Atmel AVR 2004 Design Contest

Grand Prize

Color TFT LCD Controller
Michal Sieluzycki

Many of the affordable, small, color LCDs on the market are controlled by particular chips that usually aren’t available to the public. The Color TFT LCD Controller is a creative solution that uses two AVR microcontrollers to generate the signals needed to control a color TFT LCD. A 160 × 240 dot Sony ACX705AKM is used as the display. You can use this inexpensive, flexible project as an intelligent LCD controller or a stand-alone device. An ATmega8515 microcontroller collects the color pixel data from static RAM and controls the LCD by generating digital CRT video signals. The second microcontroller—an ATmega128—stores fonts and bitmaps, and it interprets graphic commands received via RS-232 (or any other interface). It stores the resulting pixels in the static RAM shared by the ATmega8515.

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Atmel AVR Design Contest 2006

Grand Prize

WITNESSCAM
Alberto Ricci Bitti

The WITNESSCAM is a self-recording surveillance camera that’s perfect for the home or office. The innovative, ATmega32-based system features a VGA CMOS color camera, a passive-infrared (PIR) movement sensor, and a 1-GB SD card. The aesthetically pleasing prototype looks like an ordinary alarm detector, but when it detects movement, it silently starts recording. You can control the camera an infrared remote. The interactive camera responds with voice prompts, and the circuit can recognize when the box is open.

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Atmel Design Logic 2001

First Place

MPSLIC: A Single-chip FPSLIC MP3 Decoder and Player
Geva Patz

MP3 audio is complex and computationally challenging to decode. This project demonstrates how the FPSLIC can be used to provide a simple, low-cost, highly integrated solution for embedded MP3 decoding. The FPSLIC is capable of providing all the necessary decoding elements, including storage interface, user interface, and actual MP3 decoding on a single chip. The only external components required are a storage device and a DAC with appropriate audio interface circuitry. The FPSLIC-based design has significant cost and power consumption advantages over alternative designs, both of which are significant considerations in the consumer marketplace.

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Cypress PSoC 2002

Third Place

Vector-SoC
Robert Lacoste

The Vector-SoC is a low-cost RF vectorial network analyzer (VNA) built around a CY8C26443 chip. The testing instrument is designed to apply a frequency ramp to a device being tested, measure the signal at the output of the device, and plot the corresponding gain and phase transfer curves over frequency. The Vector-SoC accurately measures and displays frequency responses as narrow as a SAW filter. The device gives an accurate and stable display thanks to the automatic calibration routines.

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Cypress PSoC 2004

First Prize

Earth Field Magnetometer
Richard Wotiz

Designed around the CY8C22213 PSoC microcontroller, the Earth Field Magnetometer accurately measures the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field. This magnetometer effectively gauges minute variations resulting from solar storms, which can affect radio and power systems. Additionally, the Earth Field Magnetometer indicates aurora activity. By using a flux gate sensor and an external electromagnet, the Earth’s field is canceled out, and the system can detect a null field. Therefore, the system is strikingly sensitive without needing gain calibration of the flux gate sensor.

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DesignSpark chipKIT 2011

Honorable Mention

Internet-Enabled Multizone Thermostat
Curtis Brooks

An Internet-enabled thermostat gives users maximum control of building temperatures. This novel system features three main sections: an XBee shield, a wireless temperature board, and an I2C-controlled output board. It includes two wireless temperature control boards and two I2C output boards. A router provides Internet access. The first node comprises a chipKIT Max32, a Max32 Ethernet Shield, and an XBee Shield (PCB). The second node is the wireless thermostat that controls an HVAC system and receives data from room nodes. The room nodes control a motorized damper to regulate each room’s temperature.

