(editor’s note: Intrigued by the problem? Have a similar challenge? Have a question or another solution? Then click the “Read more” link and follow the conversation on EDAboard.com or log in to EDAboard and participate in the microcontroller forums.) PWM using Controller – I working on one project which requires the following condition: Analog voltage and PWM […]
Industry Experts
Memory technology from Floating Gates to FRAM
There are two basic types of memory: volatile and non-volatile. Volatile memory loses its content and becomes a blank slate whenever power is completely removed. However, volatile memory doesn’t need much power and can maintain its contents with a small battery. Non-volatile memory retains its contents even if power is completely removed. SRAM and DRAM […]
What is an open drain on a FET device and how is it used?
If you are working with an integrated circuit (IC) and the datasheet mentions an open drain or open collector, that’s engineering speak for a current sink on an output pin. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, a “current sink” means that the current is flowing into the pin (or node, etc.), not out of the […]
What is DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) vs SRAM?
Both DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) are types of Random Access Memory (RAM). RAM is a semiconductor device internal to the integrated chip that stores the processor that a microcontroller or other processor will use constantly to store variables used in operations while performing calculations. RAM refers to the […]
Documenting code: use this when you just don’t know what to write
Documenting code is something most people dislike doing. By the time you are done with writing, debugging, testing, fixing and re-testing, you are so sick of it that you just don’t want to look at it anymore. But most of us have already been on the other side of the code: a recipient of some […]
RF cable and RF wireless transmission
What is RF? RF stands for “Radio Frequency” and has become a catch-all term for certain wired communications and a large (spectral) range of wirelessly transmitted waves. It’s easy to find wireless RF modules for microcontroller development kits and other design-ready products, but where does RF cable fit in? What does Ethernet have to do […]
Pardon the interruption: speeding up responsiveness
Many of the abilities that modern digital electronics enable rely on the fact that common processors can perform millions or billions of operations every second. This blindingly fast speed can make it appear that a device is handling many operations at once when in fact, it is rapidly following a sequential set of instructions, often […]
Using a digital input to read an analog signal without an ADC
If you are out of Analog Inputs (AIs) on your MCU, or do not have any AIs at all, it’s possible to rig together a way to read analog signals that use varying resistance levels, even if you only have digital inputs (DIs). As an example, let’s assume that the varying resistance device is a […]
Multicore processors terminology
Multicore processors have two or more processors in the same integrated chip. Early on in practical applications, multiple cores were used independently of each other. Concurrency isn’t as much of an issue if cores are not working in tandem on the same problem. Supercomputers and high-performance computing (HPC) saw multiple cores first. One difference between […]
Top microcontroller threads on EDAboard.com — February
(editor’s note: Intrigued by the problem? Have a similar challenge? Have a question or another solution? Then click the “Read more” link and follow the conversation on EDAboard.com or log in to EDAboard and participate in the microcontroller forum thread.) External interrupt for PIC16F882 – Program for PIC16F882 MPLab X IDE is not working on […]
