Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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9 9 . 005
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C i r c u i t S p e c i a l i s t s , I n c . 2 2 0 S . C o u n t r y C l u b D r. , M e s a , A Z 8 5 2 1 0
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3 Retail/Wholesale Locations:
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Order Toll-Free: 1-800-4-HALTED(442-5833)
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The new
Atlas
for the
Age of Robotics.
January 2004
Vol. 25 No. 1
COLUMNS
Hunt for zoomies with this minimal G-M tube
driver and detector.
by Tom Napier ELECTRONICS Q&A
7788 What’s Up:Test instruments galore, that's what.
5500 INSTANT ETHERNET
Not only Ethernet, but TCP/IP as well — glued
right to your favorite PIC!
A handful of voltmeters, a diode, electrolytic
capacitor ESR, and a novel continuity tester.
by Peter Best
9944 IN THE TRENCHES
For design engineers facing real world problems.
This month: Intellectual property protection.
by Ray Marston
STAMP APPLICATIONS
logic on this quick tour.
by Chris Hannold 8844 An industrial cup o' Joe — using the Javelin (and
Java) as the brain of a PLC.
TECHKNOWLEDGEY 2004
DEPARTMENTS 8 Nanosprings, electricity from wind and water,
getting Schmart, a big pile of Thinkpads, a small
pile of tech jobs ... and more!
105 Advertiser’s Index 100 News Bytes
91 Classified Display Ads 56 NV Bookstore
14 Electro-Net 7 Publisher’s Info Nuts & Volts (ISSN 1528-9885/CDN Pub Agree#40702530) is published monthly for
38 Electronics Showcase 6 Reader Feedback $24.95 per year by T & L Publications, Inc., 430 Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879.
34 New Product News 101 Tech Forum PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT CORONA, CA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING
OFFICES. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Nuts & Volts, 430 Princeland
Court, Corona, CA 92879-1300 or Station A, P.O. Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5.
JANUARY 2004 5
readfeedJan04.qxd 12/4/2003 3:12 PM Page 6
Reader Feedback
Dear Nuts & Volts: magazine sent to me and I really enjoy You made a reference to cutting
You guys are doing a really great it. I was reading the article “Add A plastic sheet material on a table saw.
job with your magazine and seem to be Touch of Control” in the November If you use the correct blade, it works
hitting technology at the right level 2003 issue and would like to bring very well. Regular wood cutting blades
where it is both fun and rewarding. As a something to your attention. Many chip the plastic and make a poor cut.
suggestion, however, a few of your years ago when I lived in the US, I was I was able to obtain a 10" circular saw
analog circuits may need a little "tune a volunteer with the local United blade made just for cutting plastic.
up" before they will work properly and Cerebral Palsy (UCP) center. I The saw is made by Freud, model
deliver what they promise. For example, constructed special switches that the LU94, and can be obtained at
the phono preamp circuit first physical, occupational, and speech McFeely's (www.McFeelys.com).
published on page 28 of the August, therapists used with the children. A The current price is around $70.00. I
2003 issue (and later republished on touch switch was the one used by the use the same blade to cut printed
page 26 of the November, 2003 issue) occupational therapists the most. A toy circuit board stock.
needs a little help. I have a few tidbits of was modified so the touch switch As always, when using a tablesaw,
information that may be beneficial to controlled it. use the appropriate push sticks and
the many readers who are interested in This was done to show the small other safety guards that came with the
this topic, if you care to pass them on. children they could use a switch to tablesaw. The blade does collect bits of
Don Stulken control something before they were melted plastic around the teeth, so you
Marion, IA introduced to their electric wheelchair. need to clean it on a regular basis.
If any of your readers are looking for Mike Suhar WB8GXB
We *are* interested in passing ways to use their talents in electronics, I Dayton, Ohio
along Don's 24 pages of circuits and highly recommend that they check with
notes! If you would like a copy, send the local UCP center in their area.
us a 9" x 12" SASE (with two 37 cent Jim McLaughlin Last month's “In The Trenches”
stamps) and we'll get you a copy. via Internet column was unexpectedly truncated
— Editor Dan on page 85. The complete, ending
Dear Nuts & Volts: sentence of Gerard Fonte's work was
Dear Nuts & Volts: In reference to “In the Trenches,” "Hopefully, you've found a tip or two
I work overseas as an electronics December 2003 ... A lot of good that can help you work through some
technician and get the Nuts & Volts information in this month's column. difficult spots." — Editor Dan
Devoted readers may
notice that Stanley York's
by J. Shuman “Laser Insight” column is
absent this month.
Stanley's employment has
taken him out of the
country recently, and that,
coupled with the natural
end of his series, brings us
to a turning point for this
column. We hope to
alternate features on laser
technology with the
emerging interest in near-
space experiments in the
coming year, inviting Nuts
& Volts readers to join in
the growing adolescence
of this new field of
endeavor.
THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION STATEMENT OF NUTS & VOLTS MAGAZINE, published monthly at 430 Princeland Ct., Corona,
CA 92879. Subscription price is $24.95. The names and addresses of the Publisher and Managing Editor are: Publisher, Larry Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct.,
Corona, CA 92879; Managing Editor, Dan Danknick, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879.The owner is T & L Publications, Inc., Corona, CA 92879.The names
and addresses of stockholders holding one percent or more of the total amount of stock are: Jack Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879; Larry
NUTS & VOLTS
Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879; Audrey Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879.The average number of copies of each issue during
the proceeding twelve months is: A) Total number of copies printed (net press run); 59,721 B) Paid/Requested Circulation (1) Mail subscriptions: 45,853; (3)
Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendor, and counter sales: 6,537; (4) Other classes mailed through the USPS: 2,448; C) Total paid circulation: 54,838;
E) Free distribution outside the mail (carrier or other means): 680; F) Total free distribution: 680; G) Total Distribution: 55,518; H) Copies not distributed: (1)
Office use, leftover, estimated newsstand returns, spoiled after printing: 4,203; I) Total: 59,721. Percentage paid and/or requested circulation: 98.7 %. Actual
Everything For Electronics
number of copies of the single issue published nearest the filing date is September 2003, Issue #9;A) Total number of copies printed (net press run) 57,935; B)
Paid/Requested Circulation (1) Mail subscriptions: 44,427; (3) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, and counter sales: 6,289; (4) Other classes
mailed through the USPS: 2,885; (C) Total paid circulation: 53,601; (G) Total Distribution: 53,601; (H) Copies not distributed: (1) Office use, leftover, estimated
newsstand returns, spoiled after printing: 4,334; (I) Total: 57,935. Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 100%. I certify that these statements are correct
and complete. Mary Gamar, Circulation Director.
JANUARY 2004
6
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Published Monthly By
T & L Publications, Inc.
430 Princeland Court
Corona, CA 92879-1300
(909) 371-8497
FAX (909) 371-3052
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MANAGING/TECHNICAL EDITOR
Dan Danknick
dan@nutsvolts.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jon Williams Chris Hannold
Jeff Eckert Ray Marston
TJ Byers Tom Napier
Dan Gates Philip Kane
James Antonakos Gerard Fonte
D. Prabakaran Peter Best
Louis Frenzel Mark Balch
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Mary Gamar
subscribe@nutsvolts.com
SHOW COORDINATOR
Audrey Lemieux
PRODUCTION/GRAPHICS
Rosa Gutierrez
Shannon Lemieux
DATA ENTRY
Karla Thompson
Dixie Moshy
Copyright 2004 by
T & L Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
TechKnowledgey
2004 From the Electronics World
Events, Advances, and News
Advanced deflected by the flow of air or fluids, travels over a solid material, the pas-
Technologies the nanosprings would produce small sage of its ions over the surface cre-
but measurable electrical voltages. ates a slight electrical charge. But
Nanosprings Offer Useful
According to Zhong L. Wang, the charge is so minimal that, until
Polarization Properties director of Georgia Tech's Center for recently, it was considered to be an
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, effect with no potential practical
"They could be used to measure applications. However, two engineer-
pressure in a bio-fluid or in other bio- ing professors at the University of
medical sensing applications. You Alberta (www.ualberta.ca) have
could use them to measure nano- or devised a method of extracting
pico-newton forces." usable amounts of current from ordi-
The piezoelectric properties nary tap water by forcing it through
could also make the structures use- many channels, opening up the pos-
ful as actuators in micro-systems and sibility of powering cell phones, cal-
nanosystems, where applying volt- culators, and other devices. Although
age would induce strains. "In micro- the power generated by a single chan-
mechanical systems, these struc- nel is relatively insignificant, the use
tures could provide the coupling of millions of tiny, parallel channels
between an electrical signal and a can dramatically increase the power
mechanical motion," Wang noted. output. So far, the professors — Dr.
Semiconducting and piezoelectric The new structures also display Daniel Kwok and Dr. Larry Kostiuk —
nanosprings of zinc oxide synthesized at unusual electrostatic polarization, have been able to boost the power
Georgia Tech.These nanostructures have with positively and negatively charged output by about 2,000 percent, deriv-
potential applications as nano-scale sensors,
transducers, and resonators. Photo courtesy surfaces across the thickness of the ing enough energy to power LEDs.
of Georgia Institute of Technology. nanoribbon. This electrical charge And they have high expectations for
could be used to attract specific mole- the process, even predicting that it
and 5 to 20 nanometers thick (but development of tiny systems that can renewable materials is motivating the
up to several millimeters long), the be implanted in the body. team to explore how their prototype
structures could be useful in detect- device may be developed into a bat-
Everything For Electronics
ing and measuring very small fluid Electricity from Tap Water tery for commercial use. The inven-
flows, tiny strain/stress forces, high- tors are working with the University
frequency acoustical waves, and oth-
erwise imperceptible air flows. When I n the science of electrokinetics, it
is well known that, when water
of Alberta's Technology Transfer
Group (TTG) to develop a commer-
JANUARY 2004
8
Tech2004.qxd 12/4/2003 8:37 AM Page 9
cialization strategy. A patent applica- ceiver from AeroComm, Inc. (www. air issues are managed in the firmware
tion has been filed by the university to aerocomm.com). The one-inch- to synchronize, hop, gain acknowledge-
obtain broad, early protection of the square module is a component for ments, send retries, detect errors,
invention. creating local RF networks where address messages, secure transmis-
tight space, low power, and limited sions, and other features unique to RF
Computers and resources are the biggest concerns. that newcomers may overlook.
Networking According to the company, engi- The 1x1's standard TTL serial
Transceivers for Small, neers of varying RF experience can interface provides bidirectional com-
include wireless capability with mini- munication in point-to-point, point-to-
Cost-Sensitive Applications mal effort using the new device. All multipoint, or multi-to-multi networks.
components, including firmware, are A number of on-the-fly control com-
integrated into the multichip module mands accommodate varying wireless
design. Modules and antennas are applications. Prime features include:
simply mounted into place (via hand
solder or surface mounted with auto- • Up to 115.2 Kbps serial interface
matic pick-and-place equipment), data rate
then powered on. No special host • 1 to 10mW variable output power
software is required; 1x1s appear to • Local/remote I/Os: (2) digital input
the system as cables. lines, (2) digital output lines, (1)
Aerocomm’s AC4490-1x1 transceiver offers
simple implementation. Photo courtesy The modules contain Aero- A/D input line, and (1) D/A output
of Aerocomm, Inc. Comm's RF232 embedded protocol, line
which allows for plug-and-play installa- • -40°C to +80°C industrial tempera-
JANUARY 2004 9
Tech2004.qxd 12/4/2003 8:38 AM Page 10
TechKnowledgey 2004
JANUARY 2004
10
Tech2004.qxd 12/4/2003 8:39 AM Page 11
TechKnowledgey 2004
0.13-micron process technology, the spend weeks designing a new layout, the need for wire jumpers is mini-
processor utilizes 478-pin packaging wait another week or two for produc- mized, in contrast to breadboards or
and features a 400 MHz system bus. tion of a PCB, and spend a substantial wire-wrap boards. You can buy indi-
In 1,000-unit quantities, the Intel sum on the prototype only to find out vidual through-hole or surface-mount
Celeron processor at 2.80 GHz is that revision is needed, after which circuits, but Schmartboard also offers
priced at $117.00. PCs based on the the process begins again. Students a 26-part combination pack for
new chip should be available by the and hobbyists might spend weeks $49.95. Available accessories include
time you read this. working with wire-wrap boards. The mechanical bridges, headers, and
Schmartboard, on the other hand, is jumpers. For details, visit www.
Circuits and Devices designed to allow both professional schmartboard.com
Circuit Building Blocks for and amateur designers to assemble a
Engineers, Students, and board in a matter of hours and make Industry and the
Hobbyists modifications to it as needed, elimi- Profession
nating the need to order a custom Wind Energy Center Opens
A new product for developing elec-
tronic circuits — called
Schmartboard — was introduced late
PCB or deal with wire-wrap boards.
Basically, the product consists of
a variety of pretraced printed circuit N ew Mexico's most ambitious
wind farm — called the New
in 2003. Available at electronic retail- boards that can be connected like Mexico Wind Energy Center — recent-
ers such as R and D Electronics building blocks, referred to as "elec- ly started producing electricity for the
(www.randdelectronicparts.com) tronic circuit building blocks." They Public Service Company of New
and on Schmartboard's website, the allow the user to build electronic cir- Mexico (PNM, www.pnm.com), the
product is aimed at electronic engi- cuits on a SchmartBoard block by state's largest electric and gas utility.
neers, engineering students, and elec- block, and then connect the blocks The center — the world's third-largest
tronic hobbyists. together to form a functional board. wind generation project — was official-
Traditionally, an engineer might Because the boards are pretraced, ly dedicated in October.
Motor Speed
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JANUARY 2004 Circle #113 on the Reader Service Card.
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TechKnowledgey 2004
JANUARY 2004
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NUTS & VOLTS
A
lmost 2,000 years ago, I Duplex
worked for a summer with Optical
Fiber
one of my engineering
technology students pulling a spool
of fiber optic cable around the floor Parallel TxD TxD Parallel
of my engineering building. My idea Data In Transmitter Transmitter Data In
back then was to build a fiber optic Parallel RxD RxD Parallel
Data Out Receiver Receiver
intercom, using the fiber between Data Out
laboratories to carry analog audio Figure 1. A fiber optic communication link allowing full-duplex
waveforms digitized using a simple communication between endpoints.
pulse-code modulation technique.
Recently, I dusted off the project suffer through a complete under- outputs serial data to the fiber optic
and made a few changes. Now, I have standing of the system, I deliberately transmitter (Tx). The speed of the
added some basic communication kept the transmitter and receiver transmitter clock (TxCLK) determines
concepts to the project, and had my hardware simple. So simple in fact, the data rate over the fiber. The design
students design printed circuit boards that only six bits of data are keeps the fiber dark (transmitter Tx is
to implement the electronics. Software exchanged between the transmitter off) when idle to save power.
has been written to control the hard- and receiver at a time. This leads to The fiber optic receiver block
ware. This month, I begin a series of an unfortunate situation and is the diagram is illustrated in Figure 3.
columns on fiber optic applications. cause for my students suffering: How Serial data from the fiber is convert-
In Figure 1, you can see a block do you transmit a byte of data (eight ed back into digital form by the fiber
diagram of the full-duplex fiber optic bits) from end to end? The solution receiver (Rx) and presented to the
communication link. Parallel data is can be found in additional hardware input of the shift register (SR), which
input at each end of the link, convert- or, in this case, through the use of converts the data back into parallel
ed into serial data over the fiber, and software. We will see that a higher- form. When all the bits have been
back into parallel data at the oppo- layer protocol will handle the prob- received, the shift register hands
site end of the link. Full-duplex com- lem of eight-bit transmissions. them off to a latch (L) so a copy is
munication allows data to flow in Figure 2 shows a block diagram available even after a new set of bits
both directions at the same time. of the fiber transmitter circuit. Six starts coming in. The six bits of
In order to make my students bits of parallel data on D0 through received data are available on the D0
D5 are presented to the through D5 outputs. The Receiver
Figure 2. A block diagram of the fiber transmitter. inputs of a latch (L). The Ready (RxRDY) output indicates
Parallel input data is converted to serial data WR (Write) signal is when a new set of data bits have been
over the fiber.
used to load the parallel received. RxRDY is reset when the RD
TxRDY data into the latch and (Read) signal indicates the data bits
start a transmission. The have been read from the latch.
NUTS & VOLTS
D5
to accept another paral- become known when we examine
lel load. The data from the actual circuitry of the receiver.
the latch is presented to a How is the data actually sent
WR TxCLK
shift register (SR), which over the fiber? Physically, as a series
JANUARY 2004
16
LetsGetTech.qxd 12/4/2003 3:06 PM Page 17
RxRDY
Idle 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 Idle
D0
Start D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 Stop
Fiber In Rx SR L Data Out Bit Bit
D5 8 bit times
based on TxCLK
JANUARY 2004 17
LetsGetTech.qxd 12/4/2003 3:07 PM Page 18
The time for a single bit is equal be transmitted equals six times the num- Since only a complete group is
to the period of the TxCLK signal, ber of frames/second, since there are six valid, we round down to 52,083
which is the inverse of the frequency. data bits in each frame. So, we have: groups/second. Each group transmit-
So, the bit time Tbit is Nbits = 6 • Nframes = 6 • 156,250 = 937,500 bits/second ted encodes an eight-bit chunk of
data, so our actual data throughput is
Tbit = 1 = 1 = 800ns
TxCLK 1.25MHz Unfortunately, this is not the use- 52,083 times 8, or 416,664 bits/sec-
able data rate we will obtain. Why not? ond. Clearly there is a lot of overhead
Since a frame contains eight bits, That takes us back to the problem my (wasted bits) in this system.
the frame time Tframe is: students must struggle with. How do In my next column, I'll cover the
Tframe = 8 • Tbit = 8 • 800ns = 6400ns = 6.4µs
you send eight bits of data over the details of the group protocol, as well
link? The answer lies in establishing a as the hardware designs of the trans-
The inverse of the frame time will procedure for sending the eight bits of mitter and receiver. NV
give us the number of frames that can data using multiple frames. A commu-
be transmitted in one second (Nframes): nication protocol must be established About the Author
to make this happen. Without going James Antonakos is a Professor in the
Nframes = 1 = 1 = 156,250 frames/sec
Tframe 6.4µs into any of the details right now, the Departments of Electrical Engineering
chosen protocol requires that a group Technology and Computer Studies at
You can get the same result by of three frames be transmitted to effec- Broome Community College, with over 27
dividing the data rate by the number tively move eight bits of data from one years of experience designing digital and
analog circuitry, and developing software.
of bits in the frame: end to the other. Now, if we divide the He is also the author of numerous text-
number of frames possible in one books on microprocessors, programming,
Nframes = TxCLK = 1,250,000 = 156,250
8 8 second by three, we will get the num- and microcomputer systems.You may reach
ber of groups possible in one second: him at antonakos_j@sunybroome.edu or
The number of data bits (do not visit his website at www.sunybroome.
Ngroups = Nframes = 156,250 = 52,083.3 edu/~antonakos_j
include the Start and Stop bits) that can 3 3
NUTS & VOLTS
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Personal Robotics
Instant Walker
W
hen Dan Gates decided to suitable research, and divine inspira- can be transferred to the material for
build a walking robot, he tion, Dan has created in three months cutting.
set out to build "every what others fumble over for years. The first step is a 1:1 paper pat-
man's robot," a robot that didn't Part of his drive was what I think most tern of all the components required.
require expensive machining or com- of us have also perceived — a severe CAD drawing and design techniques
ponents, a walker that anyone could lack of research into humanoid were deliberately avoided. Paper tem-
build. With only basic power tools, bipedal robots with dynamic balanc- plates can be transferred to the
ing. So, with some clever design, and
Figure 1. Schematic of front craftsmanship, Dan created SAMM: Figure 2. Schematic of side
the servo actuated mechanical man.
Personally, I have looked at the
whole design of a walker as a series
of difficult equations and pesky pro-
portions. Masses to balance, forces to
measure, dynamic formulae to grind
over and discover. This is precisely
why I have never built a successful
biped (except in my mind). By taking
a direct and intelligent approach, Dan
has imbued the necessary functional-
ity into his design by following a trail
of success, extrapolating upon the
valid elements, and simplifying the
design.
