Project Analog - March 2008 - (Page 3)

Viewpoint Cutting the Cord The appeal of wireless is hard to miss. As market after market shifts from fixed products to portable devices, mastering wireless communications has become a vital business strategy for suppliers of consumer electronics as well as industrial and medical product companies, all eager to make their mark in the burgeoning personal portable business. For designers of these products, however, a plethora of wireless choices exists, including the 802.11 variants (a, b, g, and n), Bluetooth, WiMedia-based ultra-wideband protocols (such as Certified Wireless USB and WiNet), ZigBee, and numerous proprietary approaches. As Preston Hunt of the USBImplementers Forum points out in Wireless Design Choices, selecting wireless radio methods is based upon many factors: data throughput, range, power consumption (battery life), antenna size/location, maturity 3 · ProjeCt ANALog · mAr 08 By Murray Slovick mslovick@hearst.com Contents of the technology, industry support, licensing, intellectual property issues, bill of materials and manufacturing cost, and installed base. If you’re not out of breath yet consider that regulatory and legal issues are also paramount. Hunt tackles the question of how designers can decide which wireless technologies are best suited for their products. It’s must reading for all engineers involved in wireless consumer products. When asked to develop a wireless system, you may also be concerned about cost, ease-of-design and distance requirements. IR technologies are well suited for short distance, low-to-medium data throughput, wireless communication channels. Two common types of IR technologies are currently in use: these are the TV Remote (TVR) and the IrDA (Infrared Data Association) standard protocol. Viewpoint Wireless Communication Using IrDA® Wireless Design Choices Advanced Communication Solutions for Lighting Wireless Communication Using the IrDA Standard Protocol discusses reasons to use infrared, reviews some of the typical applications and gives a high level look at an IrDA Standard system. It also discusses the IrDA protocol stack, the connection sequence that occurs on the IR interface and then the host UART interface between Microchip’s protocol handler and the host controller. Many lighting applications require some form of communication for remote control but also for diagnostic purposes. “Advanced Communication Solutions for Lighting” reviews some of the advanced wireless—and wired—communication interfaces currently being evaluated for various lighting applications including ZigBee, Ethernet, USB, CAN and LIN. Happy reading! Analog news Microchip analog page Interface products overview Sample center microchipDIRECT Reference designs/ app notes Technical training • http://www.microchip.com http://www.microchip.com/analog http://www.microchip.com/analog http://www.microchip.com/interface http://www.microchip.com/interface http://sample.microchip.com/Default.aspx?testCookies=true http://www.microchipdirect.com/catalogselection.aspx?returnURL=default.aspx http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1469&filter1=function&redirects=appnotes http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1469&filter1=function&redirects=appnotes http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1423

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Project Analog - March 2008

Project Analog - March 2008 Contents Viewpoint About Project Analog Sponsor Wireless Communication Using the IrDA® Standard Protocol Wireless Design Choices Advanced Communication Solutions for Lighting Putting 10-GbE PHY Options Into Perspective Ease Into the Flexible CANbus Network Technology and Drivers for Mobile WiMAX Analog News—Analog News from Multiple Sources Enter to Win an iPhone Contact Project Analog Sponsor Treelink Microchip Advanced Parts Selector (MAPS)

Project Analog - March 2008

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