Microchip Aims to Educate Embedded Design Engineers

By

(04/26/01, 12:17:54 PM EDT)

As a tool for embedded design engineers to find out about more connectivity options, Microchip Technology announced a free Connectivity Power Pack and an on-line Connectivity Design Center (www.microchip.com/connectivity) to help educate engineers.

Both feature the tools necessary to design and implement embedded connectivity, including application notes, development systems, evaluation tools, product datasheets, a product line card, and a variety of third-party resources.

Microchip Technology's offerings will aid engineers creating embedded products who must consider the appropriate connection protocols and the physical connections of the devices to the network, despite a dizzying array of emerging, existing, and evolving standards within each industry.

Take a laundromat, for example. Tomorrow's laundry center will feature washing machines and clothes dryers with embedded electronic intelligence. Washing machines will use sensors to analyze dirty clothes and a Flash microcontroller to control the amount of soap, water level, water temperature, and agitator speed. Dryers will have humidity sensors to determine when the clothes are dry so they can enter a controlled cool-down cycle to minimize wrinkles. The machines will also be networked through a central controller or gateway connected to the Internet. In this way the machines can be monitored and maintained remotely. When a machine breaks down, the machine can communicate which subsystem needs repair. If a machine is overflowing, it can be turned off remotely. Coin-operated appliances will report when the coins need to be collected; smart cards transactions will be uploaded electronically. Flash microcontrollers will allow new programs, features, and functions to be downloaded into the washing machines and clothes dryers. New prices, energy requirements, or clothing manufacturers' wash and dry recommendations will also be incorporated remotely.

With its PICmicro microcontrollers, Microchip offers numerous Flash memory options from 2048 to 32768 bytes of program memory and packages ranging from 8 pins to 84 pins. The PICmicro line also features a broad suite of advanced on-chip peripherals, a variety of protocol stacks, and bus interfaces to enable connectivity.

Using Flash microcontrollers allows upgrades to systems deployed in the field so that evolving standards can be incorporated immediately. Various PICmicro families support the more popular standards proliferating across industry lines today: Controller Area Network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN) and Universal Serial Bus (USB).

CAN 2.0 is a serial communications protocol that supports distributed real-time control with a very high level of data integrity and flexibility. CAN is ideal for implementing command, control, and communications in electrically noisy environments, such as automotive and industrial control applications.

The LIN protocol standard was created as a low cost, short-distance, low speed network. Designed to transmit changes in switch settings and respond to switch changes, it was intended to communicate events that happen in “human” time (hundreds of milliseconds). This standard is being used for automotive design and is being reviewed for leading appliance and industrial control OEMs.

USB 1.1 low-speed interface is ideal for connecting personal computer related systems, such as high-end pointing devices, uninterruptible power supplies, joysticks, and protocol converters or adapters.

In addition, a number of Internet connectivity options are available. Microchip has partnered with third parties to provide the following protocols on various PICmicro microcontrollers: UDP, TCP, IP, SLIP, PPP, HTTP, FTP, and emNet.

Microchip also offers the PICDEM.net Internet/Ethernet Demonstration Board to provide engineers with the tools to explore Microchip's various TCP/IP solutions. The PICDEM.net board uses the 40-pin PIC16F877 Flash microcontroller and TCP/IP firmware for the network interface.

After the initial set-up of the IP Ethernet address, engineers can access the various functions on the board through a network or the Internet. Boards are priced at $299 each.

The Connectivity Power Pack has information on all the tools necessary to design and implement embedded connectivity, including application notes, development systems, evaluation tools, product datasheets, and a product line card.

A significant amount of technical reference material is included on CAN, LIN, USB, and Internet connectivity options, such as industry-written technical articles and application notes. In addition, this material is featured in the company's Connectivity Design Center at www.microchip.com/connectivity.