Tools, Materials,
Techniques
With only acrylic plastic and thin
aluminum sheet as materials, you
couldn't ask for an easier shopping
list. Commonly available at hardware
stores literally everywhere, there
should be no trouble finding these
common materials. The key is in the
construction; all it takes is a little intel-
ligent planning, a reasonable degree
of skill with only the most basic of
tools, and a little intelligent fore-
thought towards precision. Modeling
component fits can be easily
achieved with cardboard templates,
and once the basics are designed
they can be used as patterns that
JANUARY 2004 21
PersonalRobotics.qxd 12/4/2003 3:00 PM Page 22
703-779-9752 !!
fax 703-779-9753
e b site Joint Task Force
w
this
•Onlinee Store
v
i e
el Information
Everything For Electronics
b
•Free
u w on’t •Free Software Of critical importance in any
Yo mechanical system are the joints. The
•Projects sliding, rotating, moving portions are
•PC Boards a real deal maker/breaker. Ignore the Photo 2
Circle #96 on the Reader Service Card. JANUARY 2004
22
PersonalRobotics.qxd 12/4/2003 2:47 PM Page 23
Personal Robotics
Photos 4-7 show the many degrees of freedom in the hip and ankle.
tial sensors, SAMM can be given a "shufflers," SAMM will be a dancer in well. So, overall, SAMM has met
sense of balance and gravity to help the extreme. In case you are interest- Dan Gates' vision of a simple to
keep it from tipping over. Pressure ed, look up zero moment point on construct, inexpensive to build,
sensors on the feet will also help Google®. You will find the very un-tethered humanoid biped. With a
SAMM to respond to external forces, essence of biped walking theory. little creativity, you too can follow
as well. The ZMP is in effect the sum of this roadmap to mold SAMM into
This is the basic recipe for a well- inertial and gravitational forces. It your vision of a biped, and benefit
structured, humanoid biped robot, tells you whether you will tip over or from Dan's experience. NV
capable of accommodating varying continue walking. Keeping your ZMP
terrain, not just running through oriented properly is a very complex Contact the Author
"pre-canned" sequences like an problem.
advanced marionette. If you have Fortunately, the ServoPods float- Dan Gates can be reached via Email at
seen videos of walking robots, you ing point math capabilities will make dan@sorobotics.org
will find "dancers" and constipated short work of these finer details, as
NUTS & VOLTS
Everything For Electronics
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E
very electronics project Figure 1. AC sine wave showing peak and RMS levels iar "wall-wart" AC-to-DC power
requires power to oper- module is a great way to use
ate. Though power sys- AC power with all the high-volt-
tems can get quite complex, age safety problems taken
many projects are well served care of for you.
with a few basic solutions. Wall-warts are available in
Designing a power system is varying output voltages and
easier when high voltages and currents. Always make sure
currents are not required. that the module is certified by
Power systems are also simplified when In the US, AC power is nominally Underwriters' Laboratories (UL) for safe-
the circuits being driven are not operat- 110-120 volts. (AC power is nominally ty.Whether you use a wall-wart or batter-
ing at high speeds and when compo- 220-240 VAC in Europe.) When was the ies, the power design task is made easi-
nents are not very sensitive to electrical last time you saw a logic chip run at 100 er by working with low-voltage DC. It is
noise. This article discusses power sys- volts?! The step-down process generates easiest to select a wall-wart or battery
tem design for a typical electronics proj- a lower voltage that is not directly usable configuration that provides the lowest
ect with low to moderate power needs. by ICs, but that is low enough for a volt- practical voltage. If your voltage regula-
The techniques presented here can be age regulator to handle. Batteries offer tor requires 5.5 V, it is better to use a 6 V
applied in more demanding applica- less complexity here as well, because module rather than a 12 V module. We'll
tions, though more analysis and care is they are already low-voltage sources. talk about a regulator's voltage require-
required. A basic power system can be Typical batteries have cell voltages from ments later.
considered in three sections: raw power one to two volts, allowing you to com-
source, power regulation, and power dis- bine as many as necessary to generate Batteries
tribution. Safety concerns dominate all higher voltages. Working with AC is a
three areas. This article stresses the use safety headache. High voltages, step- If you're using batteries, you have to
of off-the-shelf building blocks that down transformers, and rectifiers all determine how many are required based
reduce risk and design effort. pose problems that are best avoided. on the nominal cell voltage of each bat-
However, this doesn't mean that you tery's chemistry. Alkaline batteries have
Power Source should be restricted to batteries. A famil- a 1.5 V nominal cell voltage.
+ =
from
5
$39 ANALOG DIGITAL
BitScope lets you see both analog AND digital logic signals to find those elusive bugs. USB and
Ethernet connectivity means you can take BitScope anywhere there is a PC or Network.
BitScope Hardware BitScope Software Applications
• 100MHz Input BW • Windows or Linux • Electronics Labs
Everything For Electronics
JANUARY 2004
28
JustForStarters.qxd 12/4/2003 11:00 AM Page 29
±5%. A voltage regulator converts a varying input voltage into device can handle. If the input falls below the drop-out voltage
a relatively static output. There are numerous regulator circuits differential, the regulator cannot maintain the output within its
and components. The easiest and, arguably, the most reliable specifications. Regulators are available with drop-out voltages
solution is to use an off-the-shelf integrated linear regulator. from around 2 V to near 0 V. This is where a system's minimum
Linear regulators convert a higher voltage to a lower voltage by required input voltage comes from. If you need a 5 V regulated
dissipating the difference as heat. This is not the most efficient supply and your regulator has a drop-out voltage of 0.5 V, the
method, but it works well for situations of low to moderate raw DC supply must not fall below 5.5 V. Low drop-out regula-
power consumption. Linear regulators work without hassle tors potentially save power because they work with a smaller
because they do not require many external components or input/output differential. Remember that a linear regulator dis-
careful tweaking and they do not produce noise as do switch- sipates the input/output differential as heat. A smaller differen-
ing regulators. They are a mature tech-
nology that has been around for
decades and parts are made by numer-
ous manufacturers.
Figure 3 shows how a typical fixed
linear regulator is connected. The regu-
lator has three terminals: input, output,
and ground. (Some regulators are
adjustable and contain an adjustment
terminal in place of ground. More infor-
mation on fixed and adjustable regula-
tors is available in my book Complete
Digital Design.) Capacitors on the
input and output are per the manufac-
turer's recommendations. An optional
discharge diode prevents the output
voltage from significantly exceeding the
input voltage when power is turned off.
This protection may be required by cer-
tain regulators. A long-popular linear
regulator family is the 7800, with the
7805 being a well-used 5 V device.
These and newer regulators are manu-
factured by companies including
Fairchild Semiconductor, Linear
Technology, Maxim Integrated Circuits,
and Texas Instruments.
Regulator
Specifications
The major attributes to look for in
selecting a linear regulator are power rat-
ing and drop-out voltage. Power rating is
simply how much current and voltage a
regulator can handle. Power ratings are
dependent upon cooling capability, such
as a heatsink, that you may provide. For
low power levels of perhaps one watt or
less, cooling may not be a concern. As
you reach towards several watts, you
should investigate thermal analysis and
cooling to ensure a safe, working sys-
tem. Drop-out voltage is the minimum
difference between input (unregulated)
and output (regulated) voltage that the
JANUARY 2004 Circle #87 on the Reader Service Card.
29
JustForStarters.qxd 12/4/2003 3:04 PM Page 30
tial means less heat and a more reliable ceptibility to higher frequency prob-
Mark Balch is the author of
system. Of course, you must provide a lems. Whether using a PCB or
Complete Digital Design (see www.
low enough input voltage to take advan- breadboard, adequate power supply
completedigitaldesign.com) and
tage of low drop-out power savings. decoupling is essential to minimize works in the Silicon Valley high-tech
disruptive electrical transients that industry. His responsibilities have
Power Distribution result from switching digital circuit- included PCB, FPGA, and ASIC design.
ry. A minimum decoupling provision Mark has designed products in the
Power distribution schemes vary is to place a high-frequency ceramic fields of telecommunications, HDTV,
based on the circuit assembly technolo- capacitor at the power leads of each consumer electronics, and industrial
gy at your disposal. The best solution is integrated circuit (IC) on your board. computers. In addition to his work in
to distribute power on a printed circuit A small capacitance — such as 0.1 product design, Mark has actively
board (PCB) with continuous copper µF — should be used so that the participated in industry standards
planes for each voltage rail. This is the capacitor can be effective at the committees and has presented work
lowest inductance and resistance high frequencies generated by at technical conferences. Mark holds
method. Power connections between switching logic. It is equally impor- a bachelor's degree in electrical
regulators and planes should be with tant to minimize the wire lengths engineering from The Cooper Union in
multiple vias to keep inductance and between each capacitor and its New York City. He can be reached
resistance low. If you are wiring a circuit associated IC to reduce the induc- via Email at mark@completedigital
by hand on a breadboard, try to mini- tance of the capacitor circuit. design.com
mize the distance that power must trav- Longer wire lengths can nullify the
el from the regulators to the other com- beneficial effects of decoupling capaci- a 0.1 µF decoupling capacitor. There
ponents. Longer wires increase induc- tors. Figure 4 shows a basic decoupling are also a couple of higher-value "bulk"
tance, which increases the circuit's sus- scheme for a small system. Each IC has capacitors (100 µF) that provide lower-
frequency decoupling. Voltage regula-
Figure 4. Power supply decoupling tors have a finite response time to
changes in current demand. The bulk
capacitors help with these lower-
frequency transient events. Exact
values for the bulk capacitors are
usually imprecise, especially given
wide tolerances in components.
Recommendations may be available
from regulator data sheets.
Safety
Safety considerations cannot be
over-emphasized when dealing with
power circuits. Proper fusing, insulation,
cooling, spacing of components, and
component selection should not be
neglected in the haste to build your cre-
ation. It is always wise to conservatively
de-rate components based on their
power specifications. For example, if a
component is to dissipate one watt,
select a component that is rated for two
watts. Building a safe, reliable power cir-
cuit is not difficult for small systems
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FM100B Super-Pro FM Stereo Radio Station Kit X
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At last, the number one requested new product is here! The
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PA100 40 Watt FM Power Amplifier, Assembled & Tested X
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Universal Timer
Build anything from a time delay
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✔ Tunable throughout the FM band, 88-108 MHz Expires 1/15/04 with lots of application ideas. Runs on
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✔ Line level inputs with RCA connectors UT5 Universal Timer Kit $9.95
The FM10A has plenty of power and our manual goes into great detail
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will go as low as 10 Hz! Tunable with
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A great first kit, and a really neat AM transmitter! Tunable throughout the entire
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the best one available for the price. It also automatically moves out of the way of obstruc-
includes a neat experiment called an "ion wind tions or runs away from a flashlight beam!
generator". This generator works great for pollu- Flashing red LED "eyes" gives a whole new meaning to "Red Eye"! Both speed
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Clearance Specials, Ramsey Museum, User Forums, Dealer Information, FAQ’s, FCC
IG7 Ion Generator Kit X
$59.95 $64.95 Info, Kit Building Guides, Downloads, Live Weather, Live Webcams, and much more!
AC125 110VAC Power Supply $9.95
Circle #85 on the Reader Service Card. Circle #79 on the Reader Service Card. JANUARY 2004
34
New Products.qxd 12/4/2003 9:36 AM Page 35
traditional serial bottleneck of stamp-like products, speed A SWISS ARMY KNIFE FOR THE
improvements up to several orders of magnitude (>100x) COMPUTER TECHIE
are realized. A faster native instruction speed (24.5 MHz)
and power saving modes provide a range of features not
previously found in such a small package.
A very complete, professional, software development
T he Disk
Jockey is a
"Swiss Army
environment is available without cost. Forth, Basic, and Knife" of a prod-
Assembler are fully supported with a full range of tools uct for the com-
such as a disassembler, single-step debugger, integrated puter techie in all
editor, serial communications program, and a large library of us. Whether
of routines. you need to sim-
The Gadget310 is available in single quantities for only ply mount IDE
$39.00 and in a Development system for $225.00, which disks to the desktop of your Windows or Macintosh com-
includes a motherboard with prototyping area, serial puter via USB or Firewire for additional storage, or mirror
communications, DB-9 adapter and serial cable, plus two drives together for an automatic backup, the Disk
power supply and an assortment of other Gadgets. Jockey is the only tool that you'll need to carry around in
For more information, contact: your bag of techno-tricks. The Disk Jockey works with raw
IDE drives of any size. The Disk Jockey is also a portable,
AM RESEARCH platform independent disk copy/cloning device that can
PMB 423, 1000 Sunrise Ave., 9B do an exact sector-by-sector disk copy of a drive, including
Roseville, CA 95661 any hidden files or OS partitions. The cloning features of
Tel: 916-780-7623 the Disk Jockey make it ideal for the do-it-yourself system
Email: support@amresearch.com integrator or the personal video recorder (PVR) upgrade
Web: www.amresearch.com hobbyist of the neighborhood.
Circle #133 on the Reader Service Card. The Disk Jockey can also be used for a variety of
Applications
• Distortion Analysis
• Frequency Response Testing
Priced from $299
• Vibration Measurements
(U.S. sales only – not for export/resale)
• Acoustic Research
System Requirements
• 486 CPU or greater DOWNLOAD FREE 30 DAY
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• Win. 95, NT, or Win. 3.1 + Win.32s
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• Mouse and Math coprocessor
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diagnostic tests including data compare between drives, RotoView-enabled PDA or cell phone, the user overcomes
hard disk spanning to create one logical volume, hard disk the display navigation challenge by simply changing the
testing for bad blocks, and disk erase using either a one- orientation at which the device is held.
pass erase or a three-pass erase per National Security "We demand that PDA and cell phone manufacturers
Administration (NSA) standards. The Disk Jockey is pack more and more information into those tiny displays.
perfect for the IT professional, computer consultant, self- Yet a critical problem remains: Navigating through a large
proclaimed "computer guru" or for anyone comfortable amount of information, whether it's a map or spreadsheet,
putting their hands inside of their computer. The Disk is awkward," said David Y. Feinstein, RotoView's inventor
Jockey carries a suggested retail price of $349.95. and President of INNOVENTIONS. "The RotoView
For more information, contact: Development System is a way for OEM manufacturers,
product managers, and researchers to easily try out the
DISKOLOGY RotoView technology and explore ways to best implement
Tel: 916-645-3196 it."
Email: sales@diskology.com Using the RotoView technology, the handheld device is
Web: www.diskology.com entered into Navigation mode. During Navigation mode,
Circle #125 on the Reader Service Card. the user tilts the unit left-right or up-down to see beyond
the boundaries of the display. At any time, the user can
exit Navigation mode to fix the display (the Fixed mode),
then resume Navigation mode and continue to rotate the
ROTOVIEW™ SOLVES device to view the remainder of the screen.
HANDHELD DISPLAY "RotoView was invented to address the inherent
CHALLENGE limitation of mechanical switches for navigating small
handheld devices," said Mr. Feinstein. "RotoView makes
navigation simpler and more intuitive, eliminating the need
for using two hands while navigating the device screen."
The RotoView Development System is available now
for $195.00. Electronics hobbyists and students may
purchase it for a discounted price of $95.00. The system
includes a fully assembled board for the RotoView sensor
module, a Windows-based software package that allows
you to interface the module to your PC and emulate the
LAB-X Experimenter Boards EPIC Programmer - $59.95 Books on PicBasic and PICmicro MCUs
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NUTS & VOLTS
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Assembler. Compatible with DOS and AC Adapter $9.95 PICProto prototyping boards are designed to help you get your PICmicro
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JANUARY 2004
36
New Products.qxd 12/4/2003 9:36 AM Page 37
technology, the RotoView Development System is also used for learning how control systems work.
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A Simple Wireless
Audio System
This Month’s
Projects Use Available Parts to Experiment With
Wireless Audio . . . . .40
Inductive Signal Transmission
HV Generator . . . . . 44
Easy Ethernet . . . . . . 50
W
ireless audio systems on the mar- generates a magnetic field. Conversely, a
ket today employ either RF or changing magnetic field will cause a current
infrared technology. However there to flow through, and thus a voltage to appear,
is a simple way to obtain acceptable voice across a wire that cuts the field. In the simple
The Fuzzball quality wireless audio communication that system described above, the changing audio
doesn't use either of these technologies. In signal at the transmitter generates a magnet-
Rating System fact, you probably already have most of the ic field around the transmitter loop. This field
required components. The rest are readily varies in direct proportion to the intensity and
To find out the level
available and very inexpensive. frequency of the transmitted signal. The volt-
of difficulty for
The block diagram in Figure 1 shows the age across the receiver coil will vary with the
each of these basic elements of our simple wireless audio changing magnetic field. In other words the
projects, turn to system. Notice that the transmitter is simply transmitter and receiver are inductively cou-
Fuzzball for an audio amplifier (or radio, CD player, etc.). pled.
the answers. The receiver is a second audio amplifier. The Compared to RF signals, the magnetic
The scale is from receiver antenna is a small coil (such as a field strength decreases relatively quickly
1-4, with four telephone pickup coil). The transmitter anten- (1/distance cubed) as the distance from the
Fuzzballs being na is just a large loop of speaker wire. The transmitter increases. However, what we lose
the more difficult transmitter signal can be received from inside in range we gain in simplicity. Low speed data
or advanced of the loop and for a shorter distance outside transmission and voice quality communica-
of the loop. That's all you need to send and tion systems can be implemented very
projects. Just look
receive wireless audio signals! simply. As a result, inductive loop systems
for the Fuzzballs in
find use in some interesting applications.
the opening header.
How It Works
You’ll also find Applications of
information included This is an example of an induction loop Induction Loop Systems
in each article on system. Its operation is based upon the fact
any special tools that a current flowing through a loop of wire
Hearing Assistance
or skills you’ll
need to complete Go to Google or your favorite
the project. search engine and perform a
search on the term "induction
Let the loop systems" or "inductive loop
soldering begin! systems" (without the quotes).
You will get over a thousand hits,
most of which will be associated
with the hearing assistance indus-
NUTS & VOLTS
C1 .22 µF capacitor
C2 .1 µF capacitor
C3 10 µF electrolytic capacitor
C4 .047 µF capacitor
C5 220 µF electrolytic capacitor
R1 10KΩ potentiometer
R2 10Ω resistor
JANUARY 2004 41
Kane.qxd 12/4/2003 9:24 AM Page 42
Project
Audio Amplifier
Module
The circuit in Figure 3 is an
audio amplifier circuit using an
LM386. This basic circuit, com-
FIGURE 4. Audio Receiver bined with additional components, is used in the applica-
L1 Telephone pickup coil tions that follow. The LM386 s a very popular low power
(e.g., RadioShack part #44-533 in 2002 catalog) audio amplifier chip and is widely available at low cost. It
SPKR1 8 ohm speaker (also see parts list for requires a minimum of external parts, and has a wide
Audio Amplifier Module) supply voltage range (4 V to 12 V for the LM386N-1, the
version used in this circuit). The voltage gain can be set
system, start by checking all connections. Make sure that anywhere between 20 and 200.
the transmitter and receiver antennas are connected The gain for our amplifier is fixed and set to maxi-
properly. mum, by connecting capacitor C3 between pins 1 and 8.
Place the receiver inside of the transmitter antenna Potentiometer R1 controls the output level. Input coupling
loop and turn it on. Set the volume to half maximum. capacitor C1 should be selected so that at the lowest fre-
Next power up the transmitter and set the volume to min- quency of interest its impedance is small compared to R1
imum level. Gradually increase the volume until you can (about one tenth of R1).
hear the transmitter signal at the receiver. If you notice Bypass capacitor C6 may or may not be required.
power line interference try changing the orientation of the While working with this circuit I was getting significant
receiver antenna. interference from a local radio station (especially when
One note of caution. The impedance matching resis- the input was unconnected). Placing C6 between the
tor can get very warm (even hot). Handle it carefully while input and ground eliminated the problem.
the transmitter is operating. keep it away from material Note that the National Semiconductor data sheet for
that is flammable or can easily melt. the LM386 indicates that high gain applications might
require a bypass capacitor between pin 7 and ground. I
Building Your Own System found that it wasn't required.
