Electronics > Microcontrollers

the most reliable low-end microcontrollers

(1/13) > >>

Simon:
hi guys, I'm being promoted at work. I think I have pissed the works manager of to the point that he wants to unload me to the engineering Department, where they will be very happy to use my electric and electronic skills amateurish as they may be (although the current skills level in that department is lower). I've not done a lot with microcontrollers, and I guess most designs will benefit from them in what I will do (air conditioning control). So maybe it is time to make a new series start with microcontrollers, considering many of our designs go into military vehicles I would want the hardest thing possible without of course going nuclear proof and expensive. Which of the basic commonly available microcontrollers is generally preferred in these environments?what should I start to learn?

SeanB:
Use no micros, just a simple comparator and hysteresis.

Though you can add more error checking with a micro, almost any one will do at the speed of the control loop. More important is watchdog, good noise immunity ( no 1.8V parts then) and providing a lot of input filtering and overvoltage protection on all inputs and outputs ( including parts that are disconnectable like displays and remote receivers), along with providing a power supply that is capable of surviving all the input will throw at it without failing.

Simon:
yes I would use Standard electronics where possible. But in some situations a microcontroller would make the design infinitely more flexible and much cheaper. I am just looking at the best of what is out there in the consumer market. At the moment all electronic devices we use are just consumer grade for the automotive market. As this is only air conditioning systems it is not a matter of life or death, I'm just looking at what is known to be the most reliable brand or which is the most not recommended.

SeanB:
If you think AC is not important you have not sat in a Saracen with a broken AC and with some deeply unhappy people outside asking to come in, and you are in the sun and are thinking that being a lobster in a pot is a lot more desirable.

Simon:
yes of course and we are already supplying units that have PIC microcontrollers in them. But then of course the supplier is not to know that I looked inside. We have not had any of these actually failed due to the microcontroller over the last three years. I am currently using PIC microcontrollers for the basic things I do, but have heard somebody mention not to use them in things like military. Or perhaps that person was referring to the fact that microchip do not guarantee their parts for military or medical use. This is despite the fact they produce parts for the military temperature range.so basically the question is should I favour Pic, atmel or any others or are they all about as reliable as each other?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page