The Electronics Hobbyist

The iMCU Design Contest 2010 is the second contest WIZnet has co-sponsored with Circuit Cellar. The iEthernet Design contest held in 2007 introduced the W5100 hardwired TCP/IP Ethernet controller to the design community. The W5100 allowed designers to finally bring Ethernet capability to their existing embedded projects.

The 2010 design contest requires the use of Wiznet’s W7100 as part of an embedded project. The W7100 is an Internet microcontroller integrating a hardwired TCP/IP core with an 8051 processor. The new W7100 chip provides a platform for applications that need a network connection, and its MCU capabilities help engineers create sophisticated Internet-enabled projects.

Circuit Cellar is a print magazine about hands-on embedded systems projects, so every iMCU Design Contest entrant is viewed as a potential author. Many of the participants with the best entries may become Circuit Cellar authors, project evaluators or advisors, which is quite a resume booster opportunity.

Contest judges will look at a wide range of criteria when selecting the winning projects, including originality, technical merit, usefulness, cost-effectiveness and design optimization. The deadline for project submission is June 30, 2010. For more information visit www.circuitcellar.com/iMCU.

Pachube.com, is a website that enables its users to share real-time data collected from a series of environment sensors connected to objects and devices around the world. Existing information shared by others can also be used to control actuators based on the data received. There are several feeds currently sharing light levels, wind speed, air quality, humidity, temperature and pressure information, to name a few, facilitating interaction between physical or virtual remote locations.

Arduino users may easily participate in this community. Different sensor and actuators are necessary (temperature, light, pressure, keys, potentiometers, LEDS, etc.) depending on the complexity of the application that one wishes to develop. There are two ways to connect and send/receive information to/from Pachube: connecting the Arduino Duemilanove via USB cable to a computer with Internet access or using an Arduino Ethernet Shield directly connected to the Internet.

Some knowledge of Ethernet, a valid IP or DynDNS are required as well as a Processing application to communicate with an Arduino upon which a Firmata sketch has been installed. (Firmata is a microcontroller communication protocol that allows complete control of the Arduino from software). The Pachube website explains the step-by-step process of designing circuits, connecting sensors and writing the software.

What is also interesting is the ability to mark on a Google map the place where you are running the experiment and acquiring the data, using an API Key that enables publishing the information to the Internet.

Here is a list from the Pachube website that explains some possibilities for the use of its service: community.pachube.com/what_can_i_use_pachube_for.