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We Stock: + A huge range of excting kts + A great range of robotic components + The best range of electronic component: + The largest single-source range of gaegets + Security, Survailance, Audio/Video, Lighting, Computer Telecoms Parts 150 He No eshte [Reap ge [eae age bone ‘Advantoges Low power interference || bon width, law occ | Vary largo Very large avail oe ewe | sources, low | good propaga: | pancy, dit v, Ya pon ower tan’ (Son; modaraa, |Refediio ein |boreh pees sumption price ‘most of the bond: fear | High occupancy | More expensive than Disadvon: [high golte |tco sal iF corten areas | 434 MHz due to | Not yet econom- tages CBicdies,. | untenca con | dio amateurs, | duclsuperhet fech- | ically viable a radar] nology fatio is obtained when the signal is recovered, even ifthe lovel of he spread spactum informetion signa is below the general noize floor before racovery. As a rule of thumb, the increose inthe signalio-noise ratio come spands tothe ratio of the transmited bandwidth to the bandwidth ofthe information signal. I's hordly ony wore der thatthe militory ore so id ‘ofthis technique: not nly does it allow thom fo send messages undetected, since the radio signals disappear into the noise of the air- ‘wares, but it also enables them to ebisin considerably beter transmission quality than with conventional sys- tems, ‘Two modhods for generating spread-spectrum signals ewe come fo prev and both cf Rem oo presen sed commercial Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSS: Piteintes erie olin he tnegriat ocr by: the signal is essentially simple: the information signal is molkdcuad by pong be eto se beagh an sche: 2 -dts danes 2.400-2.485 GHz using simple FSK modulation, and it Contains all the functional alemants (VCOs, mixer and ei en ted certo nol tem using only a few addienol components. Us DSSS, achieves sensitivity of -90 dBm, which gives ita freespace range of significantly more than 100 motes in acivol use. The kansceiver is normally used without a transmission protocol, wih the user data being imply fod eorally into tho Tx input and token from tho Rx output without any preconditioning or processing lor data security, This is adequate for pumping dota over the airwaves ot up to 1500 kbit/sec. Although the 'MI2724 is used in lorge quanites for game pads and wireless telephones, it also has move tricks vp ils sheave. Its spreedspactrum capability makes it multipertzopo- Ue, which means that several M2724 transceivers can commuricate with each olher concurerily. This capabil iy ems ot ipiecipa run tiie ‘ond applications such os Bluetooth, WAN and the like ‘would no! be possible without it. 15fas mele — cae i be as ese FE eer Sine ce ee = wnt iy srt HI crs iors EBonsnat BF ctaomio 16 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) With the DSSS technique, frequency spreading is achioved by modulation using a peeudorncise signal. This signal is obo called the ‘PN code’, since 1 identifies on incividuol transmitter just ike an identification code. the information signal can only bs filtered out ofthe ait. ‘woves using the same PN code, with oll other signals femaining below the noize limit. This maker it possible for several DSSS transceivers using difaront PN codos to hare the some frequency band and communicate with each other concurrently wihout causing any problems. This technique is colled ‘code division multiple occess! (CDMA), which essentially means ‘mubiple channels Using code separation Frequency ho} Hioaberntohoh teRSve besides DSSS i kequency hopping (FH). As the best known representative ofthis. Jechaiqua, Bluetooth divides the ISM band between 2402 Miz and 2483.5 MHz into 79 charnele, each with a width of | MHz. The signal hope {jumps} bohween channels in 0 eyelic potern at the rate of 1600 hops pet second. This means that ypical norrow-band interlerence sources can cause only minor damage fo the transmitted data. Figure 4 shows how several Bluetooth nades can share the same frequency band using diflerant Frequency: hopping sequences. In principle, tha Frequency hopping sequence for the FH fechnigue corresponds to the PN code for DSSS, since in each case mutual interference ‘among the individual nodes is prevented by using a dit ferent spreedsspectrum sequence for each node. The FH technology used for Bluetooth demands quite pre- cise channel frequency settings, with a tolerance of 275 kttz, ond oxoc! compliance with the achemne of hop- ing to @ new frequency every 625 1s. Due to thexe tech: nically demanding requirements, i! took several years of intensive development work before the first singlechip Bluetooth transceiver reached the merket ata price suit able for massconsumplion proclucs. Wireless local area networks Now that you understand the techniques described above, we con enlighten you a bit regarding the var: us types of wireless networks curcently in uso. As can be seen re 5, irequancy hopping is he tech Aique vsed by Blustooih and the original primitive WLAN standard, which beats the IEEE designation ‘802.11’. The more recent 802.114, 802.1 Ib and 802.1 1g standards are based on DSSS, since this spread