School Archive

  • Accelerometer Testing

    Accelerometer Testing

    This post looks into the actual output of the accelerometer and investigates several filters that can be used to smooth the data. I am slowly working towards the second phase of my microcontroller project.  I hope to have a new proposal ready soon, but for now I have been working on my signal processing.  I am very [...]

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  • Final Project

    Final Project

    Class: ECE 2620 – Intro to Microcomputers Semester: Winter 2010 Instructor: Dr. Hassoun Essentially this project is a two degree of freedom robotic arm controlled by an accelerometer.  The accelerometer is mounted on a breadboard that the user can tilt in space controlling the direction of a laser pointer mounted to the arm.  The entire project is programed in assembly [...]

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  • Switch Bounce

    Switch Bounce

    Most people who have dabbled in embedded design know that all mechanical switches have some amount of “bounce” where they are not making solid contact for a short time after being pressed or released.  If you manage to read the button fast enough that you make more than one reading while the button is still [...]

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  • Introducing Scopezilla: HP 54720A

    Introducing Scopezilla: HP 54720A

    I decided that I needed a scope for my projects a few weeks ago.  After searching for a little while I decided on a used HP 54720A.  This thing is a monster!  It is about the size of tall kitchen trash-can and weighs a whopping 75lbs.  For all that massiveness you get 1.1GHz bandwidth, 4GS/s (thats four [...]

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  • Project Proposal

    Project Proposal

    I have just gotten approval on my project proposal.  Eventually this contraption will be a 2 degree of freedom robotic arm that will be able to balance a tennis ball on a plate even when the base is tipped.  For now it will just look like a simplified arm that responds to the input of an accelerometer. [...]

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  • BE1200 – Arduino Project

    BE1200 – Arduino Project

    This is the final report for a project in BE1200.  The problem statement was given to us by the professor.  The project uses quite a few arduino peripherals, including a BlinkM programable tricolor LED, a light sensor and a temperature sensor.  We even did a simple study to see how many degrees the internal temperature in [...]

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  • Equate File for HC11 Registers

    Equate File for HC11 Registers

    I couldn’t find an equate file of the registers for the 68HC11 anywhere online, so I just typed it all in myself.  To spare others from the same tedium I am posting it here in hopes that anyone who needs it can find it easily.  The file includes both the extended addresses of each of [...]

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  • PWM / Motor Control Update

    PWM / Motor Control Update

    As it turns out, the ubiquitous little servo motors that seem to be everywhere are more sensitive to the PWM signal being sent to them than I originally thought.  At first I thought that as long as you were sending them a pulse that was the appropriate length that the frequency did not matter much, but try [...]

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  • Preliminary Investigation

    Preliminary Investigation

    I am currently trying to come up with some interesting ideas for my final project in Intro to Microcomputers.  The project is pretty much open ended just providing that you use most of what we have learned in class.  Two things I am looking at, even though I am not sure what exactly I plan [...]

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  • Lab 8 – Interrupts

    Lab 8 – Interrupts

    This lab explores the interrupt, its uses and its use of the stack.  Without interrupts, a processor is required to poll each condition that it is required to react to.  Whether it is checking to see if a button is pressed, or if a bit has been received on a serial pin, the processor is [...]

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