What the heck is double buffering, and why should you care? While developing a new activity for my microcontrollers class, I learned the value of double buffering the hard way. I decided to do a “simple” activity where students use a potentiometer to set the value of OCR1A. Using timer/counter 1 in CTC mode with …
When designing a sequential circuit with one or more clock signals, particularly circuits with either high-frequency clock signals, lots of wires, or both, noise can be a big problem! The circuit below from a past Digital Systems Design Project Showcase shows a good example of a circuit with lots of unwanted inductance caused by many …
Frequently, I will come up with an idea for a project I’d like to do. Some of the projects are small in scope, like designing a PCB for some DIP components so that my students don’t have to spend time wiring up a frequently-used component (like the 7447 and a 7-segment display). Those are relatively …
It can be very difficult to convey to students sometimes just how much effort can go into diagnosing a circuit that isn’t working, and how much tenacity it takes. There are many resources that can be used to try to overcome problems. I figured it might be a good idea to write about my experiences …