Hello, I'm in need of a small microcontroller that has ADC and DAC capabilities and PWM also but not much of anything else.... most the microcontroller's I've found while trying to search for these criteria are a little overkill...... an 8 bit or 16 bit would probally be fine, low power would be great but ADC and DAC are the main things I'm looking for... I've thought about a PIC but I've never used one of those.... and hear that they are not programmable in C and have a small instruction set.... any suggestions? thanks J.
can anyone recommend me a microcontroller
Started by ●March 26, 2008
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:13:33 -0700, panfilero wrote:> Hello, > > I'm in need of a small microcontroller that has ADC and DAC capabilities > and PWM also but not much of anything else.... most the > microcontroller's I've found while trying to search for these criteria > are a little overkill...... an 8 bit or 16 bit would probally be fine, > low power would be great but ADC and DAC are the main things I'm looking > for... I've thought about a PIC but I've never used one of those.... and > hear that they are not programmable in C and have a small instruction > set.... any suggestions? > > thanks > J.What's wrong with a small instruction set? More importantly, PICs (and 8051s) have instruction sets that are an awkward fit with C, but you can get C compilers for them that work reasonably well. The Atmel AVR has an instruction set that is small but is a very good fit with C -- it also has wimpy drive pins and in the past has had a reputation for having poor supply-chain performance, at least in small quantities. Most anything you can get in an 8-bit microprocessor that has an ADC will also have PWM output, a fair amount of timer resources, and no DAC per se. You'll have to use the PWM output for a DAC, or use external. I'd look at PIC, AVR, H8, and the many 8051-core micros out there. You may want to find EDN magazine's web site and see if they've got a current microprocessor directory -- that'll give you _lots_ of ideas for places to look. -- Tim Wescott Control systems and communications consulting http://www.wescottdesign.com Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system? "Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
"panfilero" <panfilero@gmail.com> wrote in message news:94232517-b493-4d95-9331-b863f3a60e68@s37g2000prg.googlegroups.com...> Hello, > > I'm in need of a small microcontroller that has ADC and DAC > capabilities and PWM also but not much of anything else.... most the > microcontroller's I've found while trying to search for these criteria > are a little overkill...... an 8 bit or 16 bit would probally be fine, > low power would be great but ADC and DAC are the main things I'm > looking for... I've thought about a PIC but I've never used one of > those.... and hear that they are not programmable in C and have a > small instruction set.... any suggestions? > > thanks > J.Not many small ones around with a DAC.... you could use an SPI dac ( 8 pin soic or smaller) then you have a BIG choice.
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
> Hello, > > I'm in need of a small microcontroller that has ADC and DAC > capabilities and PWM also but not much of anything else.... most the > microcontroller's I've found while trying to search for these criteria > are a little overkill...... an 8 bit or 16 bit would probally be fine, > low power would be great but ADC and DAC are the main things I'm > looking for... I've thought about a PIC but I've never used one of > those.... and hear that they are not programmable in C and have a > small instruction set.... any suggestions? > thanks > J.Hi, FREESCALE 9s12E... but "big" package (80 pins). I think your best choice will be a serial (SPI, IIC or 3 wires) external DAC. Yvan www.ybdesign.fr
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
The R8C/2A has all that, in a 64 pin package ($5-6 at digikey). Might be a bit of overkill, though. http://america.renesas.com/fmwk.jsp?cnt=r8c2a_root.jsp&fp=/products/mpumcu/m16c_family/r8c_tiny_series/r8c2a_group/ The R8C/2E might do, once it's released - it's a 32 pin part, 16 bit CPU. 12ch 10bit A/D, 2ch 8bit D/A, 8 and 16 bit PWM. 10mA at 20MHz, 23uA at 32KHz, 0.7uA stopped. 8K flash, 512b ram: http://america.renesas.com/fmwk.jsp?cnt=r8c2e_root.jsp&fp=/products/mpumcu/m16c_family/r8c_tiny_series/r8c2e_group/ Same deal with the R8C/33.
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On Mar 26, 10:01 am, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.com> wrote:> On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:13:33 -0700, panfilero wrote: > > Hello, > > > I'm in need of a small microcontroller that has ADC and DAC capabilities > > and PWM also but not much of anything else.... most the > > microcontroller's I've found while trying to search for these criteria > > are a little overkill...... an 8 bit or 16 bit would probally be fine, > > low power would be great but ADC and DAC are the main things I'm looking > > for... I've thought about a PIC but I've never used one of those.... and > > hear that they are not programmable in C and have a small instruction > > set.... any suggestions? > > > thanks > > J. > > What's wrong with a small instruction set? More importantly, PICs (and > 8051s) have instruction sets that are an awkward fit with C, but you can > get C compilers for them that work reasonably well. The Atmel AVR has an > instruction set that is small but is a very good fit with C -- it also > has wimpy drive pins and in the past has had a reputation for having poor > supply-chain performance, at least in small quantities. > > Most anything you can get in an 8-bit microprocessor that has an ADC will > also have PWM output, a fair amount of timer resources, and no DAC per > se. You'll have to use the PWM output for a DAC, or use external. > > I'd look at PIC, AVR, H8, and the many 8051-core micros out there. You > may want to find EDN magazine's web site and see if they've got a current > microprocessor directory -- that'll give you _lots_ of ideas for places > to look. > > -- > Tim Wescott > Control systems and communications consultinghttp://www.wescottdesign.com > > Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system? > "Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott > Elsevier/Newnes,http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.htmlHmm... so how big do I have to get before I start running into some microcontrollers that include the DAC? Thanks for the EDN tip I'll start checking there, I'm just having a hard time conducting a search for what I need. thanks
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
On 2008-03-26, panfilero <panfilero@gmail.com> wrote:> > I'm in need of a small microcontroller that has ADC and DAC > capabilities and PWM also but not much of anything else.... most the > microcontroller's I've found while trying to search for these criteria > are a little overkill...... an 8 bit or 16 bit would probally be fine, > low power would be great but ADC and DAC are the main things I'm > looking for... I've thought about a PIC but I've never used one of > those.... and hear that they are not programmable in C and have a > small instruction set.... any suggestions?That wish list strongly suggests an MSP430 to me. Have a look at http://focus.ti.com/lit/ml/slab034m/slab034m.pdf for a brief outline of the range. Not all of the units have DACs so isolate those before deciding which if any would best suit your needs. You're not quite right that PICs don't support C. As Tim Wescott has already pointed out, it's true that the low end PIC10/12/16s are not well optimised for C but compilers do exist and people who have used them report good results (I've only ever used assembly for those devices). The 'higher' numbered PIC17/18/24 devices are much more suited to C. -- Andrew Smallshaw andrews@sdf.lonestar.org
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
panfilero wrote:> Hmm... so how big do I have to get before I start running into some > microcontrollers that include the DAC? Thanks for the EDN tip I'll > start checking there, I'm just having a hard time conducting a search > for what I need. thanksYou could also go to a distributor's site, and search for microcontrollers. For instance: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Cat=2556109 Select your parameters, such as "Data Converters", package and core, and apply filters.
Reply by ●March 26, 20082008-03-26
