The August issue of Circuit Cellar is coming your way next week! Time for a sneak peek at what’s inside the next issue. Technologies for Smart Buildings, 1-Wire protocol project, build a full home security system, application-specific MCUs, 3-phase electric power, FPGAs and GPUs for AI and more! This 84-page mag welcomes you into a comfy selection of embedded technology articles to enjoy.
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Here’s a sneak preview of August 2021 Circuit Cellar:
SOLUTIONS FOR EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE
Smart Building Innovations
By Jeff Child
Building facility managers have wised up to the fact that the advantages of Smart Building technology translate to reduced costs, greater efficiency and happier tenant customers. Embedded technologies, including wireless networking, sensor hubs and IoT architectures, help Smart Buildings monitor and automate indoor air quality and lighting, reduce tenant heating and cooling usage, establish predictive cleaning routines and more. Circuit Cellar Chief Editor Jeff Child looks at the latest technology trends and products relevant to Smart Buildings.
Water Alarm Evolves to Full Home Security System
By Devlin Gualtieri
Dev decided to use new technology to upgrade the wireless water alarm system he had constructed nearly a decade ago. While he was at it, he figured he’d create a complete home security system with water alarms, smoke alarms, motion sensors and door sensors. He also adds an interface to a Raspberry Pi with the potential for sending remote alerts to cellphones and other devices.
FPGAs and GPUs Vie for AI Dominance
By Jeff Child
At one time, artificial intelligence (AI) was a discipline that required big, rack-based supercomputers. Today, FPGAs and GPUs are able to perform AI operations, enabling new types of local decision making in embedded systems. In this article, Circuit Cellar’s Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Child, looks at the technologies and trends driving AI in embedded systems.
Datasheet: Application-Specific MCUs
By Jeff Child
Unlike microprocessors, microcontrollers tend to be used for specific applications. But even among MCUs, there’s distinct difference between general purpose MCUs and MCUs that are designed for very specific application segments, or even sub-segments. This Datasheet section updates readers on this technology trend and provides a product album of representative application-specific MCUs.
ENGINEERING RESOURCES FROM OUR EXPERT COLUMNISTS
Three-Phase Electric Power
By Robert Lacoste
Three-phase power is ubiquitous, and it’s an important electrical engineering concept to understand. Here, Robert explains three-phase power distribution, why it’s so common and how to use it. He also guides you through building a small, experimental three-phase power source on your own.
Putting 1-Wire Protocol into Action
By Jeff Bachiochi
The 1-Wire protocol enables control and power to be accomplished through a single I/O pin. In this project article, Jeff shares the history and evolution of Maxim Integrated’s 1-Wire scheme and how he discovered the special steps that need to be taken in order to ensure you get sufficient power delivery using this technology.
FreeRTOS (Part 5): FreeRTOS+POSIX
By Bob Japenga
Bob continues his article series about the open-source FreeRTOS. In part 5, Bob looks at the FreeRTOS+POSIX library of functions. He explores what POSIX is, what value the POSIX standard provides to embedded developers and how compatible FreeRTOS is to the POSIX standard.
USEFUL PROJECT ARTICLES WITH ALL THE DETAILS
Build Your Own IoT Platform (Part 3): Adding Advanced Features
By Dhairya Parikh
Dhairya continues is article series on how to build your own IoT platform. Here, in Part 3, he adds some much-needed functionality to your platform, including REST API support and the ability to send emails and SMS texts.
Drone-Based Greenhouse Gas DAQ System
By Peter Shmerko and Dr. Chris Morton
Often the mobility a system can completely dramatic change the scope of a technology’s functionality. That’s why drones provide such a powerful solution. Learn how, Peter, a University of Calgary student, built a compact data acquisition system mounted on a drone. Using a variety of sensors, the system is able to measure greenhouse gas emissions from the sky.
Build a Motor Dynamometer: Using a PIC32 MCU
By Erika Yu, Aasta Gandhi and Kowin Shi
Dynamometers are a key tool for assessing electric motor characteristics. Learn how these three Cornell students designed an electric motor dynamometer to characterize the torque, efficiency and power of a small electric motor. Data is processed using a PIC32 MCU and visualized using MATLAB.