It's easy to build your own simple wireless audio sys- Wireless Audio Receiver
tem from scratch. It takes few parts. They are readily
available and relatively inexpensive. To create a wireless receiver you simply connect a
pickup coil to the input of the amplifier circuit and an 8
Audio Frequency Signal ohm speaker to its output, as shown in Figure 4.
Generator
Wireless Audio Transmitter
To illustrate just how easy it is we'll start with the
NUTS & VOLTS
transmitter circuit in Figure 2. It's simply a 555 timer con- Figure 5 shows a simple wireless audio transmitter
figured as an astable multivibrator. It generates a 1 kHz suitable for voice quality communication. The LM386
square wave signal which switches transistor Q1 on and only provides about 1/4 W of output power. In order to
Everything For Electronics
off. Q1 drives the antenna L1 which is a loop of speaker beef up the power, add the emitter follower circuit formed
wire in series with a 10 watt (minimum), 20 ohm power by Q1, R3 and R4. Another option for the transmitter is to
resistor. Remember the antenna needs to be long enough use a more powerful audio amplifier chip. One candidate
to encircle the area of coverage. is the LM384 5 W audio amplifier. Like the LM386, it
JANUARY 2004
42
Kane.qxd 12/4/2003 9:25 AM Page 43
S
mall Geiger-Müller (G-M) tubes make ideal sensors detected particle discharges the capacitance associated
for pocket-sized devices to detect radioactivity. with the anode of the tube. Let's assume 450 V and 5 pF
They have a high sensitivity to beta particles and — that's 0.5 µJ of energy. At a background rate of one
some ability to detect gamma rays. Given a thin (and pulse every ten seconds, the mean current is just over
very fragile) mica window they will also detect alpha par- 100 picoamps! In practice far more current goes to drive
ticles — most G-M tubes don't. leakage than is needed by the tube. A rectifier with a
Still, even a small G-M tube needs an anode voltage microamp of reverse current is pretty good by ordinary
in the 400 to 600 volt region. Here's how to generate that standards, but would consume several thousand times as
voltage from a 9 V battery. I first used this design in 1979 much power as the G-M tube! Even measuring the output
and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the parts are voltage without drawing a disproportionate current would
still available. I've even simplified things by driving the require a gigohm or so of sensing resistor and a very low
generator with a CMOS 555 timer. bias-current amplifier. Therefore, we are much better off
using a fixed-ratio converter and some well-chosen com-
How Much HV? ponents.
A Practical Circuit
Figure 1 shows my implementation of this
44 JANUARY 2004
Napier.qxd 12/4/2003 9:11 AM Page 45
ier HV Generator
Amazing Devices
www.amazing1.com
PHOTO 2. A close-up of the prototype constructed on perf-board. The G-M
tube fits across the top edge. Anti Gravity Projects
All new mini 35 kv 1.5
ma adjustable output
power supply with
instructions on making
a simple craft.
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GRA10 Assembled ............ $99.95
Project
my work required
handling radioac-
tive sources, my
rule of thumb was
never to touch one
bigger than 10 µCi
with my fingers. I
used tweezers or
tongs instead. Bear
in mind that radia-
tion damage is
more or less cumu-
lative. (Exactly how
much so is still
hotly debated.) A
source that is harm-
less in normal use
should not be kept
in your desk drawer
all year.
Putting it
FIGURE 1. Take advantage of that pesky inductive turn-off pulse to power a Geiger-Müller tube. Together
A dual timer makes a beep for every beta or gamma ray detected.
The HV genera-
rapid quench. As the tube's own capacitance is about 1 tor uses two fairly rare components. One is a dust-cored,
pF, C4 defines the charge delivered by the tube. wave-wound 10 mH RF choke. The other is an MPSA42,
Each particle detected generates a 5 µS pulse up to a high-voltage transistor in a TO-92 package. Digi-Key
100 V high at the G-M tube's cathode. Two 100K resistors stocks them both as well as the 1N4937 600 V fast recov-
between the cathode and ground protect the counting ery rectifier. Don't be tempted to substitute a 1N4005, it's
circuit and provide a protected test point. Q3 turns on for far too slow.
about 3 µS for each pulse. The output pulses drive a 556 Also stick with the wave-wound inductor, more con-
dual timer. One half lengthens the pulse to 10 mS and ventional inductors could have too high a self-capaci-
gates the other half, a 3.5 kHz oscillator. tance and might break down when generating around
This drives a piezo-electric buzzer, making a beep for 500 V. I used Digi-Key part M7103-ND. HV capacitors are
each particle. (My buzzer came from a broken calculator harder to find. If you can't find 630 V parts, 500 V ones
but Digi-Key part 102-1126-ND should do.) The pulses should be safe enough. (A 0.5-inch square of double-
on Q3 can also drive a frequency counter to measure the sided PC board makes an adequate 5 pF HV capacitor.)
mean radiation level. In my area natural background radi- The MPSA42 transistor is rated at 300 V but during
ation produces about seven beeps per minute; Colorado the HV pulse its base is grounded and the higher, collec-
residents may get twice that rate. tor-base, breakdown voltage applies.
I don't have the maker's figure for this but testing a
Radiation Levels sample showed no detectable current below 480 V and
only a microamp at 500 V. (Allied Electronics sells the
The absolute calibration of the detector depends on 400 V MPSA44 but I haven't tried it.) In any case the
the tube size and type, and on the particle type and ener- worst that can happen is that the maximum available out-
gy. I calibrated the G-M tube in my original detector with put voltage will be limited to the transistor's breakdown
a known Cs137 gamma source. At 100 µRad/H, its count voltage. You can get a good feel for just how high a pulse
rate was 68 per minute. Since the tube is much more sen- voltage you're getting by putting a times-ten scope probe
sitive to beta particles, a given count rate corresponds to on the collector of Q1. The 15 pF added by the probe
NUTS & VOLTS
January 2003
a much lower beta dose rate. A high count rate indicates reduces the output voltage significantly but its 10 Meg
either that something is badly wrong in your neighbor- resistance has no effect at all. (Scope probes are usually
hood or that a small source is very close to the tube. The rated for 600 V input but it would be as well to check.) If
Everything For Electronics
latter, of course, is how you test that everything works. you want to measure the output voltage directly you'll
Distance is important. A source can generate a hor- need a meter with a better than 100 Meg input resist-
rendous dose rate on contact yet, because of the inverse ance.
square law, be relatively harmless a few feet away. When I've no idea who made my G-M tubes. In 1979 my
46 JANUARY 2004
Napier.qxd 12/4/2003 9:12 AM Page 47
HV Generator
Mechanical
Stuff
This project fits
a 2.75-inch by 4.6-
inch plastic box
with a compart-
ment for a nine volt
battery (e.g.
PacTec HML-9VB).
Everything except
the buzzer and the
on/off switch goes
on a small PC
board with cutouts
to clear the box's
molded pillars.
If you cut
notches into the
bases of the front
two pillars and slip
the board into them FIGURE 2. The prototype G-M counter was built on a small piece of perf-board whose component
side is shown here. Thick vertical lines are bus wires on top of the board, horizontal lines are copper
only two screws are traces on the underside. Diamonds show where a wire connects to the copper. Editable schematics
needed to lock the and a PCB layout are available for download on the Nuts & Volts website at www.nutsvolts.com
board in place. Two
#2 nuts glued to the bottom of the case act as stand-offs. To cut back on leakage I put two Teflon insulated ter-
The switch and buzzer mount inside the lid. Photo 1 shows minals through the board, one for the tube anode and one
the box layout. for the rectifier cathode. The HV components are wired
For maximum sensitivity the Geiger tube is mounted between them. Even so, the tube voltage wilts on hot
near the top edge of the box. The detachable end panel of humid days.
the box should be left off or replaced by thin celluloid, it It's important to keep the stray capacitance at the hot
stops a significant fraction of beta particles. end of the inductor as low as possible. I cut away unneed-
A socket removed from a female Cannon-D connector ed copper strips under L1 and D2. Wiring the outside end
slips nicely over the anode pin of the G-M tube. The cath- of the winding to +9 V reduces the effect of capacitance to
ode connection on my G-M tube is a little metal strap. A near-by components.
dab of silicone rubber stops it moving around. Two more One connection doesn't show on the board layout, a
tiny dabs on the glass ends of the G-M tube attach it to the bus wire on the underside of the board that grounds the
board. (Its metal walls are a bit thin to glue to.) unused copper strips under the G-M tube. This stops the
Photo 2 and Figure 2 show the board layout. As is my HV pulses coupling into the input of the beeper circuit.
normal practice, I used perforated prototyping board with
copper strips on one side. Setting Up
REFERENCE 1. Detailed G-M tube information. The standard way to set the working voltage of a G-M
tube is to apply a variable voltage and to plot the count-
ing rate with a radioactive source present.
The (G)Eiger Sanction
by Tom Dahlin, Circuit Cellar #150, January 2003 The plot should show a curve which rises from zero,
levels off for a while then starts to rise again. The center
JANUARY 2004 47
Napier.qxd 12/4/2003 3:07 PM Page 48
Project
TABLE 1. The output pulse shape varies at the Geiger PARTS LIST
threshold. A pulse height about twice the threshold level is
a good guide to the best operating voltage. Semiconductors R1 330K (All resistors
U1 LMC555 timer 1/4 W)
Pulse height Applied voltage U2 LMC556 dual timer R2 330Ω
Q1 MPSA42 high-voltage R3 10K
5 V 360 V NPN
10 V 370 V (threshold) Q2 2N3904 or similar R4 100K
15 V 390 V (above threshold) NPN R5 22Ω
20 V 410 V Q3 2N3904 or similar R6 10M
25 V 440 V (operating point) NPN R7 100K
30 V 470 V D1 1N4448 or equivalent R8 100K
40 V 525 V D2 1N4937 HV, R9 4.7K
50 V 580 V fast-recovery rectifier
R10 33K
Passives R11 150K
of the "plateau" is the optimum oper- as big, say 25 to L1 10 mH wave-wound R12 180K
ating point. Unfortunately, hanging a 30 V. Table 1 inductor VR1 100Ω ten-turn
voltmeter on the converter takes far shows the results C1 15 µF 20 V tantalum trimmer
more current than the G-M tube. I found. bead
C2 0.01 µF plastic foil Misc.
The alternative is to look at the One thing to
C3 0.01 µF 630 V
output pulse (TP in Figure 1) on a watch is that the C4 4.7 pF 630 V 0.8-inch Piezo buzzer
scope. If you see variable height puls- voltage changes C5 0.1 µF ceramic Slide switch
es around 10 V high you are below quite slowly, par- C6 1000 pF ceramic Prototyping board
the plateau. There the pulse height is ticularly when Project box
proportional to particle energy. adjusting it down-
The onset of avalanche is easy to wards. Make small trimmer adjust- sources are available commercially
spot. Some pulses will start off small, ments and wait ten seconds or so for but cost around $75.00 each.
then suddenly burst out into a much the pulse height to stabilize. I've used a Wyoming dinosaur
higher pulse. bone as a source — they absorbed
Adjust the trimmer until all the I Name My Sources uranium as they fossilized. My two
pulses show a consistent height; with inch piece of rib generates about four
my tubes this was about 12 V. Note Testing G-M tubes is easier if the counts per second when placed next
this new peak height then adjust the count rate is higher than back- to the tube.
high voltage until the pulses are twice ground. Small (1 µCi) radioactive If you want to create a stir you
could try prowling around your local
science store with a Geiger counter
checking for "hot" fossils. Other com-
Electronics, Mechanics & Computing Principles V8.1 mon home-made test sources are
New Internet technology enables us
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this is the package for you!
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Also a valuable interactive reference your local thrift store. My most pow-
tool for hobbyists and engineers, erful source is a thirty-year-old pack-
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electronic, electrical, mechanics,
et of colored glaze left over from an
math, computing and PIC attempt at jewelry making.
microcontroller topics. One interesting experiment is to
put a beta source a fixed distance
NUTS & VOLTS
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T
he Microchip PIC is an incredible device. Many Ethernet module, a Microchip PIC16F877, a MAX233
PICs support multiple communications proto- or Sipex SP233ACP RS-232 IC, and some minor sup-
cols natively. These protocols are normally porting components, I'm going to show you how to get
used to talk to another equally equipped device or your PIC16F877-based Ethernet controller on a LAN or
another PIC. the Internet for around $40.00 depending upon how
For instance, the PIC16F877 is a flash-based PIC much you can pull from the old "junk box."
that includes a Synchronous Serial Port (SSP) that Most PIC projects assume you have a PIC program-
supports Master Mode SPI and Master/Slave I2C. SPI is mer. I'll eliminate the need for a PIC16F877 program-
a 3-wire Motorola inspired protocol and I2C is a Phillips mer and make arrangements to supply the PIC16F877
creation. You know these protocols well as they are preprogrammed with BootLoader code.
often used to interface the PIC to EEPROMs, tempera- The BootLoader will allow you to use a simple ter-
ture sensors, and real-time clock ICs. minal emulator like HyperTerminal to load operating
The PIC16F877 also sports a Universal code into your PIC-based Ethernet controller. If you
Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter already have a programmer that will burn a
(USART). If you've ever done anything with anybody's PIC16F877, that's gravy and you can bypass ordering
computer, you've used a USART, or its cousin the a preprogrammed PIC16F877, as I'll supply the
UART to perform RS-232 communications between BootLoader code via a free download from the EDTP
the PC and a modem. The PIC's USART is one of its website at www.edtp.com In addition, every "bit" and
greatest strengths as the USART interface is used to "byte" you need to implement the UDP and TCP/IP pro-
make contact with serial devices on other computers tocols for control purposes will also be available as a
or USARTS on other PICs. The PIC designers have not free download from the EDTP site.
ignored the parallel port either. The PIC16F877 can be Basically, through a deal with the folks at EDTP,
configured to deploy an 8-bit wide Parallel Slave Port I'm going to provide everything you will need to build
on its PORT D pins. this project from scratch from their website. For those
All of the aforementioned PIC communications of you that require a preprogrammed PIC16F877, I'll
hardware is easy to invoke as the low-level firmware make that available also, in addition to the Ethernet
needed to make them function module in kit form or assem-
is built into the PIC itself. What Photo 1. The prototype was bled and tested. The idea is to
if I could show you how to easi- mounted on perf-board. make this easy. With that, let's
ly add Ethernet and thus get started and I'll show you
Internet capability to the PIC's how to build and operate your
communications protocol own Easy Ethernet Controller.
resume? How would you like to
control a remote device (or The Easy
devices) on a LAN or across Ethernet
the Internet using standard
communications programs
Controller
found on your desktop PC? Hardware
NUTS & VOLTS
here's the deal. EDTP has niques mixed with some point-
designed a simple module that to-point wiring and surface
completely exploits Ethernet mount technology on a stan-
functionality. Using this dard perf board I got at my local
JANUARY 2004
50
Best.qxd 12/4/2003 9:03 AM Page 51
RadioShack. Building an Easy sequence out of the Easy Ethernet Controller's serial port and the
Ethernet Controller entails intercon- Controller serial port. On the flip application running on the Easy
necting three major components, a side, a device can communicate Ethernet Controller could route that
PIC16F877, the Easy Ethernet with the Easy Ethernet Controller data to the Telnet session.
Controller module, and a MAX233 through the Easy Ethernet To load and communicate with
or Sipex SP233 RS-232 converter
IC. Taking a look at the Easy
Ethernet Controller schematic, you
can see that there are no surprises
in the serial interface design and the
PIC is doing just what PICs do. The
simple nature of this circuit is made
possible by the Ethernet compo-
nentry onboard the Easy Ethernet
Controller module.
The Easy Ethernet Controller
serial port is used by the
BootLoader to download PIC exe-
cutable code into the PIC16F877's
flash program memory.
Once the desired PIC firmware
is loaded and running, the serial
port is freed and can be used by the
application that was just down-
loaded. For instance, an application
taking orders from a Telnet screen
on your PC can use that data to
send a message or control
JANUARY 2004 51
Best.qxd 12/4/2003 9:03 AM Page 52
Project
Schematic 2. Connections
to the Realtek chip.
NUTS & VOLTS
Everything For Electronics
52 JANUARY 2004
Best.qxd 12/4/2003 8:53 AM Page 53
Project
Ethernet Controller, which is alive ed to make a change. has been contacted and is ready to
on the Internet. However, for your The middle Telnet window in go to work manipulating the LED.
home or office network, you will Photo 2 appears after clicking the After hitting the Enter key, the
want to set the IP address to match Connect button in the top window. one-character prompt becomes an
your LAN settings. The banner "EASY ETHERNET" is identifier.
Remember, you can change the sent from the Easy Ethernet At this point, I entered a "1" to
port address and IP address in the Controller, as well as the LED mes- illuminate the LED on the Easy
Easy Ethernet Controller firmware. sages that follow. Ethernet Controller board. I didn't
So, be sure what you enter here The prompt character (>) tells have to hit Enter after entering the
matches the firmware if you decid- you the Easy Ethernet Controller 1, but for clarity I did so here.
Next, I extinguished the LED by
entering "0" followed by the Enter
key. Examining the Easy Ethernet
Controller source code will reveal
that all characters sent to the Easy
Ethernet Controller are echoed to
the Telnet client.
Only a 1 or 0 will affect the
LED. For those of you running
Win2K, Photo 3 is the way it will
look to you.
TCP/IP is by far the most spo-
ken word when someone talks
about the Internet. TCP uses a logi-
cal connection to make sure that
the data between nodes is not com-
promised. UDP does no such thing
and really doesn't care if the data
gets there or not.
The good news is that most of
the time the UDP generated data
does get where it's going without
problems.
The Easy Ethernet Controller
takes advantage of this. A UDP
application is included inside the
The Standard for checking Locate shorted or leaky Easy Ethernet Controller firmware,
Capacitors in-circuit components or conditions and to demonstrate this easy way to
Good enough to be the to the exact spot in-circuit communicate, I've written a simple
choice of Panasonic, Still cutting up the pcb, VB program to exercise the Easy
Pioneer, NBC, ABC, Ford, and unsoldering every Ethernet Controller using your LAN
JVC, NASA and thousands part trying to guess at connection or over the Internet.
of independent service where the short is? Like TCP, UDP works with IP
technicians. $179 addresses and ports. The main dif-
Inexpensive enough to pay for itself in just Your DVM shows the same shorted reading all ference in the two protocols is that
one day’s repairs. At $179, it’s affordable. along the pcb trace. LeakSeeker 82B has the UDP is more like using a serial port
resolution to find the defective component. while TCP has "rules" that must be
And with a 60 day trial period, satisfaction Touch pads along the trace, and LeakSeeker followed to send and receive data.
guaranteed or money-back policy, the only beeps highest in pitch at the defect’s pad. Now Photo 4 is a shot of the UDP VB
NUTS & VOLTS
thing you can lose is all the time you’re you can locate a shorted part only a quarter of program in action. When you type
currently spending on trying to repair all an inch away from a good part. Short can be
those dogs you’ve given up on.
into the OUTGOING DATA window,
from 0 to 150 ohms
the UDP utility in the VB program is
Everything For Electronics
firmware sees this and echoes the use a Host Name of 216.53.172.209 It's really neat to see things hap-
data back to the sender and the with a Port of 8088. pen to the Easy Ethernet Controller
echoed data is displayed in the For UDP functions, the IP address knowing that the command was
INCOMING DATA window. is 216.53.172.209 and the port num- given and transferred via the
The Easy Ethernet Controller ber for echo is 7 decimal while the Internet or a LAN connection.
firmware also has instructions that port number for LED control is 5000 Obviously, you won't be able to
allow the LED to be toggled. decimal. "see" the LED toggle at my end.
Clicking on the PORTA = 0x00 You can download the UDP VB So, build your own Easy
sends a message to the Easy program from the EDTP website if Ethernet Controller and experience
Ethernet Controller to take the you don't want to write your own. the thrill. NV
PORT A bit 4 pin low and thus fire
up the LED. The PORT A = 0xFF
does the opposite function.
