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Temperature sensor accuracy improvement using a PIC MCU

Posted on September 1, 2013 by R-B Leave a comment

The accuracy of most of the current IC temperature sensors is about ±1°C at room temperature. However, at hot and cold temperatures, the uncertainty increases exponentially, resulting in a parabolic-shaped error curve. This application note describes a technique to enhance the accuracy of the sensor by modeling the error curve and use it to compensate for the sensor drift at a wide range of operating temperature. A PIC MCU is used to compute the equation for the curve and apply it to the sensor output to provide a more accurate temperature reading.

H-Bridge to drive white LED arrays directly from the AC mains supply

Posted on August 23, 2013 by R-B Leave a comment

The classical H-bridge circuit is widely popular in driving DC motors in robotics applications. This article talks about a novel application of the H-bridge circuit for driving white-LED arrays directly from the AC mains in full-wave current-limited mode to realize an excellent flicker-free, energy-efficient solid-state lamp. The circuit controls and maintains the LED excitation current in both negative and positive half cycles of the excitation voltage to a constant level by way of electronic switches operating alternately during the positive and negative excursion of the excitation voltage.

Pong game using PIC10LF322

Posted on August 18, 2013 by R-B Leave a comment

Pong is known to be one of the earliest arcade video games. There are already a lot of DIY versions of this classic game available on internet. Jacques from Quebec was successful to squeeze the pong program into Microchip PIC10LF322, which is one of the tiniest microcontrollers. His circuit operates at 3 to 3.6 volt power supply and generates NTSC video signal to connect to a TV.

Personal space invader alarm bow tie

Posted on August 15, 2013 by R-B Leave a comment

We all have an invisible boundary around our body, which we call personal space. We certainly don’t like anybody piercing through this boundary. This personal space defender bow tie is a simple and elegant way to defend your personal space bubble from being invaded by close talkers. When somebody gets too close to you it flashes red lights for a few seconds. If the invader stays there, the lights keep flashing. The project uses FLORA, an Arduino -compatible wearable microcontroller board from Adafruit.

Microchip introduces new temperature sensors with 1.8V SMBus and I2C™ Interface

Posted on August 14, 2013 by R-B Leave a comment

Microchip Technology Inc. has announced a new six-member family of temperature sensor ICs called the EMC118X. This is the world’s first family of temp sensors with 1.8V SMBus and I2C™ communications, which is required for interfacing to the latest generation of smartphone, tablet and PC chipsets. Additionally, this integrated low-voltage I/O support reduces cost and board space because it is accomplished without an external voltage level shifter. These are also the first temp sensors to use an advanced sample-frequency-hopping filter, which enables temperature-monitoring traces of up to 8 inches in noisy environments with accurate readings. The EMC118X family serves a

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