spectrum technique is eesier to implement. Nak- rally, other types of radio links vsing conventional AMM er FM modulation con also be used in the ISM bonds; ‘hey are lypically used for applications such as remote garagedocr controls end cther types remoleacion sys fem (using narrowband FM}. Fourleen years after work began on daveleping tho 802.1) family of stondards, rapidly increasing marke! Penotration of WLAN preducis can be seen in the form ‘of public hot spots’ in aicports and railway sations as ‘well as wireless networks inside companies, The ronks ‘of technology addicts and enthusiastic readers of Flak tos Elecironics have even anticipated this technology, wit some rather remorkeble results. What would you {ay to the idea of a WLAN antenna for less than €58 Ws cctualy quite easy. All you need to make a working directional antenna is an emply tin, 0 few screws and 0 coaxial RF connacior. This lle marvel is called o ‘can tenn’, which is © combination of can and antenna (Figure 6). Using inexpensive metocials from o DIY eles 1/705shop, you con build on 802.11b ontenna with o range cof more than 50 km. Currently the most widely used standard is 802.11b, which employs the licencefree ISM bond from 2.4000 GHz to 2.4835 GHz using the DSSS spreod- Spectrum technique. The range is 30-100 m with a trans: initted power of 100 mWV, which is adequate for most ‘opplicaions, aithough the raw date rate of 11 Mbil/s leaves something to be desired, since the valve obiained in practice is rarely more than 4-6 Mbit/s. An additional drawback arises from the fact thet in most WLAN net Figure. Inaxponsive ond wotks a large number of clients want o communicate the Conlon. with each other, 20 he sunter of availble channels con be quelly used up. The 802.11b standard defines 14 channels with a bondwidih of 22 MHe pex chonnel, beginning with channal } at 2.412 GHz, Channel 2 sorte at 2.417 GH, offset kom channel by 5 MH? foue? The channel overlop, 20 they cannot all be vsed al the ie sume lime io‘e single nehwork (Figure 7}; Ifseverel WAN chore! Ccccess points re needed in 0 WLAN, if possible to aece: Galle ‘we (for example} channols 1, 7 and 1 concurrent More bandwidth ‘ble bandwidth allocoled to this band is 455 MH2, From {his moans we need more bandwidth and mare chan. 5.150 GH= 10 5.725 GHz, Up to 19 nonovarlapping fel, The standardization commilleesaislied this need in chonnels ore avalable, allowing the same number of 1999 with the invoducion of he 802.110 standard. t access points to be used without mutual inerference. iiss the 5.8GHz ISM band and employs o medulation Two yeers ogo, the OFDM modulation technique was technique called ‘orthogonal frequency division mutiplex. also introduced forthe 2.4GHz band via the 802.119 ing’ (OFDM). This yields o raw data rate of 54 Mbit/s, standard (2.4:GHz OFDM PHY). This means thore ore clhough the range is only hol at large. The tial avait presently threo ‘air interfaces’ available - 802.1 a, Ce ee Date Stondord Frequency ronge rate (NBit/s) | put (NB | Renge im) SWAP 1x, 05/1998 2 Gite (SM) heence hee 7 7 30 ‘SWAP 2.x, 07/2002 2.4 Giz (ISM) licence free 10 50 802.11, seit 1997 2 Giz (5M) Hence res z o 30-300 {802.1 te, 09/1999 [24 GH (UNI ficonce free 34 2 12-20 802,110, 09/1999 [GHz (UNI licence fee Ey 2 12-20 | 802.1 1b, 07/1999 [2:4 Gila (5N) Heence free ii ¢ | 30-300 802.1 1g, 08/2003 2.4 Gis (SM) licence fee 54 2 20-100 02.1 1h, 09/2003 5 GH (UNI licence fee 3a B 12-20 {02.1 Tn, fancipaied 2005)"* 100 - 320 802.16, 12/2001 10 66 Gia cance requted Tad 70 50k 802.160, 0172003 2=11 Ghz leence requied 134 70 04 2AGHs [5M licance free iz lan 3=6 Git (UNI/CET licence fs a 802.140, 2 2=& GH licence required 2 802.20, 2004 10-66 Giz Ticence required 6 270.3 15k HipetAN/1, 07/1998 SCH 235 20 10 Hipe:tAN/2, 04/2000 5CHe 54 2 50 HiperACCESS 2GHz 2 o/s 3k HipeMAN 2-11 He * WMAN' sands for Witeles Meropolion Area Nelwoik, which 8 WIAN Tor relay lage region Ey or dave’ ota ci MAN ager a's WHAM ber Nene WAN idecnva noon ut oe he WR Mant ed eda Stive) achiowe compatbitty and ineroperebiy for 802, | based WIAN syst, the Withox forum, fourded in 2001, put Sues he som cbjacives for WMAN equipment conpliont wh the IEEE 802.16 family of sandards. Staring m 2006-07, WMAN Could become o competitor fr UMIS. Drak version; standard unialy o be approved before 2007. 17 sh dati v7Figue9. Beam forming con be used to ster he eda were in serious rection, Figure 10, ond ealocvaly cemmunicate with bilferentareos in 802.1 1b and 802.111g — but they are to be replaced by 802.1 In inthe fuure. The objective isto futher increase ‘he dota rale to more than 300 Mbit/s. Tis bit of magic is supposed to be achieved by using tranimission proto. cols wih greater elfcioney, cemprostion techniques, and receivers wih improved dynamic chorecterstcs [Table 2). mart anter The Contenna shows that ro ht li o mk antonnes wih good performance for centmatmewove 3g tals. Even 20,48 ail common practic o use fod anes nas wih omnidvedtional characerstes, wit he result that most ofthe emitted RF energy goes unused. That may bea easorable approach or mobile sysems, bu in fixed instolations the transmission distance con be can