The DEST PORT value is the
default port address coded into the
Easy Ethernet Controller firmware
and is used by UDP to talk to the
LED bit. Again, the IP ADDRESS is
pointing to my Easy Ethernet
Controller on the Internet and can
be changed to reflect the IP address
that is suitable for your purposes on
your LAN.
You can test both the UDP and
TCP methods of talking to the Easy
Ethernet Controller simultaneously
as the Easy Ethernet Controller is
able to handle a combination of
UDP and TCP messages.
Your Turn
I purposely didn't get into the low-
level bits and bytes of the Internet
protocols because I wanted to prove
to you that you don't have to know all
of that to use the Internet and its tools
for control and monitoring.
For those of you that do want to
get down and dirty, there's plenty
of bit-level information available
from various Internet sites and for
the Easy Ethernet Controller
specifically, there's plenty of code
and Internet-control-related text at
www.edtp.com
You don't have to have a physical
Easy Ethernet Controller to use the
Telnet and VB stuff I described here.
I'll keep an Easy Ethernet Controller
on the net at 216.53.172.209 to allow
you to play with the technology using
your PC and an Internet connection
via your ISP.
To see the Easy Ethernet
Controller from a Telnet connection,
JANUARY 2004 55
BookstoreJan04.qxd 12/4/2003 4:04 PM Page 56
Prices do not include shipping and * Motor Control readers, step-by-step, to complete mastery
may be subject to change. * Electronics Interfacing of all of the electrical/electronic knowledge
Ask about our 10% subscriber * Wheels and Treads plus hands-on diagnostic and troubleshoot-
discount on selected titles. * Locomotion for Multipods ing skills they need to become highly skilled
* Glossary of Terms/Tables, Formulas automotive technicians. $75.95
JANUARY 2004
56
BookstoreJan04.qxd 12/4/2003 4:05 PM Page 57
by Louis F renz el
Frenzel.qxd 12/5/2003 10:04 AM Page 59
59
Frenzel.qxd 12/5/2003 10:04 AM Page 60
Internet, and we all seem to want every- to buy a wired and tested product as ICs goes bad, we throw it away and get a
thing right now. No one wants to wait got larger. Manufacturing methods new and better one for less money. Even
even a few microseconds any more. improved, costs dropped, and competi- if you could find someone to do the
That is one of the factors that killed the tion from Asia killed most US electronic repair, what you would end up with is an
kit business — one of the major sectors companies. And no one wanted to old product that costs more to fix than it
of the electronic hobbyist market. I spend hours or even days or weeks costs to buy a new one with the latest
worked for Heathkit for many years and building a kit when they could run over bells and whistles. Technology has done
saw that business gradually fade away in to the electronics store and buy one to that for us. It actually costs more to have
the 1980s and 1990s. People loved to use right now. something repaired because of the very
build their own electronic equipment. It Another thing electronics hobbyists high labor expense. And even if you do
gave them personal satisfaction and used to do is fix things. They repaired TV want to repair things, you must pay big
they learned something along the way. sets and stereos, radios, small appli- bucks for the esoteric test equipment
But, the kits kept getting more complex ances, and other things. Today, we do needed to make the tests. Electronic
and more expensive. It became cheaper not repair electronics equipment. If it repair is not an economically viable
thing any more. Just buy new and bet-
ter stuff for less money and enjoy.
So electronics as a hobby has real-
ly changed. Oh yes, you can still build
crystal sets, 555 timer circuits, and TTL
projects, but few are doing that any
more. Technology has moved on. A few
electronics hobbyists like I just
described are still around but are fading
fast. And a new type of hobbyist has
emerged. Few have recognized this
new electronics experimenter.
Electronics as a hobby hasn't gone
away. If I had to classify it, I would say
that it is not necessarily better or worse,
it is just different.
level.
Here is a summary of the new
electronics hobbyists and experi-
menters today and what they do.
Circle #150 on the Reader Service Card. JANUARY 2004
60
Frenzel.qxd 12/5/2003 10:05 AM Page 61
Audio Robotics
This is one of the hottest and growing segments of the hobby
Audio is a huge hobby. Most people like music and electron- field. And because there are few commercial robot manufac-
ics is the key to enjoying it. Hobbyists buy stereo systems turers serving this sector, most hobbyists build their own. A
mainly to listen to music and play around with speakers. A great deal of it is mechanical and the electronics is relatively
great deal of the audio hobbying is in digital music, download- simple. Motors and control circuits, embedded controllers,
ing music from the Internet, burning your own CDs, creating sensors and the like are still manageable by a hobbyist.
files for your MP3 player, and so on. The BattleBots of TV fame have created a hot new way to do
Electronic music is big with lots of electronics as a hobby.
folks owning electronic synthesizer
keyboards, as well as the hardware
and software for recording and Personal Computers
manipulating music with a computer. PCs have become appliances just like almost anything else.Yet
you can customize them to your needs such as music, gam-
Shortwave Listening ing, video editing, home networking, or just programming.
Adding peripherals and add-in cards is where all the action is.
There is still a good number of people that Data acquisition, virtual instruments,
do this. Mostly they buy commercial video and still photography, and home
receivers to listen to shortwave and broad- control are major applications. The
cast bands or buy scanners to listen to local emphasis is still on the software, and
police, fire, etc.They experiment with anten- learning to program in C or Visual BASIC
nas mostly but rarely build anything. is an excellent path for the experimenter.
JANUARY 2004
62
Prabakaran.qxd 12/4/2003 8:13 AM Page 63
by D. Prabakaran
IGDG — Internet strated 10 cm horizontal positioning GPS ephemeris and clock correc-
Based Global accuracy, and 20 cm vertical position- tions for GPS satellites.
ing accuracy. IGDG have taken advantage of
Differential GPS IGDG is geared toward users car- the NASA Global GPS Network
IGDG — Internet based global dif- rying dual-frequency receivers. These (GGN), which is operated and main-
ferential GPS — is by far the most high-end users typically require high- tained by JPL. The GGN consists of
accurate real-time global positioning accuracy positioning. Having elimi- approximately 60 sites, which have
system. This patented state-space nated the ionosphere as an error traditionally been operated in batch
global differential system using real source using dual-band receivers, mode. A subset of the GGN is
time data from NASA's Global GPS these users are still susceptible to equipped with computers and
Network (GGN) provides corrections errors in the GPS ephemeredes and Internet connection. IGDG has been
to the GPS orbits and clocks that are clocks. Ground-based users and air- designed to return GPS data in real
globally uniform and seamless. Users craft must also deal with errors due to time from remote receivers. IGDG
anywhere on the ground, in the air, or the troposphere. Accurate correction collects, edits, and compresses the
in near space can have access to the for the GPS ephemeris and clock raw GPS observables at the remote
world's most precise differential cor- errors requires a network of GPS ref- site. It then transmits the packetized
rections. It uses the open Internet to erence sites. With JPL's patented data over the open Internet to the
collect real time GPS data from Global Differential GPS (GDGPS) processing center. At the processing
NASA's GGN sites, and to dissemi- architecture, a well-distributed global center, the global data is analyzed by
nate the differential corrections to network of about a dozen sites is suf- IGDG to produce precise GPS orbits
authorized users. IGDG has demon- ficient for continuously providing and clocks. These are formatted as
JANUARY 2004 63
Prabakaran.qxd 12/4/2003 8:14 AM Page 64
corrections to the GPS broadcast ideal for open land and marine appli- reducing set-up time at the survey site
ephemerides, encoded, and are pro- cations. WAAS provides extended and providing incredible accuracy.
vided over the Internet to authorized coverage both inland and offshore Basic survey units, costing thousands
users. compared to the land-based DGPS of dollars, can offer accuracies down
(differential GPS) system. Another to one meter. More expensive sys-
WAAS benefit of WAAS is that it does not tems are available that can provide
require additional receiving equip- accuracies to within a centimeter.
WAAS stands for Wide Area ment, while DGPS does. Recreational uses of GPS are
Augmentation System. It's a system Other governments are develop- almost as varied as the number of
of satellites and ground stations that ing similar satellite-based differential recreational sports available. GPS is
provide GPS signal corrections, giv- systems. In Asia, it's the Japanese popular among hikers, hunters,
ing you even better position accura- Multi-Functional Satellite Augm- snowmobilers, mountain bikers, and
cy, an average of up to five times entation System (MSAS), while cross-country skiers, just to name a
better accuracy. A WAAS-capable Europe has the Euro Geostationary few. Anyone who needs to keep
receiver can give a position accura- Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). track of where he or she is, to find his
cy of better than three meters, 95 Eventually, GPS users around the or her way to a specified location, or
percent of the time. WAAS corrects world will have access to precise posi- know what direction and how fast he
for GPS signal errors caused by tion data using these and other com- or she is going can utilize the benefits
ionospheric disturbances, timing, patible systems. of the global positioning system.
and satellite orbit errors, and it pro- GPS is now commonplace in
vides vital integrity information GPS Applications automobiles, as well. Some basic
regarding the health of each GPS systems are in place and provide
satellite. GPS has a variety of applica- emergency roadside assistance at
WAAS consists of approximate- tions on land, at sea, and in the air. the push of a button (by transmitting
ly 25 ground reference stations posi- Basically, GPS is usable everywhere your current position to a dispatch
tioned across the US that monitor except where it's impossible to center). More sophisticated systems
GPS satellite data. Two master sta- receive the signal such as inside show your position on a street map.
tions, located on either coast, collect most buildings, in caves and other Currently these systems allow a driv-
data from the reference stations and subterranean locations, and under- er to keep track of where he or she
create a GPS correction message. water. The most common airborne is, and suggest the best route to fol-
This correction accounts for GPS applications are for navigation by low to reach a designated location.
satellite orbit and clock drift plus sig- general aviation and commercial air- GPS has become important for
nal delays caused by the atmos- craft. At sea, GPS is also typically nearly all military operations and
phere and ionosphere. The correct- used for navigation by recreational weapons systems. In addition, it is
ed differential message is then boaters, commercial fishermen, and used on satellites to obtain highly
broadcast through one of two geo- professional mariners. Land-based accurate orbit data and to control
stationary satellites, or satellites with applications are more diverse. The spacecraft orientation. Although the
a fixed position over the equator. scientific community uses GPS for its GPS satellite constellation was com-
The information is compatible with precision timing capability and posi- pleted only recently, it has already
the basic GPS signal structure, tion information. proved to be a most valuable aid to
which means any WAAS-enabled Surveyors use GPS for an US military forces. Picture the desert,
GPS receiver can read the signal. increasing portion of their work. GPS with its wide, featureless expanses of
Currently, WAAS satellite cover- offers cost savings by drastically sand. The terrain looks much the
age is only available in North same for miles. Without a reli-
America. There are no able navigation system, US
ground reference stations in forces could not have per-
South America, so even formed the maneuvers of
though GPS users there can Operation Desert Storm.
receive WAAS, the signal With GPS, the soldiers were
has not been corrected and able to go places and
thus would not improve the maneuver in sandstorms or
accuracy of their unit. For at night when even the
NUTS & VOLTS
some users in the US, the troops who lived there could-
position of the satellites over n't. Initially, more than 1,000
the equator makes it difficult portable commercial
Everything For Electronics
9,000 commercial receivers were in locations from the combine when include navigation while hiking, hunt-
use in the Gulf region. They were car- harvesting. Mounted in an airplane, ing, or skiing. GPS is even used on
ried by foot soldiers and attached to GPS can be used to guide aerial golf courses to track golf carts, and
vehicles, helicopters, and aircraft spraying operations. This reduces to let players know how far it is to the
instrument panels. GPS receivers were production costs, as well as environ- center of the greens. GPS is being
used in several aircraft, including F-16 mental damage from runoff of used for recreational sailing and fish-
fighters, KC-135 aerial refuelers, and B- excess nutrients and pesticides. ing, and for commercial shipping
2 bombers; Navy ships used them for GPS can be used to locate weed, fleet management. Assisted steering,
rendezvous, minesweeping, and air- insect, or disease infestations and risk assessment, and hazard warning
craft operations. monitor their spread. It can also be systems for marine navigation are
Surveying with GPS: Probably used to navigate back to previously being developed using GPS. In the
even more important to the surveyor mapped infestations to apply con- air, GPS is being used for en-route
or engineer than the theory behind trols. A field map can be created navigation (helicopter, airplane, hot-
GPS, are the practicalities of the using GPS to record the coordinates air balloon), aircraft landing, and air-
effective use of GPS. of field borders, fence lines, canals, collision avoidance systems.
GPS has numerous advantages pipelines, and point locations such as GPS Mapping: GPS applica-
over traditional surveying methods: wells, buildings, and landscape fea- tions in natural resource manage-
tures. The resulting field map might ment include inventory and mapping
1. Intervisibility between points is not be the first layer a producer would of soils, vegetation types, threatened
required. develop for an on-farm GIS and endangered species, lake and
2. Can be used at any time of the day (Geographic Information System). stream boundaries, and wildlife habi-
or night and in any weather. Additional layers showing crop dam- tat. GPS has been used to aid in dam-
3. Produces results with very high age from hail or drought, and riparian age assessment after natural disasters
geodetic accuracy. areas or wetlands could be mapped such as fires, floods, and earthquakes.
4. More work can be accomplished in using GPS. Ranchers could use GPS GPS has also been used to map
less time with fewer people. to develop rangeland utilization maps archaeological sites and for infrastruc-
and to navigate back to previously ture (streets, highways, and utilities)
In order to operate with GPS it is mapped areas or monitoring sites. mapping, management, and plan-
important that the GPS antenna has GPS Navigation on Land, ning for future growth.
a clear view to at least four satellites. Sea, and Air: GPS is being used for
Sometimes the satellite signals can emergency response (fire, ambu- GPS Receivers
be blocked by tall buildings, trees, lance, police), search and rescue,
etc. Hence, GPS cannot be used fleet management (trucking, delivery GPS receivers can be hand-car-
indoors. It is also difficult to use GPS vehicles, and public transportation), ried or installed on aircraft, ships,
in town centers or woodland. Due to and for automobile guidance sys- tanks, submarines, cars, and trucks.
this limitation, it may prove more cost- tems. Recreational uses of GPS These receivers detect, decode, and
effective in some survey applications
to use an optical total station or to
combine use of such an instrument
with GPS.
GPS Applications in
Agriculture: More and more pro-
ducers today are using precision
farming techniques that can help
increase profits and protect the envi-
ronment. Precision or site-specific
farming involves applying fertilizer,
pesticides, and other inputs only
where they are needed. GPS-guided
equipment is often used for variable
rate application of fertilizer (based
on soil tests) or pesticides (based on
pest survey). GPS can also be used
to develop the initial reference maps
upon which variable rate applica-
tions are based. A GPS system on a
combine with a yield monitor can be
used to develop an on-the-go yield
map or can be used to map weed
JANUARY 2004 Circle #152 on the Reader Service Card.
65
Prabakaran.qxd 12/4/2003 8:24 AM Page 66
lites which it expects to see, and cross correlates that generated Gold code with the received expands the functionality of the
signal. Since the sequences are orthogonal, a good correlation will be found only for the satel- receiver, because it essentially makes
lite which generated exactly the same code. The correlation effectively extracts a signal from a record of specific points on Earth.
Everything For Electronics
each satellite which can be further demodulated to produce the ranging message. The basic unit of user input is the way-
The Gold codes were named for their discoverer, Robert Gold. Refer to his paper point. A waypoint is simply the coordi-
"Optimal Binary Sequences for Spread Spectrum Multiplexing" in IEEE Transactions on Info nates for a particular location. You
Theory, Oct 1967, pages 619-621, for more information. can save this in the receiver's memo-
JANUARY 2004
66
Prabakaran.qxd 12/4/2003 3:02 PM Page 67
ry in two ways: through glass, but are absorbed by more frequent battery changes.
•You can tell the receiver to record its water molecules (wood, heavy foliage)
coordinates when you are at that and reflect off concrete, steel, and Size and Weight — Small lightweight
location. rock. This means that GPS units have handhelds, large display chartplotters,
•You can find the location on a map trouble operating in rain forests, urban and panel mounted aviation models.
(the internal map or another one) and jungles, deep canyons, inside automo-
enter its coordinates as a waypoint. biles and boats, and in heavy snowfall Antenna Configuration — If you are
— among other things. These environ- going to use the unit mainly in the
This capability lets you use the mental obstacles degrade positional open and in a car, you need a unit
GPS receiver in a number of different accuracy or make it impossible to get with a built-in antenna and the capacity
ways. You can record any specific a fix on our location. to attach an external antenna, a fixed-
location that interests so that you can mount unit with a mountable external
find it again at a later time. Before Purchasing a antenna, or an aviation antenna.
You can also combine a series of GPS Receiver
different waypoints to form a route. DGPS Capability — Do you need
One way to use this function is to Before investing in GPS equip- the best accuracy possible? If so,
periodically record waypoints as you ment, it is important to clearly define combining a Differential GPS receiver
travel so that you can backtrack, or your needs in terms of accuracy level with your GPS unit will give you the
follow the same route again in the required and end results expected. best accuracy possible. All Garmin
future. Route-mapping lets you exam- Identifying your requirements ahead GPS units are DGPS-ready and some
ine a map at home and record a series of time will help you determine which fixed-mount marine units even have
of waypoints along the roads or trails type of receiver to purchase, and spe- the DGPS receiver built in.
that lead to your destination. cific features you will need in order to
If the receiver has a data port, accomplish your objectives. It will If you're shopping for a unit, pay
you can download routes to a com- help you avoid purchasing a receiver attention to features like form factor
puter, and then upload them again that you will be disappointed with (handheld versus mounted), external
when you plan to follow those routes. later because it can't perform the way antennas, mapping, and computer-
Computers can do a lot more with you expect it to. controllability. A good strategy is to
GPS location data than average Low-end consumer GPS units clearly outline your project require-
receivers, because computers have (from Garmin and Eagle/Lowrance) ments and then contact several GPS
much more memory and much faster are in the $100.00 to $200.00 range. equipment manufacturers with your
processing capabilities. You can also All these units have parallel 12-chan- specifications. As you research avail-
update computer maps easily, so you nel receivers. able equipment and ask questions,
can include any surveying adjust- The greatest thing about Garmin you will gain an understanding of what
ments or changes in an area. units is that they have a bi-directional kinds of equipment are currently avail-
At its heart, a GPS receiver is just serial port that allows them to hook able and will meet your needs. NV
an accurate way to get raw positional up to your computer. Though
data, which can then be applied to many GPS units can only trans-
geographic information that has been mit their current positional infor-
accumulated over the years. This idea mation, the Garmin units also
is incredibly simple, but it has seem- allow you to transfer their way-
ingly endless applications. The consid- point databases, route tables,
erable contributions of GPS to aviation, and other useful information.
maritime navigation, military opera- The wide availability of pro-
tion, surveying, and recreation have grams supporting the Garmin
secured its place among the most rev- transfer protocol makes these
olutionary inventions of all time. units good choices for comput-
Some GPS receivers have the abil- er-based use.
ity to store attribute information in Consider these issues when
addition to position information. selecting a GPS unit:
Examples of attribute information are
the condition of a street sign, the name Battery Life — If you are going
of a road, or the condition of a fire to be using the unit away from
hydrant. Position and attribute informa- an auxiliary power source, con-
tion can be stored in a Geographic sider the weight of carrying extra
Information System (GIS) to help users batteries. Units with color dis-
manage their assets more efficiently. plays tend to have a decreased
GPS signals work in the battery life compared to
microwave band. They can pass grayscale displays, requiring Figure 3. Etrex GPS receiver.
JANUARY 2004 67
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BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR
COOKBOOK — PART 7
Ray Marston describes a variety of practical transistor by Ray Marston
audio power amplifier and 'accessory' circuits in this
month's penultimate installment of an eight-part series.