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Freescale 2004 Wireless Design Challenge

Second Honor

Musical Gloves
Steve Kranish

The wearable Musical Gloves enable you to play various forms of music on virtually any surface. This exciting wireless system is built around an MC13192 SARD board’s MC9S08GT60 MCU, MC13192 transceiver, and MMA6261Q (x- and y-axis) and MMA1260D (z-axis) accelerometers. The gloves are instrumented with fingertip switches and the three axis accelerometers. The system tracks finger presses, which start and stop notes, and hand motion, which determines the loudness and octave of each note. The Musical Gloves are connected via a wireless RF connection to a host PC, which processes the finger presses and accelerometer readings in order to control the musical output.

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Luminary Micro DesignStellaris 2006

Second Honor

SD Card Display Controller
Sylvain Davaine

The LM3S811-based SD Card Display Controller enables you to input data to portable devices. This system regularly reads the temperature and relative humidity from an on-board sensor. The host device is a tablet PC that runs a picture slideshow program.

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Motorola E-Field 2003

Grand Prize

Smart-E-Touch
Steven Nickels

The Smart-E-Touch is an intelligent, touchscreen-based user interface. A Motorola Nitron MC68HC908QY4T microcontroller is used to monitor and control a pair of MC33794 e-field sensors. The e-field sensors, in turn, monitor an XY grid on a PCB for the capacitive sensing of the touchscreen. After the Nitron microcontroller has translated a “touch” from the e-field sensor data, it outputs an XY coordinate to its RS-232 serial port. A main system controller (PC or equivalent) then receives the XY coordinate and can act upon it. The touchscreen is built right into the actual circuit board where the controller circuitry is located. Therefore, rather than integrating a separate touchscreen assembly into a design, the touchscreen is part of the system controller board. The result is a cost-effective, reliable, and adaptable user interface.

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Motorola Flash Innovation 2003

Grand Prize

Remote Observation Station
Richard Dreher

With the Remote Observation Station, you can watch wildlife remotely (a mile or two) on a TV. The station gets its power from a PV solar panel and a rechargeable battery, which rely on the system’s Motorola 68HC908QY4 microcontroller-based control board for direction. The control board also produces battery state information, which it overlays on the picture sent to your TV. So, while you’re watching the wildlife, you can also monitor the status of your battery.

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Microchip 16-Bit Embedded Control Contest 2007

Subcategory Prize (Effective Use of SMPS Resources)

MiniTron Amplifier
George Anderson

The MiniTron is a high-end vacuum tube stereo amplifier with efficiency, distortion, and power output controlled by a dsPIC30F2023. The innovative system features three main subsystems: a vacuum tube amplifier, a DSP controller, and a high-voltage switching power supply. The fully functional amplifier successfully blends its unique circuitry and specialized processing software to precisely match the radically different worlds of high-voltage analog and low-voltage microcontrollers.

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Microchip Mad Dash for Flash Cash 2002

Honorable Mention

Seeker II-An Autonomous Mini-Sumo Robot
Jon Hylands

The Seeker II is an autonomous mini-sumo robot built around a Microchip Technology PIC16F876 and programmed in C. The two-channel PWM provides precise control over the speed of the two motors without using up any processor time. Four ADCs are used to interface to two rangefinders and two edge-detector sensors. One 16-bit hardware timer is used to increment a 32-bit integer millisecond counter, which is used for various timing functions. The UART is used both to program the PIC using the bootloader, and also to run a menu-driven debug system to test and calibrate the motors and sensors. The data EEPROM is used as a log to show the robot’s state transitions.

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NXP mbed Design Challenge 2010

First Prize

(VI)sualizer: A Smart Electronic Load
Hexley Ball

The innovative mbed-based (VI)sualizer is a lab instrument for profiling solar, chemical, and grid-powered energy delivery devices. The design enables you to examine an energy source’s voltage (V) and current (I) delivery ability. You can use it for a variety of other reasons as well: to calculate the load resistance into which a solar cell delivers maximum power; to measure and capture a battery’s amp-hour capacity; or, using pulsatile loads, to test conventional power supply voltage regulation accuracy. The mbed module in the design accepts input data from local and remote interfaces, commands the desired load current, and monitors operating conditions.

