Power Supply Specifications

As the members of the group are from different final year project groups with disparate requirement of power supply requirements, we choose to focus on a general application.  The output voltage is expected to be 5-12v (11.5v for demonstration purposes), 1A current at 1% output voltage fluctuation.

Conspectus

This program explain some programming aspects rather than microcontroller oriented design

The best way to learn to code is to write, but do we have time to find everything ourselves by perusing the datasheets and tampering with the devices or simulators. Of course there is another route, easiest more traveled path, find already written code and edit them; be warned never ever edit the code, but the comments. In a well written code, the however a simple the code is, the comments will take at least half of the lines making the duty of preprocessor ineluctable. well that's enough chit chat to chase the superficial people, and lets get back to the business.

Microcontrollers is a hot-topic thesedays with the introduction of wireless support - let it be bluetooth, zigbee or wifi - that is being added inbuilt. To kindle some interest and assist in answering questions that could be asked in any introduction level courses the digest from techonline course on microcontrollers.

• System on chip
• Same functionalities as of a computer in a chip
• Always contains
  • CPU (ALU, Instruction decoder, register, counter, stack pointer)
  • Memory (RAM, ROM)
  • I/O (Serial, I2C)
  • Peripheral (Timer, counter, ADC, PWM)
• Comparison
  • Microprocessor - External memory , peripheral, external address / data busses
  • Microcontroller - all inside but specially for controlling
  • DSP - mathematical calculations
• History
  • MU: TMS1000 (first)
  • MP: Intel 4004 - 8008,8080-pc, Motorola 6800 (later MU 68000 as well) - mac
• Bit definition - 8bit means data bus width, rarely related to address bus

  

• CISC - hardware is faster than software - powerful instruction , shorter code - complex circuit to decode
• RISC - more instructions will be needed, and compilers must generate complex instructions that were available readily in CISC

Perhaps this is the Microsoft's way of answering Apple and Nokia [via Gizmodo]

This article is intended to introduce AVR, justification of its choice in general applications, and development of simple applications with AVR.

AVR is a Harvard Architecture, 8 bit, single chip micro controller based on RISC architecture, developed by two Norwegian students Alf-Egil Bogen and Vegard Wollan. Generally, it comes with plenty of program memory starting from 1KB ranging to enormous 256KB. Package size varies from tiny 8 pin to giant 100 pin.

I, like many had the same feeling that Orcad , popularly known and PSpice, is less user friendly and system with purposefully things made hard. However, today I found, while working desperately on an Electronic project, that it is in fact a very flexible robust system.

Few things are hard to understand, as they reflect the internal modularization. Actually, Pspice, simulation program works on the parts / circuits given in text file, namely netlist. However, with recent developments it provides a gui where we can user can drag-drop the parts, connect and set parameters, namely Capture CIS. The parts have the default parameters, if not set explicitly and they are organized in files called libraries, sometimes separately for Pspice, Capture CIS and Layout – a program to design the PCB layout, route the lines optimally and print PCBs.

I also found an extremely helpful article which illustrates the proper usage of Spice with Capture CIS and I would like to share that.

 [ updated on 22 August 2008]

This article addresses the multistage amplifier designing with the given design specification.If you are not interested in multistage amplifier designing you are on the wrong page and can stop reading.

• If you are not familiar with basic principles of frequency response or not in possession of Microelectronic Circuits by Sedra and Smith, I would humbly ask you to leave to avoid any dissatisfaction.
  
• This is tested in simulation and design, and hence if you follow the guide lines accurately you won't run into any trouble.
  

The problem

• Designing of an amplifier with the following specifications
• Gain 20 dB to 60 dB
• Input impedance > 5K
• Output impedance < 100
• Bandwidth 100Hz – 3 MHz (can't help folks from groups 1, 6, 11, 16)
• This design should work perfectly with a source impedance of 600 and load impedance of 10K