siderably increased by using directional eneanos. There ‘are several ‘classic’ anionna designs that yield dic. tional chorectorstcs, such os Yogi antennas and dipole nays. However, a much simpler solution isa waveguide closed at one end, in which o standing wave is gener- ated by suitable mechanical dimensioning. Figure 8 shows the basic design of such o ‘incon’ antenna. Here {piste log ff stating were nthe ene (vth ie maxinum being located at L,/4), and L, is the wave- lengh of he carrier hequency hee space. The size of the tin and the frequency jointy determine the length of the stonding wave. Instructions for building @ Canienna like this and the calculatian of L, can be found on numer. ‘ous Internet sites, such haute les: /cantennahawe.html ard http://www. saunolchti fi/elepal/antenna2.himl, With careful constructon, itis certainly possible fo achieve a respectable antenna goin. Measufements show ho! the range can be increased by at least a factor of two. MIMO Increasing ontenno gain by a few decibels is by no smears the onl nick that con be conjured out of the magic box of RF technology. Muliplainput, muliple-out U! ('AIMO} technclogy is also proposed as a means to signilicanly increase range and dota tales without ineoningR power. What it bor hi ae i sophisticated antenna technology called ‘phaseclaxray anlerna’, which eriginaes from rador systems. A phased-artay anienna consists of a odimensional tray of pol lonens, which produces arainion patter witha strongly focussed lobo. Ifthe dipoles cre ‘driven in phiots by on RF signal, tha ankinna radiaies o plone wove perpndicudac ie the amy, This yiskls a core Ederoble incease in ronge are slmifctes olipath effects at the receiver. F the relative phases of the RF signals fed to the individ- val dipoles ore modied in a suitable maener [Fig ure 9), the direction of the lobe con be steered in almost any dosired direction without making any mecherical changes. The oni thing that fs necessary for implement ing an anienno that can emo beom of RF waves n almost any desired direction, similar to the beam from a lighthouse (Figure 10}, is the abiliy to contol the phase telationships of the individual elements of the entenna. ‘Atnough tis techrique does not increase tre oll ‘amount of energy radiaied by the tansmiter anlenna (Which means it still complies with the regulations), it con siderably increases the amount of energy artiving ol joconeranienns Ani diversity and Colonie fe Wale Oncmutor in our efforts to boost the performance of our WLAN. However, MIMO alo encompass improvement ol he receiver end to raise he total physical eapabilty of the system. The inital objective isto solve the problem of rnultipath effects, Especially in enclosed spaces, radio wares do nol ravel to the receiver antenna along only ‘one path, but instead alorg many diferen’ paths that ‘esull from muhipleroflections. The refected signals are ‘offset in phase from the main signal, and the net cesub of superimposing the reflected signels on the moin signal can dramatically reduce sigral quelity ond thus decroase the usable range. This makes antenna posifon a dechsive factor, and changing the position ofthe antenna by only ‘few ceniimetres can be enough fo mate good recep- lds sete -2005,tion considerably worse or ramaticaly improve poor recepiion. For ths reason, curren! WIAN implemarva fot olteery have Wao wecalver onlortcrpais, hich Ge: demodulated in two independent RF front ends of the WIAN chip sel. For each iransfer (transmit and receive, the baseband controller chocks which ofthe fwo paths provides the better sewl and selects io be used lor fur ther processing. This technique is called “ontenna diver: sity Spatial multiplexin: fectel pesieeg Cal a ding eee ere eee eee eer an ple antennas are used at both ends of the path, even more refined technical tricks con be used fo improve the Ws clear that when radio waves in the caniimekewave range are used for data communications inside o build ing, dosely adjacent locatons can have quite diferent Sats render chorocerstis, This rowledge can be wed to develly ransform the problem of mulipath reception info o major benefit. ol least hwo antennas are uted for oth tonsmission and recepsion, i! can be assumed that the two transmit~eceive ontenna pairs do no} use the same path through the oir, but instead! two diferent paths. In theory, these two transmit-receive paths con ‘ectually be regarded as two separate channels, despite the fact that they use the some corrior frequency, so thoy con frarafer differen information and thus double the bandwidth (Figure 11}, lr procice, or course, the two Figure 11. ‘Nutiple ents ot ‘each end cen conidercbly ‘increase bondwieh, paths do not behave exaclly like wo mutually isolated channels. Nevertheless, a significant increase in band wicth con be obtained using this technique, which is called ‘spotial muliplexing’ Combination therapy There's @ very good chortce that MIMO will be included in the upcoming 802.111 WIAN standard, although the stondard is untkely to be approved bafore 2007: Never theless, manufacturers of WIAN chip co's, such os Ath 105, are already anticipating the new stondard with new generations of ICs incorporating ‘pre 802.1 1n’ features For instance, the ARSOOSVA chip set has all the technical capabilities necessary to allow ito be made 802.11 ‘compon! by simply updating the driver software afr the standord has beon frmly dafinod. Tho chip sot has two RF front ends, so the MIMO Wicks described above can be implemented using two antennas for the transmit and receive functions. A data rate of more than 100 Mbit/s can already be achieved using the ARSOOSVA, which is enough to ollow evan HDTV video to be transferred over a wirelose network FRUSTRATED! Looking for ICs TRANSISTORS? ‘A phone eall fo us could get a result. We fleran extensive range and witha worl: wide database at our fingertips, we are ale to source even more. We specialise in devices with the following prefix (to msme bout a few), ‘2N 28a 28ih 286 25) 2P 25) 28K NASK AN GN 17 40 AD ADC AN AM AY BA BC BD BDT BDV BOW BDX BE BIR DFS BFP EFX DEY BLY BLX BS BR BRX BRYDS BSS BSV BSW BSK BT BTANTS BRWBU QUK BUT BUY BUW BUX BUY BUZ CA CD CX CXA DAC DG DM DS DTA DIC GLGMLHA TICE HD HEP ICL ICM IRE 1 KA KIALLA LB LC LD LE LM M MSM MA MAB MAX MB MC MDAJ MIE MIF MM MN MPS MPSA MPSH MPSU_ MIF NIM NE OM OP PA PAL PIC PN RC S SAA SAB. SAD SAI SAS SDA SG SI SL_SNSO STA STK STR STRD STRM SIRS SV MIATA TAG TBA TCTCA TDA'IDB TEA TICTIP TPL TEA TL. TLCTMP TMS TPO U UA, UAA UG UDN ULN UM UPA UPC UPD WN X XR 2 2N ZS Finny others We can also offer equivalents (at customers’ risk) M ‘Tel: 020 8452 0161, Fax: 020 $208 1441 We also stock a full range of ather electronic components phone, Fax Credit Card orders and callers welcome = Cricklewood Electronics Ltd 40-42 Cricklewood Broadway London NW2 3ET Se LLANE ke ae! pares eet einer ries. een 19on cb Sac é arate d high-quality Leeda | wide dynamic range: in ety oT i lm aT Neder) idee lalla ee‘The WATKO1 (transmitter) and WA- RX-01 (receiver) modules represent a ‘novel concept in the wireless transmis. sion of audio signals. Thanks te low power consumption, the technology lends itself to a wide range of audio applications. The transmitter and the receiver include components such as ‘SAW fiters, SAW resonators and noise reduction ICs. ‘These key components allow the dovelopment of small high-quality audio modules in accordance with ‘European radio regulations and with EMC and R&PTE guidelines. This ‘means that a witeless link can be added to an audio device witout hav- ing to worry about a complicated, expensive and time-consuming certifi cation process. The frequency channel used by each modula is xed, but there are four separate channels available in the band from 862 MH to 965 MHz, ‘and so multiple systems can coms in ‘the'same location. Dynamic transmission ‘The maximum sound ‘pressure level (SPL) which can be tolerated by humans is 1140 dep. which is measured rel tive to tho minimum audible sound pressure level of 0 dBgp, = 20 1a. In 2 ‘quiet room the background roise level is about 20 dep. an the sound pres: ‘suto lel ofthe human voice ie around 120 dBgpy, Ie can therefore be seen that ‘the dynamic renge required for @ nor- ‘mal wireless audio transmission s7s- tom ie around 100 dB. If an audio frequency of 15 kite is ‘vansmitted using analogue trequency ‘modulation, the required bandwidth (BW) iz give by: Bw= 2 (maximum frequency deviation + maximum modulation frequency) [H2] ‘Unfortunately any FM circuit must su {for from residual sideband noise origi- nating in the PLL or crystal oscillator ‘As amile of trum, we can recion wath 2 residual noise, measured in terms of frequency shift of sround 60 He. Fer a dynamic range of 100 dB (i.e. a factor cf 100 000), we therefore need an over- all requency deviation of 50x 100 000 = 5 MHz, As you might expect, this means thet the requited bandwidth is much greater than that available in this application. For comparison, FM radio transmissions make do with = 1/205: ee eet Compandr process raranitee {compressor petra ose 10009 Figure 1. Use of © compander for noise reduction. ‘maximum deviation of 75 kEz in a bandwidth of 180 kHz (mono) ot 204 kilz (storeo plus trafic data). In order to solve this problem while Jeeping within the legal restrictions on froquoncy doviation, a compressor is built into the transmitter and an ‘expander into the receives. This tech- nique is called compander noise reduction cystom (Figure 1). ‘Tho Dolby noise reduction system ‘vans the compression ratio with fre- quency. The compandler noise reduc- tion system used hero, on tho other hand, fies the compression ratio at 2:1 over the entire frequency range, thus hhalving the dynamic range of the sig- nal In tho expander, whose ratio in cot to 1:2, the exact opposite occurs, and the dynamic range is doubled again. A dynamic range of 100 dB is ths reduced to 60 dB for transmission. ‘We can now recalculate the frequency evietion required. With @ residual noise of 50 Hz we need a frequency deviation of 500 Hz for a 20 dB ‘dynamic range, 5 KHz for 40 dB, and 20 kz for £2 dB. A wireless system with a signal-to-noise ratio of 50 dB ‘can carry sound signals with en origi nal dynamic range of 100 a8, Why, in this ‘digital age, do we employ analogue transmission tech- niques for the witeless microphone