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Electronics For You
May 2010 Issue
Vol. 42 No. 5
Construction
PIC16F877A-based Temperature Monitoring System
Here we describe a simple temperature measurement and display system based on LM35 sensor and PIC16F877A microcontroller.
Download source code
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Circuit Ideas
Hum-sensitive Touch Alarm
This touch-sensitive alarm is based on generation of the AC hum signal. When someone touches the touch plate, low-power AC hum (the same as induced from AC wiring of the house) is generated on the touch plate.
| Software Section
Portable Java Editor
Here is a simple Java Editor developed in Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.6.0.
Download source code
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Technology Focus
Can Electronics Help You ‘Green’ Your Building?
Lower energy bills, longer life for devices, healthier lifestyle for you and distanced doom for Earth—the benefits of ‘green’ buildings are aplenty. And, technology lends an able hand in achieving this end
| EFY Report
EFY Top 40 Private Engineering Colleges: Our First Attempt
to identify the best privately-run engineering colleges that produce technical talent for the industry
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Buyers’ Guide
Memory Cards For You
Memory cards are available at IT hardware shops, mobile shops and even nearby stationery shops. Most of us don’t bother much about the legitimacy of the source or the originality of the card. But ‘how to’ and ‘where to’ buy the card is very important, for you are going to store your efforts of several months on it
| Career
5 Tips to Engineer Your Career
A guide for electronics engineering students who are just starting out their academic studies and also those who want to set themselves apart in a competitive career environment
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TechGuru
Home Power Savers Demystified
Are power savers really worth their salt or just a hoax? When and where are they better suited? Find answers to these and many other questions
| Embedded Systems
FPGAs Not Just Logic Gates Any more!
While the debate on ASIC versus FPGA continues, today’s FPGAs with integrated functional blocks like high-speed transceivers, DSP blocks, hard IPs like PCIexpress and Ethernet MAC , and DDR3 memory controllers have surpassed ASICs in many embedded applications. These have now become designers’ choice in communication, defence, medical, consumer electronics and many more devices
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Construction
Analogue Clock With Add-on Calendar
Try assembling an analogue (look-alike) clock with calendar using basic digital ICs. It has a totally different look and is a lot of fun. Here we present such an analogue display clock circuit with add-on calendar.
| Circuit Ideas
Digital Timer Enhancement
This simple circuit automatically activates or deactivates an electronic device at the time of alarm preset in a clock. When the alarm rings, the tone burst generated at the terminal of the buzzer triggers the circuit and the relay energises or de-energises to switch on or switch off the load.
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Circuit Ideas
Electric Bug Zapper
This ultraviolet fluorescent lamp is mounted in the middle of the cabinet and a pair of carefully spaced, electrically insulated, charged wire grids surround the light.
| Circuit Ideas
Water-Level Indicator Using 7-segment display
This water-level indicator uses a 7-segment display, instead of LEDs, to indicate the water level (low, half and full) in the tank.
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Circuit Ideas
Emergency Photo Lamp
This emergency light can be powered either by a rechargeable battery (like 3.6V Ni-Cd) or a non-rechargeable battery (3.0V CR2032).
| Circuit Ideas
Standby Power-Loss Preventer
The circuit described here helps you save on your electricity bill by disconnecting the device (say, CRT TV) from the mains power automatically within a few seconds of switching-off of the TV using the remote.
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Software Section
JavaScript-based Multifunction Calculator Interface
This multifunction calculator in JavaScript makes use of JavaScript mathematical library and can handle various functions via a small but powerful interface.
Download source code
| Chips
Asynchronous Microprocessor: The Clockless Future
The synchronous processor chips of computers use a clock to time the entire chip. But this clock is also the cause of speed and power consumption headaches. Here is how an asynchronous chip overcomes these problems by eliminating the clock altogether
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IT Zone
From Ultra to Uber Portability Five Examples To Prove Our Point
We are truly in the age of ultra-portability, living in the midst of laptops, netbooks, tablets, smart phones and e-book readers, with retractable keyboards, multi-touch capacitive screens, projected keypads, foldable displays and many more seemingly-futuristic but actually realistic features
| Test & Measurement
The Scope Of Oscilloscopes
Oscilloscopes are available in all form factor—benchtop, handheld, portable and PC-based small boxes dedicated to different work environments. Still, there is a scope for improvement, not just in the equipment but in the usage of equipment too
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First Look!
• LG’s First Android Phone
• 3-D Blu-ray Player
• CDMA Music Phone
• LCD TVs from TPV Technology
• Notebook With Long Battery Backup
• Wi-Fi-enabled HD Media Player
• Slim External DVD Writer
• Ultra-Speed Solidstate Drive
| Interview
“We make development kits available to designers at a low price of $30”—Rene Pening de Vries, senior vice-president and chief technology officer, NXP Semiconductors
Be it a manufacturer or a design house in the electronics space, everyone wants to know about innovations that will be game changers in the semiconductor space and whether India is ready to become the ace player beating out others. Rene Pening de Vries, senior vice-president and chief technology officer of NXP Semiconductors responsible for overseeing the product creation process focusing on the areas of innovations, research and technology, talks to EF Y’s Abhijit Paul Choudhury and Vanisha Joseph about trends to be watched for in the semiconductor industry and how India can be a trump card for a semiconductor company
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EFY Report
Recruiters’ Choice 2009-10: Electronics Engineering Colleges Par Excellence
EFY research bureau presents to you the list of top electronics engineering colleges voted for the year 2009-10
| Interview
“Parallel array of ESPs helps to harvest
more energy”— P.S. Deodhar, founder,
MITRAMAX Energy
P.S. Deodhar set up MITRAMA X Energy after he stepped down from his responsibilities with APLA B. (Mitra is a Sanskrit name for Sun.) He has devoted himself to research in solar energy harvesting technologies and embedded solar panel (ESP) is his company’s first product that converts solar panels, whether mono-crystalline or poly-crystalline, into a maximum peak energy tracking high-voltage constant DC power source to make them identical in their electrical characteristics. Any number of ESPs can be hooked in parallel.
ESPs were primarily created for rural maintenance-free solar systems to enable each poor family to get at least 1kWh energy each day for use at night.
Deodhar speaks to Uma Bansal, deputy editor at EFY , about photovoltaic solar panels and advantages of ESPs
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