Your source for quality GNSS Networking Solutions and Design Services, Now! -----Original Message----- From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Vasile Surducan Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 10:46 PM To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Subject: Re: [PIC] University Project Idea On 5/11/07, wouter van ooijen wrote: > > If anyone has any ideas for a project that would interact with a > > computer using PICs, so that there is a hardware element as well as > > software. I have only recently started using PICs and my knowledge of > > them isn't that great but I would like to improve on this. > > - low-frequency oscilloscope and/or logic analyser Learn from others experience first: http://www.cmccord.co.uk/FYP/Downloads.htm This would get an A (or 10) if you focus more technical aspects and forget so much bla-bla. > - recording some physical measurement (temperature, humidity, > acceleration, sound pressure, hartbeat, etc) over time for later storage > and/or presentation and/or analysis Here problems will be bigger, because you have to learan first all physical phenomenas (considering that electricity you already know). Interaction with human body will cause all kind of problems starting with perturbations and ending with pacient isolation. This would be a bigger chalenge. > - a 'protected' bootloader (for various meanings of 'protected'!) read from others experience: http://www.etc.ugal.ro/cchiculita/software/picbootloader.htm > - a PIC introduction course that makes the world forget about the 16x84 This will be impossible. PIC16X84 was the most popular chip in the world back in '95. > - a PIC video frame grabber with reasonable resolution Do not spend time doing great things with too much effort. Nowadays there are available DSPs with 2.5Ghz clock for which such job is a piece of cake. Remember: NOT everything in the world must have a PIC inside. > - a room-sized GPS: low-budget position and orientation sensing in a > room or on a table (use sound, IR, long-wave radio, whatever you want) Why not using a powerful GPS transciever inside the house? [Phillip says] A GPS repeater or re-radiator will not allow you to solve for a position. Once the signals from the satellites hit the roof antenna all paths become equal so a GPS repeater acts like a long cable to the roof antenna. No matter where you are in the building you get the position of the roof antenna but they are useful for keeping the receivers clocks aligned etc. and for diagnostic reasons. Due to near field and multi-path effects using pseudolites (basically a GPS satellite on a pole) results in lousy accuracy and is wildly expensive. > - help kyle (the current jal maintainer/developer) to port Jal to the > 18F's What is Jal? Something like this: http://www.geocities.com/vsurducan/comunity/comunity.html > - a LED experiment: is 100% 10mA or 50% PWm 20mA more visible (for > various brands, colors, duty cycles, average currents, etc) That is for kids not for english students... :) Vasile -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist [Phillip says] Phillip Things should be as simple as possible but no simpler Phillip Coiner CTO, GPS Source, Inc. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist