MIAC – More Power To Your Development Platforms

Arduino, Raspberry Pi, PIC®, dsPIC®… there is a world full of development platforms available for the engineering student of today. They come in all sizes and formats, but if you ask the teachers or professors what is the most important aspect of the development platform to be used in the college/university lab, they will most likely say; “can it be student proof please?”

When the designers at Matrix started drafting the specifications of the first MIAC industrial controller, there was no doubt about one aspect: the design had to be industrial grade, ready for a tough life!

However, one ‘condition’ they did not take into account was the special treatment that students can give to electronics and equipment. Matrix make it, students do their best to break it. All professors and teachers are on the same page with this; no matter how strong and well developed your hardware is, all equipment in educational labs will suffer from high usage and going through the hands of many students.

Another thing is the visibility of the circuit and the connections, which is seen as an important aspect in the learning process. Sometimes the number of wires gets too high, and you end up with a “spaghetti of wires” where it is impossible to see what goes where and it becomes challenging to follow the schematics.

With a wealth of experience in education the Matrix designers developed a special casing for the MIAC industrial controller, making it easier to use educationally and enhancing the learning process.

The cased MIAC with 4mm shrouded sockets (see above) is internally connected to all of the input outputs of the MIAC, allowing rapid development of circuits based on the MIAC up to mains voltages. This is particularly useful in educational labs where a variety of 4mm equipment and components already exists. The MIAC unit has applications in Science, Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Automotive or Chemical), and Technology disciplines and provides a truly rugged solution.

In the example above, you see a stepper motor driver application – the schematic is easy to follow and students can work safely, quickly and easily time after time with a rugged cased MIAC. Users can use the Flowcode 7 IDE to directly communicate and control the MIAC.

The cased MIAC MI0245 is currently available to purchase from www.matrixtsl.com/miac/ and is based on an 8-bit PIC device. If you are interested in a cased version of the dsPIC, Arduino or Raspberry Pi MIAC, do not hesitate to get in touch today to discuss your requirements.

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