rather than, for example, PCM? There are several reasons. Many countries ‘have not allocated a dedicated fre- quency band for digital wireless microphones. Digital transmissions using PCM require a wide frequency ‘band, which is not roadily available below 1 GHz. Above 1 GHz ‘dead spots! start to appoar, meaning that these frequencies are not suitable for live use where the periormer may move around between various posi- tions on stage, Finally, conversion to digital requires much more power, making it less practical to run the sevice from small batteries, If desired, the modules (both reoetver and transmitter) can be operated from 2.15 V battery via a low-noise DC-DC convertor available from Circuit Design. In order to achieve the 100 aB dynamic range that is possible with the wireless microphone, the noise pro- duced by the DC-DC converter muct be less than -60 dBm. The WA-DC-01 DC-DC converter requires an input voltage of at least 0.9 V and can pro- duce an cutput valtage of 2 V at the maximum load current of 30mA. The transmitter Figure 2 shows the functional blocks of the WATKO1 transmitter. We will Took at each in turn Input butter (BUF) "This circuit is an input buffer for the microphone capsule or other sound signel source. The meximam input Jovel is ~1 aBV and the input imped- ance is 7.5 WM. Ifthe maximum oxtput level of the signal source is not suffi. cient, # low-noise amplifier must be ‘connected before the buffer. Ifthe sig- zal source level is too high, an attenu- ater should boucod.WATK-01 Figure 2. Block diagram of the transmiter module. Comprossor ‘The audio signal from the buffer stage ss compressed using a ratio of 2:1. The compressor consists of a reference gonorater, a fall wave restifier and a summing amplifer. Tae reference gon- erator provides a bias voltage and a constant current to the other parts of the circuit. ‘The full-wave rectifier circuit rectities the incoming signal with the aid of an extemal capacitor The output curront of the rectifier controls the gain cell amplifier. The time constant of the con- trol loop is set, in part, sing an oxtor- nal fitor capacitor and an internal 10 KO resistor.’The summing ampliies ‘adds the incoming signal and the signal Figure 3. .. and ofthe receiver module a2 from the gein cell amplifier together. ‘The summing amplifier used in the compressor needs different proporties from the one used in the expander; and so different components are used ia the transmitter and in the receiver, Pre-emphasis ‘Toreduce noise at the upper end of the audio fequency range, which is a par- ticular problem when using frequency modulation, this eicuit boosts higher frequencies using a time constant of ss. [AP low-pass filtor (AF LPF) ‘This circuit Inits the bandwidih of the audio signal in order to ensure that WARX-O1 interference to adjacent channels is kept within the permitted limits. Oscillator and modulator In order to oparate directly in the 800 Miz band, a crystal-based SAW (surface acoustic wave) flter reconator with good temperature stability Is Used a5 the oscillating element, Fre- ‘quency modulation is achieved using a varicap dodo that forms part of tha oscillator eicuit. RF power amplifier (PA) ‘This circuit stops the RF output of the oscillator up to the transmit power of about § mW. RP low-pass filtor (RF LPF) ‘This citcuit attenuates ihe second and figher harmonics of the transmitted signal and provides antenna imped- ance matching, Voltage regulator (AVR) This circuit provites a stable 2.7 V sup- ply for the whole circuit. It operates from a battery supply of between 3 V and 9, The receiver The block diegram of the WA-RX-O1 receiver module shown in Figure 3 is practically the minor image of the ‘ensmitter, using similar components, RF band-pass filter (SAW) ‘Tho 800 MH frequency band sed ia this wireless audio system is extracted using this filter high-soloctivity SAW er deans 2/05fier is used to ensure that Mequencies ‘outside the band are eliminated. zcillator (OSC) A quartz crystal oscillator is used to ‘mix the inceming signal down to an intermediate frequency of 10.7 Miz [RF amplifier (LNA) A low-noise amplifier is used to ‘amplify the 800 MHz frequency band by 10dB, ‘Mixer (MIX) ‘This circuit creates an intermediate te- ‘quency of 10.7 Mila, produced by mix ‘ing the amplified received signal in the 800 MHe band with the output of the ccillater IF amplifier (1F1 to 1F3) ‘These provide a total gain of 100 4B, the final stage acting as a limiter Before and after the amplifier chain, 10.7 Mizz ceramic fiters are ftted to provide selectivity. FM detector (DET) ‘This circuit demodulates the tre- ‘quency-modulated IF signal. [RSI detector (RSS) Signals ftom the middle of the IF amplifier chain are rectified producing DC voltage proportional to the signal suiength, ‘Muting comparator (COM) ‘Tho RSSI signal is compared to « pre- set voliage Which can be adjusted using a potentiometer. If the level at ‘ie antensia input falls to 17 aby or Jess, the output signal is turned off ‘Do-omphasis ‘This compensates for te 50 ys pre- emphasis, making the overall fre- quency response of the system flat. ‘AF amplifier (AF) ‘This circuit amplifies the