Data Acquisition and Signal Processing for Smart Sensors

9

SMART SENSOR DESIGN AT SOFTWARE LEVEL

Because modern smart sensors include as a rule a microcontroller, the problem of software level design has arisen. A microcontroller core software level design allows minimization of the chip area, in turn, the software low-power design technique allows reduction of the power consumption. Both are very important for smart sensors and can improve sensor characteristics without additional labour expenses and time. However, until now such a design was realized as a rule, heuristically. Only some of its aspects are reflected in the literature and included in CAD tools. We hope that in this connection, the material described below, the set of ‘hints’ and recommendations will be useful for readers.

9.1 Microcontroller Core for Smart Sensors

The measuring instrumentation was, and remains, one of the main applications of embedded microprocessors and microcontrollers. The well-known efficient family of microcontrollers MCS-51 (Intel), which appeared at the beginning of the 1980s, continues to be used actively for different smart sensor applications. This is explained by the following:

1. the low cost
2. the availability of inexpensive debugging tools
3. the availability of well-trained engineers.

A microcontroller generally comprises two main parts–a central processing unit (CPU) often called a core, and a peripheral part–different peripheral modules connected to the CPU. The core can also be used as a control unit with other peripherals in an ASIC or a ...