O
ne of the most popular applications of transistors audio amplifier circuit; Q1 is a common-emitter amplifier
is in audio power amplifiers. This month we with a loudspeaker collector load, and is so biased that its
describe the operating principles of various cir- collector current has a quiescent value halfway between
cuits of this type and present a selection of practical the desired maximum and minimum swings of output
audio power amplifier circuit designs. The installment current, as shown in Figure 1(b), so that maximal low-dis-
concludes by presenting a practical 'scratch and rumble' tortion output signal swings can be obtained. The circuit
filter circuit, which can be used to eliminate these consumes a high quiescent current, and is relatively inef-
unwanted sounds when playing old-fashioned ficient; 'efficiency' is the ratio of AC power feeding into the
records/discs through any type of audio power amplifier load, compared with the DC power consumed by the cir-
system. cuit, and at maximum output power is typically about
40%, falling to 4% at one tenth of maximum output, etc.
POWER AMPLIFIER BASICS Figure 2 shows an example of a low-power (up to a
few dozen milliwatts) high-gain general-purpose class-A
A transistor power amplifier's job is that of converting amplifier that draws a quiescent current of about 20 mA
a medium-level medium-impedance AC input signal into and is suitable for driving a medium impedance (greater
a high-level low-impedance state suitable for driving a low- than 65Ω) loudspeaker or headset. Q1 and Q2 are wired
impedance external load. This action as direct-coupled common-emit-
can be achieved by operating the tran- ter amplifiers, and give an overall
sistor(s) in either of two basic modes, voltage gain of about 80 dB.
known as 'class-A' or 'class-B.' Q1's base bias is derived (via R2)
Figure 1(a) shows a basic class-A from Q2's emitter, which is
decoupled via C3 and thus 'fol-
lows' the mean collector voltage
of Q1. The bias is thus stabilized
by DC negative feedback. Input
pot RV1 acts as the circuit's vol-
ume control.
A basic class-B amplifier
Figure 2. General-purpose high-gain consists of a pair of transistors,
low-power audio amplifier.
driven in anti-phase but driving a
common output
load, as shown in
Figure 3(a). In
this particular
design, Q1 and
Q2 are wired in
the common-
emitter mode and
NUTS & VOLTS
CLASS-AB BASICS
The cross-over distortion of the class-B ampli-
fier can be eliminated by applying slight forward
bias to the base of each transistor, as shown in
Figure 4, so that each transistor passes a modest
quiescent current. Such a circuit is known as a
class-AB amplifier. Circuits of this type were
widely used in early transistor power amplifier
systems but are now virtually obsolete, since
they require the use of transformers for input Figure 6. Alternative versions of the class-AB amplifier with a
single-ended power supply.
phase-splitting and output loudspeaker driving,
and must have closely matched transistor char-
acteristics if a good low-distortion performance is to be necting one end of the speaker to either the zero or the
obtained. positive supply rail, and connecting the other end to the
Figure 5 shows the basic circuit of a class-AB amplifi- amplifier output via a high-value blocking capacitor, as
er that suffers from none of the snags mentioned above. It shown in Figure 6.
is a complementary emitter follower, and is shown using a The basic Figure 5 and 6 circuits form the basis of vir-
split (dual) power supply. Q1 and Q2 are biased (via R1- tually all modern audio power amplifier designs, including
RV1-R2) so that their outputs are at zero volts and zero cur- those in IC form. Many modifications and variations can be
rent flows in the loudspeaker load under quiescent condi- made to the basic circuit.
tions, but have slight forward bias applied (via RV1), so
that they pass modest quiescent currents and thus do not CIRCUIT VARIATIONS
suffer from cross-over distortion problems. Identical input
signals are applied (via C1 and C2) to the bases of both The Figure 5 circuit gives unity overall voltage gain, so
emitter followers. This an obvious circuit
circuit's operation modification is to
was described in Part provide it with a volt-
2 of this 'Cookbook' age-amplifying driv-
series. er stage, as in Figure
The basic Figure 7. Here, common
5 circuit does not emitter amplifier Q1
require the use of drives the Q2-Q3
transistors with close- complementary
ly matched electrical emitter followers via
characteristics, and collector load resis-
gives direct drive to tor R1 and auto-bias-
the speaker. It can be ing silicon diodes D1
modified for use with and D2 (the function
a single-ended power Figure 7. Complementary amplifier Figure 8. Amplifier with Darlington of these diodes was
with driver and auto-bias. output stages.
supply by simply con- explained in Part 2 of
JANUARY 2004 69
RayMarston7.qxd 12/4/2003 11:07 AM Page 70
the circuit that saves two compo- back via R1-R2, thus enabling the
nents; in this case, the SPKR forms circuit to be used over a wide range
part of Q1's collector load, and of supply voltages.
directly bootstraps R1. The feedback resistors can be
AC-decoupled (as shown) via C2 to
PRACTICAL CLASS give increased gain and input imped-
AB AMPLIFIERS ance, at the expense of increased dis-
tortion. Q1 can be a Darlington type,
The easiest way to build a class- if a very high input impedance is
AB audio amplifier is to do so using required.
one of the many readily-available Figure 18 shows an alternative
audio ICs of this type. In some cases, configuration of driver stage. This
however, particularly when making design uses series DC and AC feed-
'one off' projects, it may be cheaper back, and gives greater gain and
or more convenient to use a discrete input impedance than the basic
transistor design, such as one of Figure 7 circuit, but uses two transis-
Figure 15. Simple 1 watt amplifier.
those shown in Figures 15 or 16. tors of opposite polarities.
Figure 15 shows a simple class- Finally, to complete this look at
AB amplifier that can typically drive 1W into a 3Ω speak- audio power amplifiers, Figure 19 shows a circuit that has
er. Here, common-emitter amplifier Q1 uses collector load direct-coupled ground-referenced inputs and outputs, and
LS1-R1-D1-RV2, and drives the Q2-Q3 complementary uses split power supplies. It has a long-tailed pair input
emitter follower stage. The amplifier's output is fed (via stage, and the input and output both center on zero volts
C2) to the LS1-R1 junction, thus providing a low imped- if R1 and R4 have equal values. The circuit can be used
ance drive to the loudspeaker and simultaneously boot- with a single ended power supply by grounding one supply
strapping the R1 value so that the circuit gives high volt- line and using AC coupling of the input and output
age gain. The output is also fed back to Q1 base via R4, signals. This basic circuit forms the basis of many IC
thus providing base bias via a negative feedback loop. In
use, RV1 should be trimmed to give minimal audible
cross-over distortion consistent with low quiescent cur-
rent consumption (typically in the range 10 mA to 15
mA).
Figure 16 shows a rather more complex audio power
amplifier that can deliver about 10W into an 8Ω load when
powered from a 30 V supply.
This circuit uses high-gain quasi-complementary out-
put stages (Q3 to Q6) and uses an adjustable amplifier
diode (Q1) as an output biasing device. The Q2 common
emitter amplifier stage has its main load resistor (R2) boot-
strapped via C2, and is DC biased via R3, which should set
the quiescent output voltage at about half-supply value (if
not, alter the R3 value). The upper frequency response of
the amplifier is restricted via C3, to enhance circuit stabil-
ity, and C5-R8 are wired as a Zobel network across the
output of the amplifier to further enhance the stability. Figure 16. 10 watt audio amplifier.
In use, the amplifier should be initially set up in the
way already described for the Figure 15
circuit.
ALTERNATIVE DRIVERS
In the basic Figure 7 circuit, the Q1
driver stage uses parallel DC and AC volt-
age feedback via potential divider network
R2-R3. This circuit is simple and stable, but
suffers from fairly low gain and very low
input resistance, and can be used over
only a very limited range of power supply
voltages. A simple variation of this circuit Figure 17. Driver stage with Figure 18. Driver stage with
decoupled parallel DC feedback. series DC feedback.
is shown in Figure 17. It uses current feed-
JANUARY 2004 71
RayMarston7.qxd 12/4/2003 11:08 AM Page 72
Figure 19. Driver stage with Figure 20. 50 Hz rumble or Figure 21. 10 kHz scratch or
long-tailed pair input. high-pass filter. low-pass filter.
power amplifier designs. voltage gain to signals above 50 Hz, but gives 12dB per
octave rejection to those below this value, i.e., it gives
SCRATCH/RUMBLE FILTERS 40dB of attenuation at 5 Hz, etc. Emitter-follower Q1 is
biased at half-supply volts from the R1-R2-C3 low-imped-
A common annoyance when playing old records ance point, but has negative feedback applied via the R3-
(discs) through audio power amplifiers is that of scratch C2-C1-R4 filter network. The circuit's frequency turn-over
and/or rumble sounds. The scratch noises are mainly point can be altered by changing the C1-C2 values
high-frequency (greater than 10 kHz) sounds picked up (which must be equal); thus, if the C1-C2 values are
from the disc surface, and the rumbles are low-frequency halved (to 110nF), the turn-over frequency doubles (to
(less than 50 Hz) sounds that are mostly caused by slow 100 Hz), etc.
variations in motor-drive speed. The low-pass scratch filter of Figure 21 gives unity volt-
Each of these noises can age gain to signals below 10
be greatly reduced or elimi- kHz, but gives 12dB per
nated by coupling the play- octave rejection to those
er's audio signals into the above this value.
audio power amplifier input This circuit is similar to
via a filter that rejects the that of Figure 20, except that
troublesome parts of the the positions of the resistors
audio spectrum. Figures 20 and capacitors are trans-
and 21 show suitable circuits. posed in the C2-R4-C4-R5
The high-pass rumble fil- Figure 22. Complete scratch/rumble filter, with switching. filter network. The circuit's
ter of Figure 20 gives unity turn-over frequency can be
altered by changing the C2-C4
values, e.g., values of 3.3nF give a
frequency of 7.5 kHz.
HAMBOREE 2004 ®
The Figure 20 and 21 circuits
can be combined to make a compos-
Southeast’s Top Choice for
ite scratch and rumble filter, by con-
Communications • Electronics • Computers necting the output of the high-pass fil-
ter to the input of the low-pass filter; if
February 7-8, 2004 desired, the filters can be provided
with bypass switches, enabling them
Fair Expo Center, Miami, Florida to be easily switched in and out of cir-
Manufacturers, Dealers, Swap Tables, cuit, by using the connections of
Figure 22.
License Exams, Fox Hunts, Awards Note that if the Figure 20 and 21
designs are to be built as a single
www.hamboree.org unit, a few components can be
NUTS & VOLTS
ay back when I was in the Boy Scouts, I was (www.hvwtech.com). It is a single board that runs on five
you enter both simple and complex designs. With the Some displays have a decimal point available. Some
symbol editor, you can view, create, and edit symbols have other things available. We'll only use the A through
that represent designs. G inputs. Common cathode displays work the same way
Those symbols can be used in schematics created except all the cathodes of each LED are tied together
with the graphic editor. The graphic editor also allows and you must supply logic high to turn on the display
you to open an OrCAD schematic file and use it as your LEDs. In any case, if you turn on the correct LEDs at the
design. You can choose from libraries containing over same time, you can form numbers from 0 to 9.
300 Altera-provided macrofunctions and primitives, or You can use a single resistor on the common anode
use your own custom macrofunction symbols that repre- pin to limit the current, if you wish. However, the LED dis-
sent other design files, including other graphic editor play will be brighter when fewer segments are lit (like in
files. A macrofunction is just a circuit that has been com- the number 1), than it is when more segments are lit (like
piled and given a symbol of its own. After you get the in the number 8).
BCD counter working, you could turn it into a macro- When I built this circuit the first time, I used a light-
function with its own symbol and use that single symbol detecting transistor to construct something similar to a
in a whole new circuit. barcode reader to trigger the count. You can use any-
There is a final method of programming your FPGA thing from a continuous pulse to a debounced switch.
chip in the MAX+PLUS software. You can use waveform On this circuit, I used a debounced switch built from two
files. A waveform file will allow you to specify an input inverters as shown in the diagram. Yes, I used a discrete
waveform and a required output waveform, and then chip instead of putting the circuit into the FPGA.
have the software program your chip for you. I haven't One reason is that I would most likely want to trigger
tried this yet but it sounds interesting. the counter from outside the FPGA.
When you receive your development board, you The other reason is that I could never get the
should follow all the directions and make sure you can debounce portion of the circuit to compile without errors.
program it with the sample program provided in the Apparently, only a tri-state buffer must drive the node —
instruction manual. It's called Majority Vote and is about the wire carrying a signal between two logical compo-
as simple as it gets. Use this to get used to placing parts nents. In this case, a primitive — the input pin from the
on the graphic editor screen and connecting them with switch — drives it. The help file suggests placing a tri-
wires. Take some time to explore the built-in part state buffer between the input and the wire. Since the
libraries, too. The help file is fairly extensive but I didn't debouncing circuit loops back on itself so often, we'd
see where they mentioned which chips and functions need several tri-state buffers. It just seemed like a big
were in which libraries. Neither do they bother to give any waste of time to add all that when I'll be better served by
data on any of the chips represented. I guess it would be using an outside trigger source.
way too much information. But, if you are like me, you Examine the regular schematic to see the chips and
already have an extensive datasheet collection on your discrete components.
computer. The first integrated circuit to look at is the 7490
Decade and Binary Counter. It contains four master-slave
Building the Counter flip-flops and additional gating to provide a divide-by-two
counter and a three-stage binary counter. The complete
Though some other development boards do come datasheet can be downloaded from Fairchild
with LEDs, switches, and other discrete components for Semiconductor (www.fairchildsemi.com). The count-
testing, the one from HVW does not. That is one of the er chip, with output A wired to input B, counts in binary
things I like about it. You can plug the board into a bread- from zero to nine and then recycles. The second integrat-
board and have complete flexibility over your design. So, ed circuit is the 7447 BCD to Seven-Segment
we'll have to add a couple things to complete the count- Decoder/Driver. It contains several logic gates wired
er circuit. You'll need 11, 150 ohm, 1/4 watt resistors. together so that it brings in a four bit binary number and
You'll need a common anode, seven-segment LED decodes it to turn on the correct output lines to form a
numeric display. Finally, you'll need the breadboard,
power supply, and some method for triggering the Figure 1. FPGA development board.
count.
NUTS & VOLTS
LED are tied together so that you only need one positive
supply input. In order to turn on one LED in the display,
you supply a logic low on its corresponding input line. As
in Figure 2, the input lines are labeled "A" through "G."
74 JANUARY 2004
Hannold.qxd 12/4/2003 2:35 PM Page 75
JANUARY 2004 75
Hannold.qxd 12/4/2003 2:36 PM Page 76
programming.
So, there are several multi-
function pins that cannot be
Figure 4. Screenshot of MAX+plus counter circuit. used as input or output even
JANUARY 2004
76
Hannold.qxd 12/4/2003 2:37 PM Page 77
Be an FCC
LICENSED
ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN
Learn at home in your
spare time.
Earn up to
$100 an hour
Figure 5. The breadboard. and more!
No previous experience needed!
though they are labeled as such. You can earn more money
This is because the board has the ability to interrupt
anything the chip is doing in order to program it. This is if you get an FCC License!
not a big problem since there are still 28 regular input/out-
Not satisfied with your present income?
put lines. Once you reassign the inputs and outputs to
Add prestige and earning power to your
your preferred pins, those assignments will be displayed
electronics career by getting your FCC
on the graphic editor screen. The new designations are to
the left of all the input and output pins. If you do assign an
Government License.
input or output to a pin that cannot be assigned, the com- The Original Home-Study course pre-
piler will tell you. pares you for the “FCC Commercial
Once everything compiles, you need to breadboard Radiotelephone License” at home in your
the circuit. Pin 1 is marked on the board. It is much like a spare time.
44-pin chip. The only power pins necessary are the ground This valuable license is your professional
(Gnd) on pin 22 and the +5 VDC (Vcc) on pin 23. Hook up “ticket” to thousands of exciting jobs in:
all the resistors and LEDs. Turn the power on and pulse Communications, Radio-TV, Microwave,
the trigger input to get the counter circuit to work. Maritime, Radar, Avionics & more…you
If you look at my project picture (Figure 5) closely, can even start your own business!
you will see that I used half of a double digit, seven-seg-
ment display scrounged from old equipment. You'll also No need to quit your job or go to school.
find the additional 7404 inverter chip I used to build the This proven “self-study” course is easy,
switch debounce circuit. You will also see the gray pro- fast and low cost!
gramming cable. It is not necessary to have the cable GUARANTEED TO PASS – You get your
plugged in while the counter circuit is running, but it won't
affect it if you do leave it plugged in. FCC License or your money will be refunded.
I took a little chance in doing this project. Based on
the sheer cool factor of having an FPGA in my next robot- Call for FREE facts now!
ics project, I bought a board and spent time to learn how
to program it. There were a few minor snags but once I got (800) 932-4268 Ext. 220
rolling, the job was easy. www.LicenseTraining.com
I can hardly wait to try out the waveform functions.
Since I am more of a visual, schematic type of person, I'll COMMAND PRODUCTIONS or mail
FCC LICENSE TRAINING - Dept. 220 coupon
probably stick to the graphical editor but the hardware P.O. Box 3000 • Sausalito, CA 94966 today
description languages may be right up your alley. In a Please rush FREE details immediately!
future article, I plan to implement a bit of Rodney Brooks' Name
subsumption architecture within the FPGA and build a
Address
small bot that can explore rooms, follow light, avoid obsta-
cles ,and avoid falling down stairs. NV City State Zip
Circle #84 on the Reader Service Card.
JANUARY 2004 77
Q&A.qxd 12/4/2003 10:52 AM Page 78
Electronics Q&A
In this column, I answer Vref Vcc Figure 1 LED Voltmeter
questions about all aspects LM339 LED . I'm interested in building a volt-
of electronics, including
Input
R1
1k
Q meter that shows the voltage
level using a row of LEDs in a bar-
1k
computer hardware, LM339 LED 1k graph. I plan on using this for a panel
software, circuits, electronic R2
meter, so I only need one range of 0-
1k 15 V and I want to use 15 LEDs for
theory, troubleshooting, and LM339 LED 1k the display. Do you have a schematic
anything else of interest to for this device?
R3 Nicholas Olcan
the hobbyist. 1k
LM339 LED 1k via Internet
Feel free to participate
R4 . This is easily done using com-
with your questions, as 1k
Basic Voltmeter
A parators; the basic circuit is
shown in Figure 1. Each comparator
well as comments and
is biased one step higher than
suggestions. the comparator under it. As the
0-15 volt LED input voltage increases and
You can reach me at: +5V
Panel Meter exceeds the reference voltage
TJBYERS@aol.com. 0 - 15V
3
Vcc 10
on the comparator's inverting
Input 17.8k 5 input, the output goes high and
SIG
11
lights its respective LED.
12 However, your request would
LM3914 13 require four of these chips plus
What's Up: 6
14 30 resistors. A better solution is
the LM3914 Dot/Bar Display
RHI 15
15V
Test instruments galore, 7
REF OUT 16
Driver. This IC contains 10 com-
8 parators with LED drivers, a
that's what. A handful of 4
REF ADJ 17 buffer input op-amp, and a 1.2-
2.4k RLO 18 volt reference. Only two ICs and
voltmeters, a diode, 2
GND 1 four resistors are required to
Mode 11V
make a bargraph voltmeter that
electrolytic capacitor 9
measures zero to 20 volts
3
(Figure 2). Per your request,
ESR, and novel continuity 5
Vcc 10 20k
only 15 LEDs are shown, but it's
SIG
11 easy enough to add the remain-
tester. Finally, a reader
2.37k 12 ing five. The 100Ω pot is used
takes up a Q&A design LM3914 13 to calibrate the voltmeter. If you
14
don't have a suitable voltage ref-
challenge and earns a 100 erence for calibration, setting
NUTS & VOLTS
6
Calibrate RHI 15
5V the pot to mid-range should pro-
7
year's subscription to REF OUT 16 vide 1% accuracy.
8
REF ADJ 17
Nuts & Volts.
Everything For Electronics
4
1.1k RLO 18 Name this Object
2
GND 1
Mode 1V
. I wonder if you can answer
Figure 2 9
Q a very puzzling question.