demodulated ‘cio signal before it is passed to the expander, Analogue switch (SW) {f the signal strength falls too far, the audio signal is muted using this switch. An LED indicates whan this suting occurs. Expander ‘The dynamic range of the audio signal is doubled by this circuit, which oper- stes in much the seme way as the compressor. AF output amplifier (AF) ‘The output of the expander circuit is semplified again for output Voltage regulator (AVR) ‘Thie circuit provides the entire circuit ‘with a stable 2.7 V supply fom a bst- tery voltage of betwoan 3V and 12 V. Interface “Thanks to these complex modules that include almost all the nacassary elec. tronies, what remains is straightfor. ‘ward. Figure 4 shows the two parts of the circuit, In the transmitter we can elther connect a microphone or any ‘ther desited audio source with a max- ‘mum output level of -16 cBY. In most ceases, howovor, an oldetrot micro phone will be used, There fs a small offset voltage present at the AF input ‘with P1 adjusted to maximumr in cur ‘prototype we measured about 0.18 V If @ dynamic microphone is to be con: nected, iis essential to add a coupling capacitor. Alternatively, omit R1 and connect the dynamic microphone in place of the electret miciophone, P1 ‘can be used to attenuate microphone signals that are too high, so that the radio module is not overdriven. ‘The receiver circutt i slightly less sim- ple. The receiver module has two out puts, one for the signal itsolf and one ‘which indicates whether the signal strength is adequate or whether the ‘muting circuit has been triggered Since we have plenty of power to spare ‘at the receiver (battery operation here Is potessentia) wecan afford an extra indicator in the form of LED D1. In order to amplify the output of the receiver module (whic, at 101, is not exactly low impedance), we have added a buffor amplifier. This is alassi- cal non-inverting AC amplifier built around 4 rai-to-rail opamp which can ‘operate from a votage of between 2.7 V and 12 V, almost the same range as for tho module. We have chown a cupply voltage of 6 V, although 3 V or 12 V ‘would do just as well fa aferent(non- raikto-ral) opamp were used, a supply ‘voltage of5 V would bo requized. Many ‘opamps will oly operate eotecy with symmetric power supply of £5 Vor Figure 4. interfaces for the rodio medules. 7805 ee ates 2g aaFigure’, Two circuit boards make one radio link COMPONENTS LIST Resistors: RY = 2402 R226 = 5604 RoR = 270k RS = Ak07 R= 470 R7 = 1000 PLP2 = 1OKO preset 7. 63¥ rock ]OOnF C3.C5.C8 = 1OyF 63 rac A= 17 0nF Semiconducto DI = LED, 3mm, groan low current D2—LED, 3mm, red, low current Cl = WATXOI (Circuit Design) IC2 = WARKOIA (Circuit Desig) IC3 = TS¥ZIIN (or equiv raitorall ‘opemp) Miscellaneous: JP] = 2way pisheader wih jumper (angled frecessary) K1 = 3.5.nm jock socket, PCB mount (e.g. Conrad Electonics # 732893) 811 = battery holder for Wo 1 5V bates MICT = elackat microphone PCR, ne, 040402:1, avilable fem The FCBShop with an asymmetric 10 V supply. A fur ther advantage of the TS821 used here i its high output drive capability: itean directly drivo headphones or even two 32 headphone transducers wired in parallel, although in this case CB should bbe replaced by « 100 pF 10 V typo. Tho 47 Qoutpat resistor protects the opamp fom the incuctive load of a shielded cable and ftom short circuits. Timmer ptentiometer P2 allows tho gain to be adjusted fom unity (P2 at minimum resistance) to 10 4B (P2 at maximum resistance). C6 removes any DC compo: nent from the output and R7 enoures that there is always a load at the out Put, Since the opamphas asyremstiical supplies, a capacitor (C5) is. also roquired inthe feedback eirovit, RS and Fé set the operating pointofthe opamp at half the supply voltage. C7 and C8 provide extra power supply decoupling. At higher eupply voltages itis necos- sary to Increase the current-limuting resistors for the low-current LEDs so that the eurent through them dees net ‘oxcoed about 2 mA. We have designed a two-part printed Ciutat board to accommodate the radio modules and the fe external compo: nonte (Figure 6). Te layout is desig {or optimum audio performance. ‘The components stould be ited tothe board, observing that the transmitter module can only be firted to the copper side. An ordinary 3.8 mm jack socket provides the audio output. All that remains are the antennas. Ia rnciple a stiff piece of wire with length 1/4 3, (78 mm at 850 MH2) will do the ob: more professional antennae can be found on the Circuit Design website at http://vww.cdtZcor 24 per eis 2/205Frequency (863.125 Mite; 869.625 Mile; 864.500 Miz, 864.875 MHz RF channels: ‘one (fixed) Emission code FRE Ronge oppr0x. 50 m linooksight Sigrationcise ratio 90 dB (wih IFA ies) ‘Audho frequency range 50 Hz1o 15 tHe + 3.5 dB (output level -50 dBV + 3 48) THD 25% (@ AF 1 kHz, deviation = 15 KHz or 7.5 kHz) Proomphoes 50 ys Opercting lemparoture 0°C to. 50°C Transmitter Cxcilator SAW exeillator,erystalbared RF power 2mw Frequency sobilty 210 kHz Preemahacie 50 ye Noise reduction Compressor Spurious emission 1 pW meximury Deviaton 15 kez (1 kHz @ -25 4B) Andi inpu! level 115 d8V to -15 dBV (1 KH) ‘Audio