Intelligent Sensor Design Using the Microchip dsPIC

Intelligent seonsors are revolutionizing the world of system design in everything from sports cars to assembly lines. These new sensors have abilities that leave their predecessors in the dust! They not only measure parameters efficiently and precisely, but they also have the ability to enhance and interupt those measurements, thereby transformng raw data into truly useful information.

Unlike many embedded systems books that confine themselves strictly to firmware and software, this book also delves into the supporting electronic hardware, providing the reader with a complete understanding of the issues involved when interfacing to specific types of sensor and offering insight into the real-world problems designers will face. Meaningful software examples are implemented in both C and assembly language, and the source code is included on the accompanying CD. The examples provide a complete, easily extensible code framework for sensor-based applications as well as basic support routines that are often ignored or treated superficially. The goal throughout is to make readers truly productive as quickly as possible while providing the thorough understanding necessary to design robust systems.

Readers will gain in-depth, real-world design information that will help them be more productive and get up to speed on sensor design skills more quickly. The book provides designers and students a leg up in a relatively new design area, imparting knowledge about a new microcontroller that offers some of the functionality of a DSP chip.

· Quickly teaches the reader to design the new wave in sensor technology, "intelligent" sensors

· In-depth design techniques, real-world examples, detailed figures and usable code

· Application chapters thoroughly exploring temperature, pressure and load, and flow sensors

· A FREE CD that provides a toolkit of software models in both C and assembly language

Chapter 1: What ARE Intelligent Sensors, and Why Should I Care About Them?
Chapter 2: Intuitive Digital Signal Processing
Chapter 3: Underneath the Hood of the dsPIC DSC
Chapter 4: Learning to be a Good Communicator
Chapter 5: A Basic Toolkit for the dsPIC DSC
Chapter 6: Sensor Application: Temperature Sensor
Chapter 7: Sensor Application: Pressure and Load Sensors
Chapter 8: Sensor Application: Flow Sensors
Chapter 9: Where Are We Headed?
Appendix A: Software on the Included CD-ROM
Appendix B: Intialization of the dsPIC DSC and the System Start-up Code
Appendix C: Buffered, Interrupt-driven Serial I/O
Index