JANUARY 2004
78
Q&A.qxd 12/4/2003 10:52 AM Page 79
ers Q&A
Figure 3
Figure 4
What is this thing (shown in Figure diodes on the armature. There is an reverse voltage exceeds the break-
3)? A friend gave it to me many years electronic voltage regulator that down voltage of the diode junction,
ago because he no longer had room changes a field voltage to control out- the diode goes into the avalanche
for it, but it was so unique that he put, but it only senses one of the 120 mode (zener region) and begins con-
couldn't bear to throw it away — even volt legs. I suspect that one of the ducting. With your high-voltage
though he never knew what it was. diodes is bad, but when I tested them diodes, though, this test will never
Now I am in the same situation. I with an ohmmeter, they passed okay. place the diode in the zener region
don't know what it is either, yet I hate Is there a bench test for this type unless it's really on its last leg. It will,
to throw it away, too. of diode (1300V/3A)? however, tell you if there's excessive
It is very well made and appears Bill Daley leakage because the reverse curve
to be some sort of wave guide fixture. via Internet will sag.
A permanently-affixed vacuum tube Don't have an oscilloscope?
with a glass base sits on the top, and . Semiconductors are strange Reverse leakage current can be meas-
there are no electrical connections of
any sort coming from the tube. I
A devices in that they don't wear
out like vacuum tubes or mechanical
ured using a microammeter in series
with a power supply, as shown in
placed the device on an overturned parts. Their failure is generally cata- Figure 5. The HI/LO switch selects
coffee cup to give you an idea of its strophic — either they are dead or alive. the test voltage. In the LO position,
size. Thanks for taking a look and However, semiconductor characteris- the voltage across the diode is less
your comments. tics can change with age. In diodes, the than 50 volts; in the HI position, it's
Lyle A. Nelson aging process usually manifests itself less than 200 volts. A good diode will
Devils Lake, ND in the form of increased leakage cur- have less than 0.1 µA leakage.
rent. This situation (increased leak- Anything above that is suspect.
. It's an electron tube reference age) is exacerbated by higher temper-
A cavity, used to tune a microwave
oscillator to 950 MHz. You can find its
atures, like those found inside heavily-
loaded generators. Testing with an
Capacitor ESR Tester
specs at www.dscc.dla.mil/Down ohmmeter won't reveal this flaw. . I have repaired a number of
loads/MilSpec/Docs/M I L-PRF
1/prf1ss296.pdf
A better way to gauge diode per-
formance is with a curve tracer,
Q high current DC power supplies.
Rather than replace all the main filter
shown in Figure 4. This circuit plots capacitors (expensive), I would like to
Testing Diodes the voltage and current
on the screen of an
. I have a 240 volt, single-phase oscilloscope as the volt- Diode Leakage DUT
Q generator that sporadically
browns-out with one of the 120 volt
age across the Device
Under Test (DUT)
Tester
LO 1N4007 200uA
legs dropping to 85 volts. My oscillo- changes amplitude and NO DATA
HI 1uF DC A
scope shows some glitches in the out- polarity. The diode 12VAC 200V
115VAC 115VAC
put on that leg, and they get larger should begin forward
with increased load. This is a brush- conductance at about LO < 50V
Q&A
+5V
capacitor won't show this characteris-
tic. For example, at 500 Hz (S1
Capacitor ESR Tester closed), a 2200 µF cap will show the
1k 8 4 tilted effect displayed by a 3.3 µF cap
7 at 100 kHz.
3 1k 22
10k 555 An AC voltmeter can be substi-
+
6
20k 10
DUT tuted for the oscilloscope — with
2 1N4001 reservation. Most DMMs can't stretch
S1 to 100 kHz, and few can measure
10k 1 5
1000pF beyond 10 kHz. Fortunately, the
0.1 .01
problem is easily resolved using the
1uF 1N4001 circuit in "AC Millivoltmeter DMM
10k
470k 1M
Adapter" below.
+ .01 +5V 0.1
10k +
LMC662
Scope Calibrator
LMC662 To Scope
+
4001 4001 capacitors of 10 µF and larger — tor frequency one way or the other.
22M
it's virtually impossible to distin-
guish a low ESR capacitors from a AC Millivoltmeter
Everything For Electronics
22k
1MHz
shorted one. Don't forget that the DMM Adapter
ESR is frequency dependent,
40pF 22pF though. So as the frequency . I am a dyed-in-the wool Analog
Figure 7 changes, so will the ESR. A shorted Q Guy who doesn't particularly
JANUARY 2004
80
Q&A.qxd 12/4/2003 10:53 AM Page 81
Q&A
+
10uF
audio signals. Do you have a 47k battery, the circuit is complete
+
simple circuit that would AC Millivoltmeter 9V
+ LMC662
and the LED lights.
allow me to use my DMM as Adapter 47k AC probes work in very
an AC millivoltmeter? much the same way, with your
AnalogGuy body resistance supplying the
via Internet and adjusting the DMM for a 2.5 volt ground connection. The basic circuit
reading -- the average DC voltage of a is built around a 4069 hex inverter
. I was in the same predicament 5 volt square wave. To get an RMS (the generic equivalent of the 4049
A just last year when I was doing fil-
ter designs for this column. Don't get
equivalent, adjust the reading to 3.5
volts (2.5 x 1.4).
with less drive current). See Figure
10(a). When the probe tip is touched
me wrong, a scope works great, but it to a live AC wire, the LED lights.
just doesn't replace a meter for Wireless Voltage Test Because the AC signal is pulsating
instant voltage readings. Figure 8 Probes and not steady-state like the battery in
illustrates what I came up with. Figure 9, it can be used to flash an
While the circuit may look con- . In various catalogs I've seen LED for an added attention getter, like
fusing, it's really nothing more than a
precision full-wave rectifier with the
Q
pen-style probes for testing 12
volts DC and 110 volts AC. The one
the circuit in Figure 10(b). This ver-
sion of the AC probe uses a 4017
output of the op-amp balanced thing they have in common is that decade counter that ripples through
through the bridge rectifier to the none of them require a ground wire. the outputs as the AC signal pulses its
inverting input. In the feedback loop You simply touch the tip to the voltage input. Each time the Q0 output goes
are the Range Switch resistors which source and an LED lights. Do you high, the LED lights. However, there is
set the gain of the op-amp. I normally know what makes these gadgets work? a 1 in 10 chance that the LED will
set the DMM to the 2000 mV range, Frank D. remain lighted when the input is
then use the 50K pot for calibration. Ontario, Canada removed, but it's easy enough to tell
In most instances, I'm not concerned there's no voltage present because it's
with the actual voltage, but the rela- . Body resistance. Your body, not blinking.
tionship between input and output A
which readily conducts current,
voltages so exact calibration isn't a acts like the missing second test lead. RPM to Hertz
factor. Take the circuit in Figure 9, for exam-
Proper calibration requires a preci- ple. The VN2106 is an enhancement . I often have to run my house off
sion AC reference voltage. While the
accuracy will only be 5%, you can do
field-effect transistor that conducts
when the voltage on the gate (G)
Q
an auxiliary generator. My prob-
this using the "Scope Calibrator" circuit exceeds 2.4 volts. This causes current +3V
Figure 10b
above to flow through the LED and turns it on.
Figure 9 Q5-9
AC Test Probe (a) 220
Probe Tip Push On +9v Q9
Q8
10M 4017 Q7
Q6
2M Probe Tip 4069 4069 4069 4069 Q5
220 2N2222 Probe Tip CP1 Q4
D CP0 Q3
4069 4069 Q2
G 4.7k MR Q1 100
LED Q0 2N2222
S VN2106 +
10M 3V Sensitivity 1k
50k
DC Test Probe Figure 10a AC Test Probe (b)
JANUARY 2004 81
Q&A.qxd 12/4/2003 10:53 AM Page 82
Q&A
+
COM for visual effect, but mostly because
47uF 0.1 10k 100k 8 4
1N4001 7 I had an empty op-amp to contend
1N4001 with. The tester is easily calibrated
3
555
6 using a fixed resistor. As an added
115VAC 6VAC .01 5k
2 bonus, the parallel diodes (1N4148)
4001
limit the voltage across the probes to
0.1 1 5 0-1mA
1uF Meter 0.6 volts, which means you can use
.01
60-Hz Frequency Meter the tester in-circuit (with power off!)
without fear of damaging sensitive
lem is that I can't be sure that the RPM of the generator so that the nee- semiconductor devices.
generator's frequency matches that dle rests on that mark and you will
of the line frequency. I kinda remem- have a solid 60 Hz output. Reader's Circuit
ber that there used to be reed frequen-
cy meters that would indicate this, but Audible Continuity I am writing in response to your
I haven't seen one for sale in a long Tester 555 reader quiz in the Nov. 2003
time. Do you have a circuit that will tell issue, where you asked for a simpler
me when the frequency is right on fre- . How about some help on a cir- design to flash an LED for 10 sec-
quency or if it's high or low? I will use
this information to adjust the idle.
Q cuit for an audible continuity
tester that will have a sensitivity of
onds then stop until reset. What I
finally wound up with was a 68 µF
Bob Haskett only a few hundred ohms at worst? capacitor that I used as a timer to
via Internet The tester I have squawks at connec- control a relay connected to a cheap
tions as high as 25,000 ohms. RadioShack flashing LED. When the
. Fair Radio Sales (419-227-6573, Michael Herman Set/Reset switch is moved to the left,
A www.fairradio.com/panelm.
htm) still sells a frequency panel
via Internet the cap charges through the 100Ω
resistor. Moving the switch to the
meter based on reed vibration, but . The following circuit (Figure right discharges the cap through the
only for 60 Hz and 400 Hz. If your
generator is out of tune, the meter
A 12) is based on a NASA design
from the 80s. I've upgraded it just
base of the 2N2222 transistor, which,
in turn, closes the relay contacts and
won't tell you if it's on the high or low slightly to take advantage of today's applies voltage to the blinking LED.
side. But the meter in Figure 11 will. superior ICs. Built around an When the current through the relay
The 555 is configured as a LMC662 op-amp acting as a com- falls below its threshold level, the
monostable multivibrator (one-shot) parator, the tester can be adjusted to relay drops out and disconnects the
that I'm using as a frequency meter. indicate continuity for resistance up LED. That's all there is to it. The cir-
Each time pin 2 is grounded, the to 35 ohms and no higher. cuit, shown in Figure 13, is auto turn-
monostable fires and generates a 10 For example, if you set the sensi- off and draws no power except for
mS output pulse. The 4001 gate tivity to 30 ohms, the tester will emit leakage through the transistor
sharpens up the negative-going tran- a tone if the resistance between the (which is less than the natural dis-
sition of the sine wave and provides probes is 30 ohms or less. If the charge current of the battery itself).
a clean pulse to the 555 Clayton D. Johnson
through the .01 µF capaci- +9V
Figure 12 Houtzdale, PA
tor. The meter averages the
pulses to indicate the fre- Editor's Note
+
RadioShack 9.1k 3k
quency. The higher the fre- 273-059
quency, the higher the LMC662 Over the years, I've been
+ Sensitivity
-
10k 220
AC outlet and setting the noise, such as office din or
meter pointer to half scale chugging engines. Although
+ LMC662
using the 5K pot. This Audible Continuity there is still no "blanket"
Everything For Electronics
Q&A
+5V fect at canceling noise, you still end You can find the manual on-line
Figure 13 up with a great pair of headphones. at the following website:
TJ Byers www.autotraxeda.com/docs/
100 150
Q & A Editor AutoTRAX/autotrax.htm
22k RadioShack
276-036 And yes, that was a typo. The
2N2222 MAILBAG board size is 30cm by 30cm priced at
Reset Set RadioShack $0.03 per square centimeter, or $0.20
275-233 Dear TJ, per square inch.
+
68uF
In the June 2003 issue you sug- TJ Byers
gested that I use the free AutoTrax Q & A Editor
Flasher LED PCB layout program. I do not have
Timer Internet access but managed to
obtain a copy on CD from my broth- Cool Web Sites!
headphones are a reality. And I'm er. I printed out and read the How many megabytes are there
happy to report that their prices are README file but it's not an opera- in a yottabyte?
coming down. In MCM's (800-543- tions manual. Where do I get the www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/
4330; www.mcminone.com) most instructions on how to use AutoTrax? FileSizeConversionTable.asp
recent catalog, they advertise Pro- In the same issue, you mention
A beginner's guide to filter topologies
Luxe noise-canceling headphones for that Futurlec (www.futurlec.com) www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/
just $24.95 (Order# 35-1115) — a far will make PCBs up to 30mm by appnote_number/1762/ln/en
cry from the $299.00 that Bose is ask- 30mm. That size limitation is totally
ing for their QuietComfort noise-can- impractical. Is it possible it should Think you know about all the features
celing headphones. I haven't had a have read 30cm by 30cm? of Google? Did you know about the
scientific calculator?
chance to test them, but for the price, Ken Stone www.google.com/help/calculator.html
it's worth a try. Even if they aren't per- Cherryvale, KS
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Stamp Applications
An Industrial Cup o’ Joe
I
t's no secret that for as long as Stamp microcon- Stamp modules that fully protects the inputs and outputs
trollers have existed, Stamp customers have been (optical isolation), has visual indicators for digital I/O
very industrious ... and now, with a little help from the ports, provides for an optional four channel, 12-bit ADC,
Stamp PLC, Stamp users can have a nice product that will and has a clean power supply for the circuitry. As would
help them get industrial. be expected, the Stamp PLC mounts on a standard DIN
The Stamp PLC isn't the first time Stamp modules rail, and can be powered with 18 to 36 volts DC (24 VDC
have been fitted for an industrial environment, but it does is standard for industrial applications). Finally, profession-
offer a package that is more similar to large scale, high- als will appreciate that the Stamp PLC meets the require-
dollar products — and is a good fit when a "standard" PLC ments to carry the CE certification mark.
(and its expensive development software) isn't required. Since we're starting a new year, I thought I'd try some-
One of my first "pro" uses of a BASIC Stamp was to thing different. As the code for the Stamp PLC is not par-
replace a $1,200.00 PLC that wasn't behaving as desired ticularly complex, what I thought I'd do is compare code
(it was part of a trade show display). When the display for two different Stamp modules: the stock BS2 and the
company couldn't reprogram the PLC (they had farmed Javelin Stamp (my choice for Stamp PLC projects).
out that task), my boss asked me to "fix" it. I did by replac- Whoa ... this is different; two languages in one article.
ing the PLC with a BASIC Stamp 1 module and some tri- Yes, it is. The reason for it though is that many BASIC
acs. My boss was happy, the display looked and worked Stamp users have been experimenting with the Javelin
great, and my employer saved about $1,150.00. and some are not being as successful as they would like
The Stamp PLC was developed for Parallax by Lawicel to be right out of the gate. Part of that is human nature;
the BASIC Stamp is very easy to use and the Javelin
Figure 1. Inside the Stamp PLC. Stamp is quite a sophisticated little beast and takes a bit
of time getting used to, especially for those that haven't
programmed in Java or C. That doesn't mean that the
Javelin is difficult to use, it's just different. By looking at
listings side-by-side, it may help those wanting to work
with the Javelin get up and running, ultimately taking
advantage of some of the Javelin's unique features.
Do keep in mind that the Javelin is still a new kid on the
block, and has a lot of really great features that aren't yet
available in BASIC Stamps. The timer object, for example, is
very useful in the Stamp PLC and you'll see how it gets used
to set the I/O scan and process interval to a specific rate.
NUTS & VOLTS
Okay, then, let's crack open the Stamp PLC and get started.
Stamp
To be perfectly honest with you, one of the trickiest
aspects of the Stamp PLC is opening the enclosure so
84 JANUARY 2004
Stamp.qxd 12/4/2003 10:01 AM Page 85
ms Stamp
that we can install our 24-pin Stamp. Again, the enclosure Let's start with some hardware definitions. The BASIC
is designed well and intended for a grungy industrial envi- Stamp first:
ronment, so there's no slop. On the back (opposite the I/O
connections label), you'll find three slots where you can use Clock PIN 0
Ld165 PIN 1
a small screwdriver to release the locking tabs that hold the Di165 PIN 2
case halves together. Go slowly, as the DIN rail lock is AdcCS PIN 3
spring-loaded and if you're not careful, it can go flying. (Ask AdcDo PIN 4
me how I know ...) AdcDi PIN 5
Once the case is open, you'll see two sockets: a wide
24-pin socket for the Stamp and a skinny DIP socket for Okay, these are easy. Now let's look at the same pin
the optional MAX1270 ADC. Install the Stamp so that pin definitions in the Javelin Stamp:
1 is oriented toward the input connectors; do the same for
the MAX1270. static final int CLOCK = CPU.pin0;
static final int LD_165 = CPU.pin1;
Before we put the Stamp PLC back together, we need static final int DI_165 = CPU.pin2;
to configure the MAX1270 input channels. We have two static final int ADC_CS = CPU.pin3;
choices: voltage or 4-20 mA inputs. Adjacent to the right static final int ADC_DO = CPU.pin4;
side of the MAX1270, you'll see a line of eight header static final int ADC_DI = CPU.pin5;
posts; these are organized as two posts for each channel.
If we want to measure voltage (which is software config- Okay, before you run out the door screaming ... take a
urable for various ranges), we leave the jumper out. If we deep breath, it's not so hard. What I can tell you is that set-
want a particular channel to measure a 4-20 mA current ting up a program in the Javelin does require a bit more
signal, we need to add the jumper. Figure 1 shows the effort. What you'll find, though, is that as the program
inside of my Stamp PLC with a Javelin installed, the grows very large, things get easier to deal with in the
MAX1270 installed, and channel four of the ADC inputs Javelin versus the BASIC Stamp, especially since the
configured for a 4-20 mA current signal. Javelin allows us to have 32K of contiguous memory and
a bunch more variable space. When we get into reusable
What's In a Name? class modules, it's a whole new world.
Let's press on. The keyword "static" is very important
Those of you that know me know that I am a bit of a as it allows us to define a constant, variable, or method (a
maniac when it comes to what I consider "proper" code Java function or procedure) as part of a class instead of as
writing — a big part of that is using well-planned constant, part of an object. What this lets us do is use that constant,
variable, and label names to make writing, reading, and variable, or method without declaring an object. An exam-
especially debugging my code a lot easier. Technically, ple of this is the CPU class that declares many static values
PBASIC has no formal standards for
naming and formatting, but many of
us have adopted standards used by
other flavors of BASIC (notably,
Visual BASIC).
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JANUARY 2004 85
Stamp.qxd 12/4/2003 3:03 PM Page 86
Stamp
There is actually a second stage between most of the readDigInputs() is defined as "static int" — this should make
input isolators and the Stamp: a 74HC165 shift register. sense based on our earlier discussion. This method is part
The 74HC165 allows us to get eight inputs using just three of our class (not an object) and the result is going to return
Everything For Electronics
Stamp pins. We've used the 74HC165 before, but for an integer value to the caller (main part of the program or
review, we use it like this: "blip" the Load line low momen- other methods). Next, we define a local (temporary) vari-
tarily to load the inputs, then use SHIFTIN to move them able to hold the inputs before we return them to the caller.
into the Stamp. What follows are two lines of code that have a direct
JANUARY 2004
86
Stamp.qxd 12/4/2003 10:02 AM Page 87
Stamp
correlation to the PBASIC example above. As I stated ear- of this method since the BASIC Stamp doesn't pass
lier, the CPU class contains methods for embedded con- parameters or return values. How do we do it then? We
trol, many that are duplicates of PBASIC functions. Aside simply call the Read_DigIns subroutine and look at the
from the basic syntax adjustment, the only item of note is aliased bit variable of our choosing.
that the CPU.shiftIn() method requires a bit-width value.