ingu! impedance Sho Supply valioge 3V09V ‘Maximum module current consumption 25mA A a ‘Meosured current consumption 17 mAG SV Receiver Receiver type Supertoteredyne Mixer atcilator Coptaleoniroled Intermediate fiequency 10.7 MHz Noise reduction Expander Sensitivity 21 dBpV (@ THD 2%) Squoleh zonsivity 17 dBpV 24 dB ‘Audio output level at module) ——-20 dBV (deviation = 15 kia} Moximum -10 dB (deviation = 30 kt2} ‘Audio output impedence (at module) 10 L0 Supply voltage ‘Maximum module current consumption Moosured curent consumption (D2 on, B2 = R3 = £60 0) Note: 0 da = 0.75 ¥ 3Vt012¥ 30 mA 32mA@3V 40 mA@ SV 52mA@9Y Curve A shows the overall wansfer characteristic ofthe entire tadio link, measured ot rrisimum gain (greoe) and maximum {gain (ted). The input signal to the Kansmitior was ot -46 dBV spreximetely 5 mY), The euiput signal af maxinun gain was SPST he copa sgnaletheteeer s Sdb che Input level io the transmiter. With o higher input signa level the falls off somewhat at higher frequencies, Eut the ompli tude at 5.5 kHz is up to 3 0B higher than thot at 1 kHz. Curve B shows the distortion (plus noise) atthe output of the teceivar agaist signal level, measured over the feqvency range from 22 Hz te 22 KH. The optimum vale appears te ‘eccit wilh an inpet signal level atthe transmitr of 5 mV. his ‘ease the input signal is reise fram ~70 d8V to ~15 d8V with the gain at the recover is oi a maximum. This is more than ade- ‘quote for speach signals. Curve € shows the freque ‘spectrum with an input signal level the tonsa of 5 nN. Mest of te distin sa he second hoimonic. In this case the THD4N figura is 0.85% ever the Requency range kom 22 Hz to 22 bia). 2/005 dk dress ° ‘eeeeesy baanotallocated in the UK kHz $14 Ute radorevigaton;thundersiorm detection —_0keH 1419.95 kite maritime mobile (inl. submarines) 16 kitz BT service 19.95-20.05 kt frequency standards THE RADIO FREQUENCY SPECTRUM from DC to 30 GHz in 4 pages Life without wireless communications is almost unthinkable in the modern world, These days virtually everybody makes use of some type of transmitter or receiver: GSMs, broadcast radio and TV, WLAN, Bluetooth, and so on. And there is still a lot more happening in the radio spectrum. In this article we show what else can be found in ‘the ether’. 2640 kz LY (me signals, Jopan) ‘50 kHe RITZ (fimo signals, Russia) 60 kitz MSF (ime sigrals, England 77.5 KHeDCF (tine sgnal, Germany) JO kHs ~ 130 kHz redonaigatin (NOB) 130~ 148.5 itz maritime motile 135-137 kHz amateur radio 148.5.283.5 ts AM radio (long Wave) 335 495 kHe radionavigaton — 1406.5 kHz AM & DRM radio (MAW) 1800 kttz radio amateur (140m) ‘Over the yeors, exganistions throughout the world hove alocaied certain ports of the redio specirum for specific applications. An ‘verniew ofthis allocation con be seen inthe chart a the top of ‘he poges ofthis artcle. The range that we're looking at here stots ‘atabout 300 Hz and goes up to an amazing 30 Gti. The chart has been divided into eight ports, called Frequency bands. This division has come obout partially duo to historical roo sons and is ako due to decisions made o! inlemational convent tions, Roughly specking, frequencies in a certain bond seem to have sinilar physical propertis. There wil of course be some over- lop ofthe properies ot the transition of two bands. Low frequencies Rodio sgnals wit lower frequencies are hardy affected by obsto dles such s bulkings and tees, compared to signals wih higher fre quences. The higher the Fequency the more the sqral wl beaten led by obstocles ‘Another vill charocortic of signals with Fequencis up i about 30 kHz is that they tend to fllow the curvature of he Earth. Since ihe osfal are rarely much higher than the corresponding wave lengih the Earh plays an important role in the signal propagation. Inti snaion# so anger necessary fr fe raring ond receiving oerials to ‘see’ each other, Broadcasting (One of the bestknown uses of radio commurications must surely 'be broadcast radio. Unt row the mos} mman modulation types used fer this have been AM ard EM. Thee parts of the spectrum ‘ore ezarved for AM radio: tha lorg wave (W), madiom wove (MW) ond shortwave (SW) bonds ‘Oi these, the shortwave (SW) issil wed fe mos! because depen ing on propagaton this band is suitable for workdwide communi ctions. Becouse of the higher irequencies (formally, between 1.6065 MHz and 30.00 MHz}. groundwave propagation no loager slays an important role and thats signals hardly fli tha curvature of he Earth. But iis sill possible to receive woild service stations on distant shores ard rece stor tam he to’ ide of he word in this county. This is made possible by a certain otmospherc loyes, called he ionosphere, This layer reflects dio waves from the shor ‘wave bard. The radia station transmits a very powerll signal (15 to 120 kWI) ot an angle towards the ionosphere. This angle ir cho- sen in such a way hal he radio waves are reflec tothe required ‘area on the glabe, where they can han be received. ‘The mojerity of people tend to associate IW/MW/SW wit the 1/005 dae dense pas ond insead listen to FM radio (87-5 to 108 M2). The sound {guality of hese transmissions is much beter than those