Hello {FIRST_NAME}, welcome to the
second edition of our e bulletin. In this edition:
- Special offers
- MIAC – find out
what’s next for Matrix
- Making complex
calculations easy with look up tables
- How to get more I/O
- NEW ECIO experimentation
kit with free projects ideas
- Your views count -
find out how you can earn up to £50 in E-Blocks
MIAC –
Coming Soon
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In January
2009, we will be launching the Matrix Industrial Automotive Controller (MIAC).
This industrial grade programmable electronic controller can be used to control
a wide range of different electronic systems including sensing, monitoring and automotive.
Internally
the MIAC is powered by a powerful 18 series PICmicro device which connects
directly to the USB port. This makes the MIAC fast and easy to program with
Flowcode, C or Assembly. MIAC is
supplied with an industrial standard CAN bus interface. This allows you to
develop systems incorporating a large number of MIACs up to 500 metres apart.
Each unit contains 8 digital or analogue inputs, four relay outputs, four motor
outputs with speed control, four line LCD display and control keys.
We
would welcome any thoughts and questions. For more details visit the web site
or email justin@matrixmultimedia.co.uk . |
Look-up tables
Complex
calculations, especially those requiring floating-point operations, can consume
large amounts of memory and processing time when executed repeatedly in
real-time applications. In this months Knowledge Exchange, we use the example of a
sine-wave generator to demonstrate how to create, store, and access, arrays of
pre-calculated data values to allow a sine-wave to be generated with only basic
calculations. The accompanying spreadsheet illustrates how a C compatible array
of data values can be easily created.
“In
some applications look-up tables can be used as an alternative to complex
calculations. If the results of a calculation are known, for all the possible
values of the input variables, they …” read more
NEW
ECIO experimentation kit
This kit is designed for anyone who
wants to learn microcontroller circuit development at home. The kit includes a:
- USB programmable ECIO
28 PIN
- Prototype board
- Prototype wire (red, black, green)
- 13 electronic components
- 10 free project
downloads (including clear explanations, schematics, pictures and programs
to build your projects).
To take advantage, contact your dealer.
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I/O expanders
Running out
of I/O’s? Use one of the synchronous serial busses
(SPI or I2C) to add extra ports to your application. In this Knowledge Exchange article, we look at using a Microchip MCP23017 (I2C) or MCP23S17
(SPI) I/O expander chip to add 2 x 8-bit, or 1 x 16-bit port to a system. Each
port has all the features you would expect from a microcontroller port. Learn
how to connect multiple devices on a single bus to provide a massive I/O count
with minimal wiring.
“Many
microcontrollers are now available with huge numbers of I/O pins. The drawback
for most people is that they are only available in unusable surface mount
packages. So the 40-pin, 4 x 8-bit port maximum limit still applies.
Multiplexing circuits can …” read more
8 - bit design
not big enough for you?
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Thanks to Matrix, you can
rapidly develop complex electronic systems using super fast ARM 7 technology. The
Flowcode for ARM and E-Blocks bundle contains:
- Flowcode for ARM graphical programming software
(including floating point and full maths library)
- An ARM 7 programmer
- Several E-Blocks from the award
winning range.
Save
up to 28% on individual RRP. To take advantage, contact your dealer.
Click here to view all our special offers.
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Your views count
We'd be pleased to receive
your news, top tips for using our products and suggestions for future content.
If we publish your articles, we will send you a voucher for £50 towards future
purchases of E-Blocks. Email your suggestions to e.bulletin@matrixmultimedia.co.uk.
Find out about
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