The next section reads the direct inputs, albeit indirect- GOSUB Read_DigIns
IF (din7 = IsOn) THEN Go_Do_Something
ly. You see, Java doesn't know anything about hardware
like PBASIC does. So the Javelin provides another method
in the CPU class called readPin() that will do this for us. Alright, we're halfway through the digital section —
This method will return true if the input is high, false if the more than halfway, actually, since the Stamp PLC digital
input is low. Since our direct inputs are active-low, we will outputs are direct connections and very easy to deal with.
add the appropriate bits to the inBits value. If you've never Again, let me clarify: when I say direct, I mean that we have
programmed in C or Java, this line may look odd: a one-to-one control ratio with the output pins; that way
when we change an output pin on the Stamp, it will direct-
inBits |= 0x100; ly affect the output. Of course, the Stamp module is pro-
tected from the cold cruel world of the industrial environ-
In Java (as in C), there are occasional programming ment. The first line of protection is an optical isolation
shortcuts that save us some typing. Here's the long version stage similar to Figure 2, then the outputs themselves are
of that line: driven through high-side drivers.
A high-side driver is designed to control the "hot" side
inBits = inBits | 0x100; of a circuit with the other side connecting to ground (digi-
tal output ground). Since a short circuit could create a real
And if we had to do it that way in PBASIC, it would look problem for the output stage, the high-side drivers monitor
pretty much the same: output current and (device) temperature, and will shut
down an output in the event of a problem.
inBits = inBits | $0100 The code for controlling outputs is as simple as you'd
expect. To keep the software simple, output variables use
Once all the bits are collected, we return them to the a "1" for on, and "0" for off. This being the case, all we have
caller. This comes in handy when we want to look at all the to do is invert the data and write it to the Stamp port —
input pins, and is an aid when we want to check the status OUTH (aliased as DOuts) for the BASIC Stamp, PORTB
of just one. Let's have a look at a method for checking a for the Javelin Stamp.
single input:
Update_DigOuts:
static boolean readDigIn(int digIn) { DOuts = ~digOuts
RETURN
int mask;
boolean active;
Figure 3. 74HC165 Connections.
if (digIn <= DIN10) {
mask = 0x001 << digIn;
active = ((readDigInputs() & mask) == mask);
}
else {
active = OFF;
}
return active;
Stamp
boolean status;
return status;
Figure 4. Stamp PLC Analog Input Protection Circuit.
}
And here's how we do the same thing in the Javelin:
This method, while simple, is a bit interesting in that
static void writeDigOutputs(int newOuts) { it demonstrates how using a return value can be helpful,
even though we're executing a command and not looking
CPU.writePort(CPU.PORTB, (byte)(newOuts ^ 0xFF));
for a value. The writeDigOut() method returns a Boolean
} (true or false) to let us know if the output value we passed
was valid. To some this will seem like overkill, but when
The reason that the writeDigOutputs() accepts an we're creating programs that others will use, it's always a
integer value is that this will allow the programmer to pass good idea to provide helpful ideas like this to protect our
integers or bytes — this makes things easier as the default friends from themselves!
variable type in the Javelin is the int. In the When a proper value is passed (0-7, aliased as DOUT1-
CPU.writePort() parameters, we end up type-casting the DOUT8), the code will look up the pin value from the DOUTS
out value to a byte as this is a requirement for the array and use CPU.writePin() to update the pin. Since the
method. state value is Boolean, the ! (not) operator is used to invert it.
In the Javelin, we invert the bits by using the exclu- We can't pass parameters in the BASIC Stamp, but
sive-Or operator. Done deal. what we can do is alias PIN definitions and create useful
In order to take advantage of the Java's parameter constants. So here's how we can affect an output when
passing, let's also create a method for controlling a single using the BASIC Stamp:
output:
Do1 = DirectOn
Stamp
the ADC. After the shunt you'll see a 100K, a 1K and a we're multiplying the raw ADC value by 1.05243. In order to
small cap. The 100K helps reduce noise susceptibility of get the best resolution, I used my buddy Tracy Allen's trick
the high-impedance ADC inputs by reducing the input with the ** (star-star) operator. Star-star, as you'll recall,
impedance a bit. The 1K limits current to the input and the allows us to multiply values in increments of 1/65536.
cap will bypass high-frequency noise. Figure 4 shows the Okay, now let's look at the same code in the Javelin:
analog input protection circuit.
The reason for discussing this is that these compo- static int readAnalog(int channel, int mode) {
nents will have a small effect on the input signal. I found
int config;
that when I applied 5.00 volts to an input pin, I was read- int adcRaw = 0;
ing about 4.75 volts at the ADC. This is no big problem;
after we read an ADC channel, we'll apply an adjustment config = ADC_CFG[mode * 4 + channel];
factor to scale the input to the "external" signal level. CPU.writePin(ADC_CS, false);
CPU.shiftOut(ADC_DO, CLOCK, 8, CPU.SHIFT_MSB, (config << 8));
Figure 5 shows the Stamp PLC connections to the CPU.writePin(ADC_CS, true);
MAX1270 ADC. As you can see, we're only using four of CPU.delay(1);
the eight analog channels; the others are tied to ground or CPU.writePin(ADC_CS, false);
Vdd (this is useful for device verification). The MAX1270, adcRaw = CPU.shiftIn(ADC_DI, CLOCK, 12, CPU.PRE_CLOCK_MSB);
CPU.writePin(ADC_CS, true);
like the 74HC165, is a synchronous serial device. A key dif-
ference is that the MAX1270 uses a chip select line so that // adjust counts for input divider (protection) circuity
its data lines can be shared with other devices. The // -- cal factor = (input on terminal) / (input to MAX1270)
74HC165 has no chip select, so the only common line // -- 1.05243
between the two is the clock. adcRaw = adcRaw + (adcRaw / 20) + (adcRaw / 412);
Accessing analog data is pretty easy: We select the
MAX1270 by taking the CS\ line low, use SHIFTOUT to return adcRaw;
send the configuration byte, then release the device. It
}
takes less than a millisecond for the conversion to take
place, but we do need to insert a very short delay to make
sure this happens. After that, we reselect the device and
use SHIFTIN to retrieve the 12-bit value.
The configuration byte tells the MAX1270 what range
to use and what channel to read. To make things easier,
possible configuration bytes are predefined as DATA
values in the BS2, and in a constant array in the Javelin.
Both versions of the program allow us to set the mode
(voltage range) and channel so that the configuration byte
can be retrieved.
Let's look at the BASIC Stamp code for reading a
channel:
Read_ADC:
READ AdcCfg + (mode * 4 + chan), config
LOW AdcCS
SHIFTOUT AdcDo, Clock, MSBFIRST, [config]
HIGH AdcCS
adcRaw = 0
LOW AdcCS
SHIFTIN AdcDi, Clock, MSBPRE, [adcRaw\12]
HIGH AdcCS
Stamp
The bulk of the code is not dramatically different, This is a very simple, yet incredibly powerful feature
except that we can pass the mode and channel values as of the Javelin. And it's tough to duplicate on the BASIC
parameters. Stamp with PAUSE, since any change in our operation
One thing you'll notice is that the config byte is shift- code means we have to adjust the PAUSE duration.
ed left by eight in the CPU.shiftOut() method. The reason The full listings include more demo code to study and
for this is that the Javelin uses integers internally and use, so be sure to download them from the Nuts & Volts
since we're shifting the MSB first, we have to move the website at www.nutsvolts.com
byte MSB (bit 7) to an int MSB (bit 15).
Now, there is no equivalent to the ** operator in the Whew ...
Javelin, and I wanted to keep the program simple and not
involve any classes beyond CPU. (Note: There is a simple Okay, I know that for some of you, your heads are
floating point math class available for the Javelin.) What spinning — imagine how I feel having spent three solid
this means, then, is that I had to do a little math to cre- days of my life writing this! I recently said to a friend that
ate the adjustment line. This was actually very easy. it is much easier to write a program than to write about a
What I did is split the fractional portion into two parts: program.
0.05 and 0.00243. Then I entered 0.05 into my calcula- I hope, though, that you found this article valuable,
tor and pressed the reciprocal (1/x) key — that gave especially if you've been a bit shy about trying the
me 20. Then I did the same thing with 0.00243 and Javelin. It has taken a little time to catch on, probably
got 412. because Java is a more disciplined language than PBA-
SIC, and takes some getting used to.
We are Ready for Timely That said, we're seeing more and more BASIC Stamp
Control users give the Javelin a try and do some really neat
things.
Up to this point, we've created I/O control routines for The good news is that Java is growing as a language
a generic controller. What do we do now? Well, anything and is being taught in more and more schools. And
we need or want to do. What I'd like to show you, though, remember that you can always run down to your favorite
is why the Javelin can be such a great little controller in bookstore and find shelves full of books on programming
industrial applications. in Java.
The Javelin has a timer object that runs in the back- While it's true that a lot of the programs in those
ground and can actually control as many timers as we books won't run on the Javelin (there is no GUI in an
might need in our program. Once we've defined a timer, embedded micro and other desktop computer stuff is
it simply increments its counts until we reset it with the irrelevant), the concepts and programming strategies are
mark() method. The simplest way to use a Javelin timer all valid.
is to check its count with the timeOut() method. Let's My favorite book on Java is called Head First Java
look at a simplified Javelin shell for a time-specific control by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates (ISBN 0596004656). It's
application. the first technical book I ever purchased that is actually
fun to work with.
public static void main() { Let me finish by saying that in my Javelin Stamp PLC
program, I actually kind-of violated the Java "norm" by
Timer scanTimer = new Timer();
scanTimer.mark(); not breaking my program into multiple classes. The rea-
son is that I wanted to create a project that was easy to
while (true) { use for programmers without much Java experience. As
my own Java expertise grows, I am doing that, and you
if (scanTimer.timeout(100)) {
scanTimer.mark(); can download a modular (with reusable classes for the
74HC165 and MAX1270) version of the Stamp PLC from
// control logic here the Parallax website (www.parallax.com).
Okay, I've had enough; have you? I thought so. Until
}
} next time then, Happy Stamping. NV
NUTS & VOLTS
Resources
Jon Williams
With the while loop (which will run forever), the timer is jwilliams@parallax.com
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JANUARY 2004 93
InTheTrenches.qxd 12/4/2003 11:44 AM Page 94
In The Trenches
Intellectual Property Protection
S
o, you've just conceived the Additional patent applications must nance fees.
best idea ever. How do you be made for foreign countries (with I recently called several patent
protect it? There are four basic a few exceptions). World-wide patent law firms to determine what the cur-
protection tools available that need protection is extremely expensive. rent costs were. I was told that typi-
to be defined before any discussion (If you have to ask "How much?" you cal utility patent costs are in the
can proceed: patents, copyrights, can't afford it.) A much more $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 range.
trademarks, and secrets. After the detailed presentation on patents was Remember, this is for the legal fees
definitions, the pros and cons will be published by Danny Graves in the associated with developing the
discussed. September 2003 issue of Nuts & patent.
Volts. There are some firms that will
Patents There is also the "Provisional simply file the patent for you. One
Patent Filing." This is a relatively firm I talked to would do this for
A patent is a formal government inexpensive method (about $1000.00. But that's all they do.
conferred right for the commercial $1,000.00) that basically provides a They don't look at the patent itself.
production of some product or preliminary date for filing. There are You can do everything yourself.
process by the US Patent and no patent claims and no patent However, this is risky. The actual
Trademark Office (PTO). There are examination. The PTO simply files patent protection comes from the
three areas of patent protection. The the invention and assigns a date. claims at the end of the patent. If
first is a "utility" patent. This is gen- You have a year to apply for a formal these are not written properly, the
erally the "better mousetrap" group patent. patent may not cover very much.
of products. However, this also Usually this is used to determine Look at some patent claims.
includes procedures. For example, if the value/market of an invention You'll see that they have a writing
you have developed a new way of before filing for a standard patent. style that is not transparent. It's
doing something, rather than the The important point is that the difficult to follow what the claims
something itself, you can get a invention has a date assigned to it. mean. It's much harder to write the
patent. This helps settle disputes about who claims. At the very least, a patent
Then there are "design" patents. filed first for similar inventions. professional should review your
These are for the appearance of a application, not just file it.
product, rather than for its perform- My Patent Story
ance. You can patent the front panel Copyrights
layout, for example, so that no one In April 1996, I went to a patent
can make a product that looks like attorney and started the patent pro- Anything written on paper can
yours. cedure. I did most of the work. I be copyrighted by simply saying so.
Lastly, there is the bio-medical wrote the body of the patent and The copyright symbol — a "C" with a
"plant" patents. These are for gene- drew the illustrations. The attorney circle around it — can also be used.
modification and the byproducts wrote the claims and an associate The date should be included, but is
from them. You probably aren't like- re-drew the illustrations to the proper not necessary. A copyright provides
ly to be involved in this, if you're specifications. It was filed with the legal rights against the direct copy-
reading this magazine. PTO on August 2, 1996. ing of text or pictures.
NUTS & VOLTS
Patents provide a legal basis for After the patent review and addi- The electronic "paper" of the
a lawsuit and can be enforced for up tional clarifications, the patent was Internet is somewhat vague in some
to 14 years. The original idea of the granted on September 29, 1998 details about copyrights. But, gener-
Everything For Electronics
patent was to provide protection for (Patent 5,815,101). The elapsed ally, if someone copies what you
the start-up of a business until the time was about 2.5 years. My costs have written, without your permis-
business could become established. were $9,195.00. And that doesn't sion, you have a basis for a lawsuit.
US patents are not good overseas. include continuing patent mainte- Obviously, you cannot copyright
JANUARY 2004
94
InTheTrenches.qxd 12/4/2003 1:36 PM Page 95
te In The Trenches
the alphabet or individual words. obtain your secret, you can sue. no protection.
Common sense applies here. If
someone copies a chapter of your Protection Fallacies Fallacy 3: The advertisement says
book, you have a good case. If some- that the product is patented, so it
one uses the same sentence, your Here are several urban legends must work.
case isn't as good. that are associated with patents and Patents only show originality, not
Copyrights were developed to invention protection. efficacy. I can get a patent for attach-
protect writers from outright theft of ing magnets to house flies so that
their work. It basically says that you Fallacy 1: I'll write a letter to when they land on a steel garbage
cannot COPY someone else's work. myself that contains my invention. can, they can't fly away. The patent
Note, it does NOT protect the infor- When it arrives, I won't open it, so examiner doesn't care if the invention
mation contained in the words. I'll have proof of when I thought works or not; or if it's practical or not.
of it. This will give me patent Only if it's new. A patent in no way
Trade Names and protection. suggests that a product works as
Trademarks This is absolutely useless. A advertised!
patent is given according to the filing
A trademark is a unique indica- date. It you don't file, you have no Fallacy 4: I want to manufacture
tor of a business. The US PTO con- protection. my product, so I need a patent.
fers trademark status for the US. It is A patent only provides a legal
generally quite inexpensive to regis- Fallacy 2: I'll copyright my soft- basis for a lawsuit if someone copies
ter a trademark, usually less than ware. That way, I'll protect the your invention. It is not needed for
$1,000.00. Of course, if you want to special method I've developed for manufacturing or business.
register green double arches for your obtaining square-roots.
fast-food restaurant, you may face an Wrong! All you are protecting is Fallacy 5: If I don't patent my
argument. the actual code, not the idea. invention, then someone else could
Trademark protection was devel- Someone else can take the proce- do so and prevent me from manu-
oped to prevent customer confusion. dure and simply use a different lan- facturing it.
For example, I couldn't trademark guage. If you are already selling your
green double arches for my fast-food Even the same language can be invention before your competitor
restaurant named McDougle's. used, if the code is changed enough files, there should be no problem.
However, if my name was McDougle so that it looks different. (Didn't you You may have to prove this in court.
and I was in the bridge building busi- do the same thing in school?) If the In fact, in this case, if you inform the
ness, then I probably could trade- code is not actually copied, there is PTO of this, the patent might be with-
mark green double arches.
Obviously, a customer knows the
difference between a hamburger and
a bridge. Order Your Copy Now
A classic example of this is
Apple Records and Apple Computer. On CD-ROM Jan 2002 — Jan 2003
Everyone knows the difference (13 Issues)
between a recording and a computer, The Last Year is now available from Poptronix
right? Except that Apple Computer is Inc. on a single very interactive CD-ROM.
now allowing music downloads. The Every page of every issue — all thirteen from
line between the companies is get- January 2002 through the final issue published,
ting fuzzy. It is my understanding that January 2003 are on this one disc.
legal negotiations are underway.
Every page is faithfully reproduced just as it
Secrecy originally appeared — including the front cover, Mail Orders to:
all editorial and all advertising pages. Every Poptronix Inc.
Sometimes, simply keeping page of every issue is printable so you can print
secrets is good protection. If you a hard copy in actual size and full color of the 7065 W Ann Rd #130-999
have a method of manufacturing that article of your choice. Las Vegas, NV 89130
costs less, simply don't tell anyone. Just $24.99 All questions should be
Trade secret law might protect you, Plus $2.99 Shipping In USA addressed to:
although you have no guarantee. If PoptronixInc@aol.com
someone uses illegal methods to
JANUARY 2004 95
InTheTrenches.qxd 12/4/2003 11:45 AM Page 96
In The Trenches
drawn. However, since you have no (And, if your basic profit isn't at least for post-sampling anti-aliasing has
patent, you can't stop your competi- this big, you'll have problems mak- not made any money for me.)
tor from manufacturing the product, ing money.)
too. So, the question here is can you Less Direct
If the competitor files before you afford it? Would that $10,000.00 be Protection Methods
start selling your product, then you better spent on advertising or better
have a problem. This is the basic manufacturing equipment? It is sur-
— Secrecy
reason for obtaining a patent in the prising how often this fundamental There are things you can do to
first place — to give the patent-hold- consideration is ignored. make your product less likely to be
er an advantage. The second point is what I call copied. Remember, copiers are look-
the "Wow" factor. If a customer looks ing for an easy buck. Making it diffi-
Patent and at your product and thinks "Wow. cult for them aids your protection.
Marketing Scams How can they sell this so cheaply?" That said, there is still no guarantee
then there is little chance of some- that someone won't copy it.
Beware of any company that one copying your product. For embedded software, the
says it will "develop and market" Conversely, if they think "Gee, I best protection is the code-protect
your idea. If you are lucky, they will could make this for 1/10 the cost!" option of the microcontroller. This
include your idea in a book of hun- then there is incentive for copying. prevents anyone from reading out or
dreds or thousands of other unrelat- More simply put, a good product at copying the code. If you aren't using
ed ideas and send them off to a a good price is often all the protec- such a controller, you should.
handful of uninterested companies. tion you need. This is also called Putting the code into an ordinary
It's human nature to want to see good business. The object of copiers EPROM is just like publishing it.
your idea succeed. These people is to make money. If someone can't If you have to have an external
use that for their profit. Only work make a lot of money duplicating ROM or RAM, then encode the data.
with reputable agencies. your product, they won't. This doesn't have to be a sophisticat-
There are others who will get a Generally, I suggest to my ed cipher. There are lots of simple
"design" patent instead of a "utility" clients that patenting a product is procedures that can be frustrating to
patent. It's much cheaper for them. not cost effective. The money can would-be thieves. For example,
But, of course, a design patent only usually be better spent in other change the LSB/MSB order in every
covers what the product looks like, areas. If a patent dispute should other location. Add spurious and
not what it does. So, it's not very arise, it will cost a lot of money to meaningless data. Change the data
useful for you. Understand what you resolve. Can you afford to front values by their address. Be creative!
are getting before you pay your $100,000.00 in legal fees? How It won't take you much time to re-
money. many sales will be needed to recoup code your data, since you know
these expenses if you lose? (If you what you are doing. But, to an out-
Protection win, often the other side pays for the sider, it will be a mess. (Be sure to
Guidelines legal costs.) document what you do so that
Probably the most difficult thing authorized technicians can properly
Obviously, there is no way to to do is place a realistic "worth" esti- troubleshoot the unit.)
discuss all possible methods of mate on an invention. The inventor Always add "copyright" to all
protection for all cases. However, it is always thinks it's worth much more code. It may not be worth too much
possible to sketch out some basic than it is. That's just human nature. but it's easy to do and can give some
guidelines. However, calculating the worth protection. Even if it's only psycho-
There are two basic considera- through a realistic sales volume logical.
tions that have to be made before provides a more objective guideline. Also, copyright all printed circuit
thinking about a patent. The first is Of course, over-estimating sales boards. This is important and useful.
financial. If you spend $10,000.00 volume is also common. Be It means that a potential thief has to
on a patent, how many units must conservative. re-layout the board. This means
NUTS & VOLTS
you sell to recover that investment? I tell my clients that a patent more work and potential problems.
