Microcontroller based designs


Many of our clients require some form of embedded controller, often for industrial monitoring and control systems. Selecting the most appropriate device from the huge range available requires a careful study of the necessary on-chip peripheral functions which will best support the application. Integrated data converters, capture and compare units, I/O controllers, timers, watchdogs etc. can reduce the software load, increase throughput or improve system integrity.


Microcontroller based system controller I

This is a standalone board designed for a specific application and is not for general sale. However, Design Interface Ltd is well placed to implement any microcontroller based system that you may require.

Microcontroller based board

This design is used in a medical application and has many high resolution analogue inputs. Careful PCB layout was required to separate these high impedance, low noise circuits from the high current output drivers.



Microcontroller based system controller II

This microcontroller based board monitors and controls system temperatures and fan operation. A display daughterboard is connected through an I2C serial bus and can be configured to show measured temperatures or set point temperatures. A PC connection is provided to allow access to log information and to facilitate program update.


Microcontroller based system controller
Microcontroller based system controller

Microcontroller based system controller III

Microcontroller based board

The main function of this board is to control the four motors that drive a complex component placement mechanism. To achieve this the microcontroller has interface circuitry to allow it to measure the current drawn by each motor and their positions.



USB connected microcontroller based board IV

Microcontroller based board

This microcontroller based board interfaces two joysticks, several potentiometers, switches and LEDs to a USB port. When connected to a PC commands are passed to an underwater robot allowing the control of thrusters, cameras, lights and manipulator.



Microcontroller based LED Driver

Microcontroller based board

This board is an LED light driver, it can receive light level information from a 0 - 5V analogue input, a 4 - 20 mA current loop, an RS232 port, an RS485 port or a LIN Bus interface and drives nine high power LEDs. This unit normally operates underwater so the LED temperature is monitored to prevent damage due to overheating when operated in air.



Microcontroller based vehicle body controller

Microcontroller based board

This microcontroller based board provides power switching, current monitoring and overload protection for a wide variety of distributed loads. Interface and signal conditioning circuitry is provided for temperature, humidity, voltage sensing inputs and up to four video inputs. An FPGA provides address decoding, PWM generation, shaft encoder interfaces and general I/O registers.



USB connected I/O concentrator

Microcontroller based board

This USB connected board interfaces to a communications channel and a number of control and sensing inputs and outputs and allows them all to be monitored and controlled by an application running on a PC. An FPGA is used to condition much of the I/O and present the information to the microcontroller as a set of memory mapped read / write registers.



Microcontroller based power controller

The DC-DC converters mounted on the bottom of this board accept a 400V DC input and supply a number of 24V and 48V DC loads. An on-board microcontroller monitors the incoming supply voltage, the outputs of the converters and the ambient temperature and humidity. Communications with other parts of the system is through either LIN Bus or RS485 serial connections.


Microcontroller based power controller
Microcontroller based power controller

Microcontroller based motor controller interface

Microcontroller based board

This microcontroller based board interfaces to up to six motor drivers and can monitor and control the motor speed and current consumption.



Microcontroller based motor controller

BLDC Motor Controller board

This is a six channel brushless DC motor control board. Each channel has a dedicated microcontroller which is connected to a common RS485 serial communications interface which allows the required motor speeds to be specified by the system controller. The current sense resistors and the MOSFETs that form the three phase H bridge drivers are mounted on the rear of the board so that they can be clamped to a heat sink plane if required.



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