Articles and news - microcontrollers - 7

The new PIC24 “GA7” family of microcontrollers is now available from Microchip Technology. As the lowest-cost 256 KB Flash memory 16-bit MCUs available today, these PIC24 devices enable extremely cost-effective designs for Internet of Things sensor nodes, portable medical devices and industrial control applications...

Having already seen strong market uptake of the initial CleO smart display solution for rapid development of human machine interfaces, Bridgetek and FTDI are now expanding this product family to include a higher end version. Based on the widely-praised Embedded Video Engine technology, the new CleO50 shield has a larger 5.0” diagonal 800 × 480 pixel resolution TFT with built-in resistive touch screen, plus enhanced audio capabilities...

When the need arises to convert voltage readings from an analog sensor into a pulse train, a low-end microcontroller offers a versatile solution. The design uses an 8-pin PIC12F683 to provide a pulse train that’s proportional to the sensed input voltage. This is useful, for example, when transforming a sensor signal into a format that’s compatible with a basic digital or GPIO input...

STMicroelectronics’ 13.5 mm × 13.5 mm SensorTile is currently the smallest turnkey sensor board of its type, containing a MEMS accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure sensor, and a MEMS microphone. With the on-board low-power STM32L4 microcontroller, it can be used as a sensing and connectivity hub for developing products such as wearables, gaming accessories, and smart-home or Internet-of-Things devices...

Microchip Technology released a new generation of 8-bit tinyAVR MCUs. The four new devices range from 14 to 24 pins and 4 KB to 8 KB of Flash and are the first tinyAVR microcontrollers to feature Core Independent Peripherals. The new devices will be supported by Atmel START, an innovative online tool for intuitive, graphical configuration of embedded software projects...

NXP Semiconductors announced a new automotive radar microcontroller, the NXP S32R27, that will deliver the features and performance required for making safe, automated driving a reality. NXP is the leading supplier of radar-based ADAS semiconductor solutions...

An inexpensive way to implement high-resolution digital-to-analog conversion is to combine microcontroller-PWM outputs with precision analog-voltage references, CMOS switches, and analog filtering. However, PWM-DAC design presents a big design problem: How do you adequately suppress the large ac-ripple component inevitably present in the switch’s outputs?...

LAPIS Semiconductor has announced the development of the ML620130 family of 16 bit low power MCUs, optimized for compact industrial equipment requiring battery drive in noisy environments, featuring superior processing capability with low power consumption. In addition to clearing the ±30 kV noise measurement limit, operating voltage has been successfully reduced to 1.6 V...

After my previous review of more traditional ways of reducing the I/O lines needed to drive LEDs/displays and keyboards/switches, here I'm looking at the nominally new method of Charlieplexing...

Expanding the functionality of Internet of Things networks, Texas Instruments announced availability for mass production of the industry's lowest-power dual-band wireless microcontroller supporting Sub-1 GHz and Bluetooth® low energy connectivity on a single chip. As part of TI's pin-to-pin and software compatible SimpleLink™ ultra-low power platform, the new SimpleLink dual-band CC1350 wireless MCU enables developers to move from a three-chip solution to a tiny single chip, while reducing design complexity, saving power, cost and board space...