Suppose your product's selling price should be considered for a process Copyrighting schematic dia-
is $500.00 and the basic profit is (not product), if that process has grams and other drawings is also
$200.00 per unit. You have to sell 50 widespread utility. For example, if useful. Technically, if they copy your
Everything For Electronics
units to recover that cost. On the you've figured out a process for product and try to produce it, they
other hand, If your product sells for sending data at 1 mega-bits/sec. are sometimes forced to copy the
$50.00 and the basic profit is over ordinary telephone lines, seri- documentation. This may give you a
$20.00, you have to sell 500 units. ously consider a patent. (My patent legal basis for a lawsuit.
96 JANUARY 2004
InTheTrenches.qxd 12/4/2003 11:45 AM Page 97
Non-disclosure
Agreements
Often you want to share your
information with another company.
This may be because you want them
to provide financial support or you
want them to produce your product.
In this case, you want a "Non-
JANUARY 2004 97
InTheTrenches.qxd 12/4/2003 11:46 AM Page 98
In The Trenches
Conclusion
There are a lot of methods you
can use to protect your idea. No
method is best and the procedure
you choose depends on your situa-
NUTS & VOLTS
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News Bytes
Your Personal Robot Minion command. I wonder if the arms are jointed properly to
place their hands over their ears? (You can view a video clip
he Nuts & Volts editorial
T
staff recently had the
opportunity to visit COMDEX
we shot of the RoboSapiens in action from our website,
www.nutsvolts.com)
Tech Forum
Tech Forum
I'd like a circuit that can capture
theater or TV scene breaks based on
sudden variations in screen light. I
tried this with an LDR and a few
transistors driving a small relay linked
Christmas tree lights but it requires to a counter, but the response was not
QUESTIONS programming a chip which I don't fast. Using a phototransistor, I got
know how to do. I've seen these in vertical sync pulses instead of scene
Does anyone have software for stores and I suppose I could buy one breaks. I did find some capture ideas
the old PC82 device programmer? and take it apart, but I expect they based on digital principles and the
The manufacturers, Citadel Products, also have programmed chips. analysis of MPEG images. Does
LTD., England, does not respond to If I could figure out how to use a anyone have any ideas about how to
Email. nine volt triangle wave generator to do this?
#1041 Cassie Carstens control a 110 VAC circuit I might have #1044 A. L. Sairam
South Africa what I want. Any suggestions out Brazil
there?
I've been studying electronics on #1042 Glenn Erickson I'd like to build a simple interval
my own but am still a novice. I would via Internet timer to run a 12 volt CPU cooling
like to light a crystal from underneath fan. It should turn the fan on for five
with lights that slowly illuminate and How can I burn old and obsolete minutes and then off for about three.
fade to produce different colors. I tapes and records onto CDs? I have a If it was adjustable, that would be
have made a couple different circuits CD-R/W drive and have copied CDs, even better. Does anyone have a
using blue, red, and green LEDs and but I can't figure out how to input schematic for such a device?
triangle wave circuits but they are not from an outside-the-computer source. #1045 Bob Eshoo
as bright as I'd like. #1043 Anonymous Santa Monica, CA
I've seen a circuit using via Internet
I was in a shop and observed a
This is a READER-TO-READER Column. All indicate to that effect. desk clerk verify that the stone in a
questions AND answers will be provided by • Comments regarding answers printed in this diamond ring was genuine. He used a
Nuts & Volts readers and are intended to column may be printed in the Reader probe device that became warm at
promote the exchange of ideas and provide Feedback section if space allows. the tip, it was placed against the stone
assistance for solving problems of a technical in question, and a red or green LED
nature. All questions submitted are subject to QUESTION INFO illuminated to indicate authenticity. I
editing and will be published on a space To be considered know diamonds conduct electricity
available basis if deemed suitable to the All questions should relate to one or more of (actually, they don't — Editor Dan)
publisher. All answers are submitted by readers the following: but how does this thermal testing
and NO GUARANTEES WHATSOEVER are 1) Circuit Design device work?
made by the publisher. The implementation of 2) Electronic Theory
#1046 Gordon McKittrick
any answer printed in this column may require 3) Problem Solving
4) Other Similar Topics
Haure, MT
varying degrees of technical experience and
should only be attempted by qualified
individuals. Always use common sense and Information/Restrictions I've seen ads for 100 — 150 foot
good judgement! • No questions will be accepted that offer USB boosters that use standard CAT-
equipment for sale or equipment wanted to 5 cabling. How would one go about
Send all material to Nuts & Volts Magazine, 430 buy. building one of these? It seems to me
Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879, OR fax • Selected questions will be printed one time all it would need to be is a couple of
to (909) 371-3052, OR email to on a space available basis. high speed amps, one near the PC,
forum@nutsvolts.com • Questions may be subject to editing. and one more on the other end of the
cable, with power being supplied
ANSWER INFO Helpful Hints through one of the other pairs in the
• Include the question number that appears • Be brief but include all pertinent information. cable.
directly below the question you are responding If no one knows what you’re asking, you won’t #1047 Ross
to. get any response (and we probably won’t print via Internet
• Payment of $25.00 will be sent if your answer it either).
is printed. Be sure to include your mailing • Write legibly (or type). If we can’t read it, we’ll I have a Super-8 motion picture
address if responding by email or we can not throw it away.
camera that runs on a 7.2 volt
send payment. • Include your Name, Address, Phone Number,
battery. The problem I'm having is
• Your name, city, and state, will be printed in and Email. Only your name, city, and state will
the magazine, unless you notify us otherwise. If be published with the question, but we may
that it doesn't run in sync with the
you want your email address printed also, need to contact you. sound. I recorded the sound on a
digital real-time recorder, but the
JANUARY 2004 101
Tech Forum.qxd 12/5/2003 1:04 PM Page 102
Tech Forum
camera dosen't have real time sync. above ground? I suspect one lead is create a "ground loop" when
I’m going crazy looking for kits or the driver and the other is a muting connected to ungrounded stereos.
plans to build my own crystal sync as control. (I do not want to use a strap- You might try just running a ground
I can't afford to pay $800.00 for a on amplifier.) wire from your stereo to a good
commercial unit. Can anyone please #10413 K. A. Caldwell electrical ground (but don't go
help me find a kit or plans on building via Internet sticking it in a wall outlet!). Or, easier
my own crystal sync for a 7.2 volt but more expensive, go to
motor? I tried searching the Internet I have an old TRS-80, and some RadioShack and pick up a 270-054
but there is no information available! idiot overwrote the master disk when Ground Loop Isolator. This product is
Thank you! I loaned it out! I am looking for a actually for the car stereo market, but
#1048 Alfredo Parra replacement that works, and will pay for about $15.00, it solves most audio
via Internet for a download, disk, or any fix. ground loop problems found around
#10414 Robert Gibson computers, too. Just use it between
I salvaged some lithium-ion via Internet your sound card and stereo. It's a pair
rechargeable batteries to use in a of audio transformers encased in a
project and now I need to build a I have a Compaq Presario 1277 'blob.’ I keep one around for solving
charger for them. They are 3.6V, 1200 laptop, with a Li-Ion battery bearing just this sort of problem.
mAh in size. I have a NiMH battery the notation "14.8V, 3.2AHr." I'd like Jim Addie
charger already, can I use that? to know what this actually means, La Grange Park, IL
#1049 Raymond Capton and if possible, how to calculate the
Troy, MI battery's actual output, the amount of [11032 - November 2003]
time it will supply needed power, etc. I need a circuit that can
I am looking for a simple circuit I also wonder if it's at all possible measure viscosity of oil at
that will electronically report the to replace this battery with a home temperatures up to 250 degrees F
amount of angular rotation about an made solution, from something I read and under pressures of up to 200
axis, to 0.1 degrees resolution. Does several issues back about super PSI. I was thinking that a quartz
anyone have a reference to the parts capacitors (1 Farad and greater). crystal, with a self resonating
to construct such a sensor? #10415 Phillip Lessley circuit, could just measure the
#10410 Bill Hepner via Internet different frequencies, as I know
via Internet temperature would affect the
ANSWERS results. Would this work? I could
I am looking for circuit that would submerse a motorized paddle in the
measure femtofarad amounts of [10038 - October 2003] oil and measure the motor current,
capacitance. I am also trying to build I have taken the output from but it would be hard to build
tunnel diode oscillator that would my PC sound card and run it into because of the pressure,
oscillate at 1 GHz. Does anyone know the phono input on the back of my temperature, and sealing.
where to buy tunnel diodes? Thank stereo. I have this loud hum coming
you for your help. from my speakers along with the The device you are asking about
#10411 George Zrilic audio from my PC. is known as a viscometer. Googling
via Internet "viscometer" produced over 38,000
You are hearing hum from your web pages, the overwhelming
I want to create a digital sound card for two reasons. First, you majority of which are from
thermometer with a four Nixie tube are using the "phono" input of your manufacturers or distributors of
display. I am really having difficulty stereo, which is highly equalized for commercial viscometers.
finding anything even remotely close playback of records (big black round Your idea of using a motor-driven
to this. Can anyone point me in the things with grooves). In addition to paddle is not bad, although many
right direction? I'm mainly looking for being a high gain input for dealing rotational viscometers use a cylinder
a circuit design ... hopefully, I can with the tiny signals found on phono rotating within a slightly larger
figure out the rest. cartridges, it emphasizes the bass cylinder to achieve the same effect.
#10412 Mike Galloway much more than you need, and will The problem lies in the fact that you
via Internet therefore amplify any hum on your must then know how to convert the
NUTS & VOLTS
does not care to answer why. Could is unequalized, and of the proper readings, typically measured in
someone throw together a circuit that gain. kinematic centistokes or pascals.
might amplify the output that drives The second reason you get so Surprisingly, a physics student at
the receiver, both ends of which are much hum is many computers can Imperial College, University of
JANUARY 2004
102
Tech Forum.qxd 12/5/2003 1:05 PM Page 103
Tech Forum
London has a paper on the web that 1S1587 diodes can be used. compound, replace some parts,
details the theory and process of However, I have been unable to find replace the potting compound, and
designing and building a a source for these parts that will retune the VCO. ASB0973 talks to
microprocessor-controlled send or sell me just a few. two transistors and one varactor
viscometer. Go to www.hanssum diode. Note that if you do the repair
mers.com/electronics/viscometer #1 Go to the Kenwood website, yourself, take your time, be careful,
/visc.htm for the illustrated paper. enter the service bulletin section and and watch how you are monkeying
Copying such a device exactly would locate bulletins ASB0973 (TS-440S around in the small compartment
theoretically save you having to buy a PLL UNLOCK DUE TO VCO, dated that the VCO is contained within. It is
commercial viscometer in order to 08/08/90) and ASB0974 (TS-440S a 'doable' job ... but you must take
calibrate a home-built viscometer. PLL UNLOCK DUE TO PLL#1, dated your time and be patient! If in doubt,
Good luck on your project, and I hope 08/08/90). let a professional do it. It may cost
this helps. The most likely cause is found in more, but peace of mind is less
Gary Sandino bulletin 0973. Kenwood advised that expensive than a repair bill for the
via Internet the rubberized potting compound problem and the added costs for
ages and causes the components to repairing your zorched up work, as
[10039 - October 2003] become "heat sensitive." The unit will well!
My Kenwood TS440S is cool off, and then the VCO will Before replacing parts, try the
beginning to present symptoms unlock, causing all dots to appear on following (which worked on my
(frequency drift and intermittent the display. When the dial is rotated, 440SAT.) The VCO is located inside a
dots in the display) of PLL unlock. the display will return but as soon as small, silver-colored metal box with a
Service bulletins at Kenwood.net the dial stops being moved, the cover atop it. This cover can be gently
suggest that replacing a fist full of display will return to all dots. After the pried up and removed. It is a press-fit
diodes with new diodes of any of 440S heats up, the VCO will "drift into friction fit cover. Inside, you will see
these types — 1S2588,1SS91S, and lock" and the rig will work. whitish potting compound, a small IF-
BA282 — will cure the problem. Kenwood bulletins note that the style transformer with the top-
Additionally, I have heard that "cure" is to remove the potting accessible adjustable slug, and other
Tech Forum
components. This is the VCO. JVC AC power supply (Model AAV- pin DIN connect. As a professional
There is a small IF-can sized coil 40) for that camera has an cameraman, you will recognize that
labeled in the service manual extension cable that will supply as being the video industry standard
(available from www.w7fg.com) on DC voltage instead of the battery, if connector for DC power. Full specs
page 72, "PLL UNIT VIEW," identified desired. The book says that the can be found at: www.digital
as T20. Due to vibration, the slug of battery is 7.2 volts and that the AC production.info/hd10uMatteBox.
T20 can move, and this will cause power supply puts out 6.3 volts. htm
the VCO to go into an unlock mode Can I power this camera with a 12 Jon B. Bushey
or shift the tuning of the VCO to the volt gelcell without damaging it? I Salt Lake City, UT
hairy edge of being locked. suspect I can because devices like
Dial in a known frequency (I use this can use automobile lighter [11031 - November 2003]
WWV) and measure the VCO voltage adapters that sell for about $15.00, I am using a 4017 sequencer
as per Kenwood's recommendation, so, I doubt there are any magic IC to light a small Christmas
and gently (using a proper tuning voltage regulation circuits in them. display, using the first nine steps
tool) rotate the slug and watch the to light each element. On the tenth
440S display. At some point, the #1 Don't plug that 12 V into your step, I would like all nine outputs
display will change from dots to the little camcorder! There's a good to light up, and then repeat. I am
frequency you selected. You should reason why the batteries and the AC using relays (12 volts, 700 ohm
hear the receiver come back to life. supply hang around 6 V. If you want coil) to interface the IC and
You may have to tune the coil to get to run the camera off your 12 V display, but, I can't get the nine
the station you tuned in to be heard. gelcells, do it the safe way, and outputs to light all at once.
This is only a way of proving that purchase the JVC AP-V8U car cord
you can adjust the VCO back into designed for your camera ($49.00 Outputs for the 10 taps of the
range to lock. You will probably have from www.jvcservice.com). 4017 are T0=pin 3, T1=2, T2=4,
to replace the parts as shown in the Its specs say it's a 12 V in, 6 V T3=7, T4=10, T5=1, T6=5, T7=6,
ASB0973 bulletin. Retune the VCO 1.8 A out device, so yes, it does have T8=9, and T9=11. For each of your
as per the service bulletin. a regulator in it. Then, shoot by relay inputs — which should be
Chuck Reville K3FT www.partsxpress.com and pick up connected to one of these T# points
Baltimore, MD a 265-235 cigarette lighter extension — you need to insert a two-input "OR"
cord. You only are after the nice cord gate. If we name the relay coil wire
#2 BA282 diodes are stocked by mounted socket, which you can cut previously connected to T0 as "R0,"
Surplus Sales of Nebraska. Their off, leaving a few inches of wire. then "R0" connects to the output of a
telephone number is 402-346-4750. Crimp on a couple of 1/4" F- two-input "OR" gate whose inputs are
Anthony Caristi disconnects (095-300 from "T0" and "T9." "R1" connects to the
Waldwick, NJ partsxpress) which should mate with output of a two-input "OR" gate
your gelcells, and carefully check whose inputs are "T1" and "T9". This
#3 Two of the diodes you listed — polarity to make sure you are feeding pattern carries through for the
the BA282 and the 1S1587 — are + to the center of the lighter socket. remainder of the relays.
listed in the catalog of RF Parts, San Plug in the car cord, and you'll feed Typical "OR gate" ICs such as
Marco, CA. I have not checked stock. your camcorder its favorite flavor of the TI CD4071B only contain four
Their toll free number is 800-737- nicely regulated 6 VDC. gates, so you would need three chips
2787. I have had limited dealings You'll probably find similar parts to handle T1-T9. I have not tried this,
with them, but they have proven very at RadioShack too, but stick with the but I think you could do this much
responsive. JVC car cord. cheaper by implementing your own
Mark Van Sickle KG4ORA Jim Addie "OR" gates with a pair of diodes:
via Internet La Grange Park, IL
T0 ——|>|—— +
#4 These parts can be ordered #2 Rapid LLC makes the product + —— R0
online from www.pacparts.com you need. It has been tested with JVC T9 ——|>|—— +
The BA282 was in stock when I cameras and works great. The
checked for $1.74 each. I hope the design of the product is based upon Assuming that the voltage drop
NUTS & VOLTS
repair is successful! TI's Integrated Switching Regulator. It across the diodes still leaves enough
Howard Krausse is a bad idea to simply put 12 volts voltage to drive your relay coils, this
Ann Arbor, MI into an expensive device that should serve to isolate your inputs. A
requires just 6.3 volts. Schottky diode such as a 1N5817 is
Everything For Electronics
[100310 - October 2003] The ISR is a high efficiency recommended to minimize the
I have a JVC handy-cam (Mini- voltage regulator that will provide the voltage drop.
DV Model DVL 505). It has a small correct voltage to your camera. This Barry Cole
battery that does not last long. The product accepts input through a four via Internet
JANUARY 2004
104
IndexJan04.qxd 12/4/2003 3:54 PM Page 105
Advertiser’s Index
Abacom Technologies ............18 Connecticut microComputer, Inc. ..12 Innoventions, Inc. ...................39 PAiA Electronics ......................39 Scientifics ...............................25
ActiveWire, Inc. .......................38 Cunard Associates .................38 Intronics, Inc. ..........................39 Parallax, Inc. ........... Back Cover Scott Edwards Electronics, Inc. .100
All Electronics Corp. ...............26 Earth Computer Technologies ...38 IVEX .......................................97 PCB123 ................................100 SGC ..........................................7
Amazon Electronics ................39 Electro Mavin ..........................60 Kronos Robotics & Electronics ...22 PCBexpress ............................12 Simulation Software Tech Corp. .15
AM Research, Inc. ..................39 Electronic Design Specialists....54 LabJack ...................................10 PCB Fab Express ...................34 Solutions Cubed .....................11
Autotime Corp. ........................39 Electronix Express ..................24 Lemos International Co., Inc. ....10 Pioneer Hill Software ...............35 Square 1 Electronics ..............37
Autotrax EDA ..........................13 EMAC, Inc. .............................34 Linx Technologies ...................29 Polaris Industries .....................31 Surplus Sales of Nebraska .....17
Bellin Dynamic Systems, Inc. ....38 Eptsoft Limited ........................48 Lynxmotion, Inc. ...............38, 54 Poptronix, Inc. .........................95 Syspec, Inc. ............................38
BitScope Designs ...................28 ExpressPCB ...........................89 M2L Electronics ......................38 Pulsar .....................................55 Technological Arts ..................75
C & S Sales, Inc. ....................20 Front Panel Express LLC ........98 Matco, Inc. ..............................39 Pulsar, Inc. ..............................39 Trace Systems, Inc. ................51
Carl’s Electronics, Inc. ............38 Halted Specialties Co. ..............3 Maxstream ..............................23 QKITS......................................38 Trilogy Design .........................35
Circuit Specialists, Inc. ..106-107 Hobby Engineering .................85 microEngineering Labs............36 Ramsey Electronics, Inc. ...32-33 Tropical Hamboree .................72
Cleveland Institute of Electronics ...49 HVW Technologies, Inc. .........39 MVS ........................................18 Resources Un-Ltd....................83 Ultradense ..............................39
Command Productions ...........77 Imagine Tools .........................19 Net Media ..........................2, 103 Rogers Systems Specialist......60 V&V Machinery & Equipment, Inc. ..38
Conitec DataSystems .............65 Information Unlimited ..............45 New Micros, Inc. ......................30 Saelig Company ........................9 Zagros Robotics ......................39
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CoverInside.qxd 12/5/2003 8:06 AM Page 2
C i r c u i t S p e c i a l i s t s , I n c . 2 2 0 S . C o u n t r y C l u b D r. , M e s a , A Z 8 5 2 1 0
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Cover.qxd 12/8/2003 8:25 AM Page 108
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