Blogs about Industrial Applications

• FORTHdsPIC gets its compiler & more ‘Bare-Metal’

  Bill Marshall

  In a previous post I introduced my latest project which started out as an exercise in familiarisation of PIC24/dsPIC assembly language programming but morphed into the development of a FORTH interpreter/compiler. Version 0.1 saw a working interpreter with a limited number of FORTH ‘words’. The compiler and a fairly standard word set are now operational with Version 0.2.

• HKUST ROV Team shone in Asia Regional IET/MATE Underwater Robot Challenge 2013

  GordonSin

  The ROV Team, a sub-team of HKUST Robotics Team, shone in the Asia Regional IET/MATE Underwater Robot Challenge 2013 held on 13-14 April 2013. 9 university and 24 high school teams from 8 countries around Asia competed in two categories, Ranger Class and Explorer Class, respectively. The HKUST ROV Team won the Champion Award in the Explorer Class, and they will represent Hong Kong to join the International MATE ROV Competition 2013 Explorer Class in USA in June 2013.

• Going FORTH - Some 'Bare-Metal' Bashing

  Bill Marshall

  My posts last year on the old Jupiter Ace computer and the more recent FIGnition kit provoked some interesting reactions to their use of the Forth programming language. Some loved it, others hated it. I dug out a version I wrote many years ago for the 8085 microprocessor and overcome with nostalgia decided to port it to a more modern platform. This post covers the initial stage of this less-than-logical process involving processor selection and first attempts at programming. For that authentic 'vintage' feel note the Toshiba Tecra laptop running the terminal emulator under Windows 3.11.

• Kit Review - Renesas Promotional Board for RL78 Series Microcontrollers

  jkvasan

    YRPBRL78G13 – Renesas Promotional Board for RL78 Series Microcontrollers  YRPBRL78 is a humble-looking yet power packed development board released by Renesas.

• The PI and the APC

  Bill Marshall

  A few months ago DesignSpark had a brief review of the APC or Android Personal Computer, seen as a possible rival to the Raspberry Pi. I say possible, because despite a flashy website proclaiming the arrival of a ‘$49 Bicycle for the Mind’, it seemed remarkably difficult to get hold of. Things have moved quickly and RS is now the European distributer for the APC and has it in stock. Is it a ‘Pi-Killer’ though?

• Curiosity’s Brain

  Bill Marshall

  In the early hours (UK time) of Monday August 6th, an astounding feat of engineering came to a heart-stopping climax. After travelling millions of miles through space the Mars Science Laboratory, AKA Curiosity rover entered the Martian atmosphere and began its descent.

• Need 8mm creepage distance in your high-voltage application to ensure safe operation?

  ADI iCoupler

  Now you have an easy to use digital isolator that can achieve this for you. Analog Devices has released the industry's first packaging technology for digital isolators that achieve