Archives - Page 2

Race condition in reading RTC timekeeping registers

Most of you must have used a Real Time Clock (RTC) at some point. RTCs are small ICs that have a separate battery backup and allow you to keep track of time. Typical place where you can expect to see an RTC in action is your computer. They are used...

Interfacing 16x2 LCD with C2000 launchpad

There is CCS (Code Composer Studio) IDE for programming and debugging the Launchpad. It includes an optimizing C/C++ compiler, source code editor, project build environment, debugger, profiler, and many other features. Also, the presence of Control Suite, a support software containing libraries and examples makes the learning easy. Note: I...

Simple DIY Electromagnetic Bell

You might think its pass time while I was talking about simple electromagnetic bells at my blog. Truth be told I would agree with you and embedjournal is pitching for a higher game in the near future. We will soon get into some android programming and write mobile apps that...

Microcontroller Input voltage Measurement through ADC Module

Input voltage measurement of an embedded device is not as simple as it sounds. But if estimated, can come in very handy in a number of occasions. In this article we will see how we can add this feature to your embedded system with minimal components. It is one thing...

Useful Books for Reference

Books are an invaluable source of information. Listed below are some books that we feel, will help you understand the basic concepts behind embedded systems, robotics, and basic electronics. Check if you have come across some of these books and leave a comment if I have missed some good books....

Serial Ports are dead? Think again!

Your Desktop-PC doesn’t have a Serial Port in the back side? Don’t be so sure of it. If you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it ain’t there! All you have to do is look properly. If you are a full-time laptop user, stop right here! This article is of no...

Servo Motor Interface - Looking behind Arduino Servo library

Have you ever looked into the Arduino source files? Well you should be!! I have been hanging around there for quite some time now. The Arduino Servo class has half a dozen functions to handle all the servo related tasks like the attach(), read(), write() and detach(). There was too...

Arduino Like Serial / UART Library for PIC 18 Microcontrollers

In my last post describing the implementation of a circular buffer I mentioned that I was working on a serial UART library for PIC 18. Well it is now completed! Yesterday I tested all the functions of the library and its working like a charm! In this post I will...

Basics of DC Motor Drive and Speed Control for Robots

DC motors are really cheap and can be found very easily. In this post we will discuss the basic theory behind the DC motor drive system and its speed control. Having some basic understanding of how your motor driver works will play a key role in building your own circuits...

Implementing Circular Buffer in C

Embedded software often involves state machines, circular buffers and queues. This article will give you an overview of the data structure and walks you through the steps involved in implementing circular buffers in low memory devices. If you are already familiar with the basics of such data structures, feel free...