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Philips ARM Design Contest 2005

First Prize

TAM-TAM Bernard Debbasch

The TAM-TAM is a sophisticated telephone answering machine that provides everything commercial devices offer and more. The highly efficient system is designed around an LPC2138 microcontroller, which features an ARM7 RISC processor. Noteworthy features include improved voice quality and increased storage capacity over commercial machines. Additionally, Internet connectivity enables convenient messaging in the form of SMS messages or e-mails. You can set up virtual answering machines for four different users.

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Renesas H8 Design 2003

Honorable Mention

Handheld Power Meter
Seenath Punnakkal and Sameer Cholayil

The optical Handheld Power Meter was built for use in fiber optics labs. The unit is designed around the H8/38024 microcontroller, which enables the implementation of battery-powered devices with the addition of a battery-based power supply. The microcontroller’s on-board LCD drivers are used for the four-digit, seven-segment LCD. And the on-board SCI is used for RS-232 communication with a PC. The power meter calibration is handled by a Windows-based application.

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Renesas M16C Design Contest 2005

Honorable Mention

Handheld Power Meter
Hoa Phan and Nghia Tran

The Hand Speak is an intriguing project designed to enhance the communication abilities of deaf people. This M16C/62P-based system converts American Sign Language (ASL) movements into alphanumeric characters that are displayed as ASCII text on an LCD. The text is then transferred via an RS-232 interface to a PC or hand-held PDA. The user wears a special glove equipped with sensors that monitor the hand movements associated with ASL. One of the system’s key features is that it’s powered by a single 9-V battery.

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Renesas RL78 Green Energy Challenge 2012

First Place

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Texas Instruments DesignStellaris 2010

Honorable Mention

ACC PIN Reader
Aleksander Borysiuk

As the threat of theft rises, users can implement the ACC PIN Reader to increase pin code security. The design is built around an EK-LM3S9B96 that has been supplemented with a keypad pattern display, a touch panel, Wiegand interface, and a couple of indicators. The display shows random keypad patterns. The Stellaris microcontroller detects touch, computes touch position coordinates, and converts them to key codes that are then transmitted to an ACC controller.

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WIZnet iEthernet Design Contest 2007

Honorable Mention

Travel WIZard
Matthew Pennell & Aaron Thomas

The Travel WIZard is an embedded server application that helps you find airfare deals. The useful system uses the Kayak.com online travel search engine to explore the Internet. It then returns data that can be graphed to reveal the cheapest time of year to travel. The Travel WIZard features a WIZnet W5100 Ethernet controller and a Microchip Technology PIC24FJ128GA010 MCU, which resides on an Explorer 16 development board. The board includes a 32K x 8 serial EEPROM, LEDs, buttons, and a 2 x 16 LCD.

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WIZnet iMCU 2010 Design Contest

Second Place

A Green Solution to Basement Humidity Control
David Penrose

Humidity control is essential in residential and industrial buildings alike. This handy humidity control system calculates water vapor pressure from temperature and humidity readings. When the design detects that the outside air is drier than the air indoors, it triggers a ventilation system as opposed to a dehumidifier. A W7100 enables a user to monitor and control the moisture removal process via any PC with a standard Web browser. File data is stored on a memory stick so it can be transferred easily to a PC.

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ZILOG 2004 Flash Nets Cash Design Contest

Second Place

Low-Cost Four-Channel Network Video Server
Eric Gagnon

The cost of commercial options for setting up a network of IP surveillance cameras for home use can be prohibitively expensive. By contrast, conventional CCTV cameras, which transmit analog NTSC signals, are more affordable. The only thing missing has been the ability to take the analog NTSC signal, digitize it, and transmit it over an Ethernet interface. This simple eZ80F91 microcontroller-based network video server does just that. The inexpensive video server can accept inputs from up to four analog cameras to reduce the per-channel cost.

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