dsPIC33...

Engineering design teams are high energy most of the time and September has been no exception. Sometimes the typical (if there can be such a thing) engineer can get so engrossed in the tasks of "getting the job done", that it can take an effort to pause and reflect.

Despite all the recent activity, we were still able to find the time for a much welcome pause when Microchip, who we are proud partners of, came to visit for a day of technical updates. One range of microcontrollers that caught my eye this month is the relatively new dsPIC33.

These offer great value for money and flexibility for the designer. For example, the recently introduced (within the last 6 months) dsPIC33FJ128MC804 with its 16bit architecture, 128K of Flash program memory and 12K RAM, 40 MIPS and a whole host of IO map-able peripherals costs less than the good old 16F74 used to cost 7 years ago!

Furthermore, Microchip have successfully produced a C compiler and this new one for the dsPIC range is really rather good.

The blend of useful peripherals and DSP engine make these parts perfect for applications such as sensorless motor control, Audio and PSU's.

And while talking about programmable devices, one that we are currently looking at is the Cypress PSOC range....until October!

Martyn Dowty, Engineer, MLE

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dsPIC33...