Good old multiplexed keypad in an embedded system
Good old multiplexed keypad in embedded systems
(My www.embeddedrelated.com Blog No.1)
Touch-screens, rotary encoder switches and other navigational aids rule the user interface these days. Navigation through menus and sub-menus is child’s play as icons and thumbnails rule the screen.
Jumping from one screen to another, switching between programs and event notification pop-ups are made possible due to high...
VHDL tutorial - Creating a hierarchical design
In earlier blog entries I introduced some of the basic VHDL concepts. First, developing a function ('VHDL tutorial') and later verifying and refining it ('VHDL tutorial - part 2 - Testbench' and 'VHDL tutorial - combining clocked and sequential logic'). In this entry I will describe how to...
VHDL tutorial - combining clocked and sequential logic
In an earlier article on VHDL programming ("VHDL tutorial" and "VHDL tutorial - part 2 - Testbench", I described a design for providing a programmable clock divider for a ADC sequencer. In this example, I showed how to generate a clock signal (ADCClk), that was to be programmable over a series of fixed rates (20MHz, 10MHz, 4MHz, 2MHz, 1MHz and 400KHz), given a master clock rate of 40MHz. A reader of that article had written to ask if it was possible to extend the design to...
Designing Embedded Systems with FPGA-2
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...
VHDL tutorial - part 2 - Testbench
In an earlier article I walked through the VHDL coding of a simple design. In this article I will continue the process and create a test bench module to test the earlier design. The Xilinx ISE environment makes it pretty easy to start the testing process. To start the process, select "New Source" from the menu items under "Project". This launches the "New Source Wizard". From within the Wizard select "VHDL Test Bench" and enter the name of the new module (click 'Next' to...
Designing Embedded System with FPGA - 1
With the introduction of soft processors and related tools (like EDK from Xilinx), implementation of basic embedded system in FPGA is made easy. This requires very little or almost no knowledge of VHDL programming. Actually that’s how I started. If user is interested in taking full advantage of FPGA and its parallel processing power, then yes, detail understanding of soft processor, its peripheral bus and VHDL programming is required.
I will start with...
Arduino robotics #3 - wiring, coding and a test run
Arduino Robotics
Arduino robotics is a series of article chronicling my first autonomous robot build, Clusterbot. This build is meant to be affordable, relatively easy and instructive. The total cost of the build is around $50.
1. Arduino robotics - motor control2. Arduino robotics - chassis, locomotion and power3. Arduino robotics - wiring, coding and a test run4.Embedded Software Creation II - European Normative & Legislation
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...
Coding Step 2 - Source Control
Articles in this series:
- Coding Step 0 - Development Environments
- Coding Step 1 - Hello World and Makefiles
- Coding Step 2 - Source Control
- Coding Step 3 - High-Level Requirements
- Coding Step 4 - Design
When I first started out in programming, version control was not an introductory topic. Not in the least because it required a 'server' (ie, a computer which a teenaged me couldn't afford) but because it seemed difficult and only useful to teams rather than...
Layout recomendations and tips for best performance against EMC
When making the layout of the circuit diagram, it is interesting to perform a preliminary analysis of several issues in order to minimize problems arising from electromagnetic compatibility.The analysis consists in:
Identify / Analyze components: This section will analyze the integrated components, as well as any recommendations it may have the manufacturer. We must also analyze the encapsulation possibilities which have the component.
Kind of Buggy! The state machine fantastic//
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...
Making a connection 1
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...
nRF5 to nRF Connect SDK migration via DFU over BLE
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.
Layout recomendations and tips for best performance against EMC
When making the layout of the circuit diagram, it is interesting to perform a preliminary analysis of several issues in order to minimize problems arising from electromagnetic compatibility.The analysis consists in:
Identify / Analyze components: This section will analyze the integrated components, as well as any recommendations it may have the manufacturer. We must also analyze the encapsulation possibilities which have the component.
Bellegram, a wireless DIY doorbell that sends you a Telegram message
A wireless button that uses the M5 STAMP PICO and Mongoose to send a Telegram message when pressed. The code is written in C
Handling Translations in an Embedded Project
A brief walkthrough on how to handle human language translations in a low level C application. Some options are listed, each with advantages and disadvantages laid out.
Intro to Microcontrollers Part 2: AVR Microcontrollers
IntroductionThis is part 2 of my playing around with AVR microcontrollers. Last time, I had a basic setup which could program an AVR using the Arduino ISP. I used it to drive a simple 7-segment, multiplexed 4-digit LED display. This is a follow up where I try out some of the other features the ATTiny24A has to offer. I also decided to invest some money in an AVR Dragon programmer/debugger so I'll go over some basic playing and setup with this device. I'll also discuss some of the problems...
When a Mongoose met a MicroPython
This is more a framework than an actual application, with it you can integrate MicroPython and Cesanta's Mongoose.
Mongoose runs when called by MicroPython and is able to run Python functions as callbacks for the events you decide in your event handler. The code is completely written in C, except for the example Python callback functions, of course. To try it, you can just build this example on a Linux machine, and, with just a small tweak, you can also run it on any ESP32 board.
