Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Texas Instruments (April 2006-)
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 22 November 2006
MCU-based designs honoured at conference
A shirt-pocket-sized two-channel digital storage oscilloscope has won first prize in the TI MSP430 eZ Design Contest.
Recognising innovation and excellence in ultra-low-power microcontroller (MCU) design, Texas Instruments awarded three MSP430 eZ Design Contest prizes during the fifth annual MSP430 Advanced Technical Conference in Dallas First prize went to a shirt-pocket-sized two-channel digital storage oscilloscope designed by Shaun Parsons of Johannesburg, South Africa
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 4 Apr 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Second and third place prizes went to a tiny, battery-free temperature recorder and to a real-time clock temperature-compensating display watch.
Between July and October 2006, over 100 contestants from around the globe submitted projects ranging from practical everyday devices to industry-specific solutions showcasing design skills using the world's lowest-power MSP430 MCU and tools, including the new eZ430-F2013, a USB stick-based full emulation and development tool.
The winning "pocket scope" features an eight-channel logic analyser, function generator, bode plotter, spectrum analyser and two-channel volt meter with simultaneous AC/DC display and data logging functionality.
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The design was chosen for its ability to shrink the functionality of a much larger portable oscilloscope - which would weigh several pounds and cost thousands of dollars - into a convenient, portable unit that could be sold for under US $200.
The MSP430F1611 MCU's integrated hardware multiplier's powerful instruction set executes arithmetic and digital signal processing (DSP)-like functions at high speed while the device's on-chip direct memory access (DMA) enables the transfer of large amounts of 16bit data samples between memory and the high performance, 12bit analogue-to-digital (A/D) convertor.
The combination of the MSP430 MCU's processing power, integration and ultralow power consumption enables the scope's tiny form factor and allows the device to run off of a single 9V battery for extended periods.
Second place was awarded to Jingxi Zhang of Forster City, California for his "Tiny temperature recorder without battery".
The eZ430-F2103 tool was used to develop this complete, real-world system, which uses no battery and minimal components to exemplify ultra-low-power high-performance design.
The recorder leverages the MSP430F2013 MCU's integrated high-precision analogue components to achieve temperature measurements with better than 0.02C resolution while a single, instantaneous charge allows the device to record temperature for up to 60 hours.
Third place went to San Diego's William Hugh Molesworth for his "MSP430 RTC temperature compensation watch", which generates real time clock (RTC) operations for applications requiring accurate timing.
The design's integrated MSP430FG439 MCU provides the performance required for effective filtering along with the timer hardware needed to generate real time clock (RTC) operations while controlling an LCD display and using on-chip temperature sensors to compensate for temperature variances.
The MSP430 MCU's ultra-low-power standby modes combined with the RTC compensation algorithm enables the LCD to show accurate time for ten years using a single battery.
Contestants in the MSP430 eZ Design Contest were invited to submit their original product designs along with elements including design schematics, MSP430 MCU firmware, technical diagrams, block diagrams, pictures of finished and incomplete designs or videos of running hardware.
Judges from TI, CMP Media and online votes determined the winner based on innovation and the use of on-chip MSP430 MCU features to determine the first, second and third winners.
Prises included 61, 50 and 42in Samsung DLP HDTVs along with free airfare and attendance to the ATC held in Dallas, Texas.
The three winning designs will be featured at upcoming Advanced Technical Conference events being held world wide through January 2007.
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