024

Are you an embedded systems enthusiast looking to broaden your horizons with embedded Linux? explore those 5 topics.


Motion Sensor with Raspberry Pi and MPU6050 - Part 1

Shres L November 21, 2015

This blog will help you build your own, low cost 3-axis motion sensor using Raspberry Pi and Invensense MPU6050.


Making a connection 1

Ed Nutter July 3, 20182 comments

In order for your system to control devices, you must be able to connect it to those devices.

Besides different sizes based on wire size, there are a few different styles of connectors that can be used.  There are also weather-resistant terminals that can be used if needed.

Ring

(Parks, 16)

- used for circuits that you don’t want to become easily disconnected

- ground wire attached to a stud

Push-On

- can be used on relay terminals

(Parks, 18)

- could be...


NXP LPC17xx/40xx: Decoding the Part ID

Ricky Bennett August 25, 20164 comments

This is the first blog of a number dealing with the NXP LPC17xx/40xx processor families and how to program them despite the lack of documentation.  The next blog will deal with implementing the LPC17xx/40xx UART with interrupts properly, and a subsequent blog will show how to use the UART in RS485 Normal Multidrop Mode (NMM) with Auto Address Detection (AAD).

My company has decided on using the NXP LPC17xx/40xx processor line for all our embedded projects.  Since...


nRF5 to nRF Connect SDK migration via DFU over BLE

Mike Voytovich September 7, 20232 comments

This writeup contains some notes on how I was able to migrate one of my clients projects based on the nRF5 SDK, to nRF Connect SDK (NCS) based firmware, via a DFU to devices in the field over BLE.


LCD Control with an MCU

Dr Cagri Tanriover November 17, 20129 comments

 Controlling a liquid crystal display (LCD) to indicate a few ASCII characters should not be a big challenge as a project. That’s exactly what I thought when I decided to include a 2 line by 16 character display in my current project. My initial thought was. “How difficult could it be with all the resources on the internet and my embedded development expertise primarily in telecoms?” Let me tell you it is not as straightforward as I thought it would be and therefore I...


Getting Started with (Apache) NuttX RTOS Part 2 - Looking Inside and Creating Your Customized Image

Alan C Assis July 5, 2023

In the previous article (https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/1524.p...) we saw how to run NuttX RTOS using the SIMulator. Today we will see how NuttX's directory tree is organized and how to use the menuconfig to enable some applications, including some tricks to search and solve dependencies.

NuttX Directories organization:

If you have previously compiled the Linux kernel or the U-Boot bootloader you will see that the NuttX source tree organization is...


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