on the ‘AMM’ bands. FM transmiters olen also provide exta services like RDS (‘adio data system). For example, a cor radio can autematicaly Switch fo different station (broadcasting the same pregramme) ‘when the reception onthe cuttert staion worsens, Ancther service automatically sops he CD or cassete ployer and switches to the radio whenever o traffic announcement is made. recen! development in he broadcast world isthe Wansmission of digitl radio signals [DRM in the shortwave bands. This alows data os well as audio o be incloded in a broadcast [tis therefore likely that varicus extra services will be introduced in shartwave broadcosts This it 0 subject tha! we've covered before in Elekor Elacronics. In the March 2004 issue we published a design fora digital short ‘ware radio receiver [ORM receiver). There are curently ako digital radio hansmissions (DAB, Digital Audio Broadcasting), which are an olternative to ordinary FM racio. The some developments taking ploce in television: the can. ‘erlional analogue transmissions (which toke up fairly large port ually be replaced by digital teavision (0V81, lerrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting). An improvement in «quolily is no! the only advantage ofthe switch to digitl technol 03. The available specirum is uilised more effcienlly because sev eral chanrols car now be placed in the same section of the spec- tum. This developmen has okeady happened with satellite TV: opart from the criginal analogue TV satellites, youl find thot most mod- rn stelite Fansmissions are now digit Professional communications ‘Apart fiom cadio and television broadcosing, there are many more ‘applications where radio is used forthe exchange af information. 1s think ofthe communicctions in oviotion, shiping, the ttc. These paticular groups also have various pars ofthe spec: ‘rum cozecved fo thar, Itshould be noted tha he uxa ol bonds ‘mentioned 20 for require o licence. ‘Ore of he more remarkable bonds for professional use is he one covering 0.3 10 3 kz. This par ofthe spearum is used primaly ican comin sees Os tel Fale ‘extremely low fequencis (ELF ore not heavily aerated by water Iiashoy the born i ery ancl ikean only be wed fo gene (morte) date, and net speech. Should @ sityaion arse where speech communication is vita, the submarine will firs! receive @ surface’ commond by ELF. can fhe vse he ‘normal higher requen- is lysully SW) forthe ansmissons.MHz 28 ‘SW AM/DRM broadcast, ily and Radio Amateur bonds (80/40/20/17/15/10m) 6765-6795 Metz SM, 13.553 ~ 13.567 MHz ISM 26.957 - 27.283 Me ISM 26.96-~ 27.4) MHz CB (EU) (11m) 27,60125 -27.99125 Mbz CB (UK) {1 1m) 3omHz 50 Mitz rods ameteur(¢m) ‘54-72 MHz NCO; VHF television (phenod oul) 76~ 87.5 MHz PMB, MOD 87.5~ 108 Miz FM radio 108 -117.975 MHz redionavigotion (VOR) 197 Miz weather stellies (ering) 144 - 146 (148) Miz onatew radio (2m) 146 ~ 174 MH PMR 174-216 Miz DAB; VHF Bard 3 flevision 300MHz Incidantally, licensed radio amateurs are else regarded as profes: sional uses, Various pars ef the specirum have been set osde for this group of users, whose transmissions are effen of an experimen- tal nore ISM bands The ISM bonds industrial, Scientiic rd Medica) ore special in thot you dor't need a license to use them, unlike mony other bonds. There are many ports ofthe specum that may be used by anybody {or various purposes, as long as lypeaporoved equiorment is tsed The 433 MHz end 866 MHe band: are currently he bet known of those [cordless phono ard microphone). The 2.4 GHe bond alio comes into ths colegory, which fs wheie we fd, among others, witeless LANs and Bluetooth. The microwave oven also hos its place hero. 27 MHz ‘The 27 Mblz band, cso known as CB (Cizens Band) or 11 metres, lies between 27.60 Miz and 27.99 MHz in the UK, and between 26.96 ttiz and 27.41 MHz in the EU. In the UK a license is required to use CB, citough in mony ofher European counts this is mo larger the case. lorry divers and ecbbioe ore one group of poeple who ore wall krown fr thar ve0 of CB to keop in touch on the road. This band i clso used (as well as parts ofthe 30, 35 and 40 Mitz bands) for radio-contrlled models, such as aeroplanes ‘ond remote controled cars and boat, ‘A small part of the CB hos been reserved for use os on ISM band, Time signals Up io new we've concentated mainly on communications between people. There ore aso 0 score of applictions where radio com. ‘munications are used to culomate processes. One example of his isthe lonsmission of ime signals Extremely oceurate time signols are sent rom a numb of VIF tans nitfors, spread around the glebe. One of he bes! known in conte nenial Ewope is he DCI77 transmit, which is neor Frarkfut in Ger ‘mony. Ths station operates at a equency of 77.5 ke ond tone itso highly accurate tine signal derived om an elon clack Watches, clock radios end cher clocks that hve a siale receiver bul in, omatically 20 thet time to that frm the DCF77 sign. Switching between summertime ond winletime olso hoppers out ‘motecaly! Since these types of onsite use 0 relatively low fre quency, their signals con be received al great distances (ypicaly 1000-1500 kms}. This means that one wransminer covars @ very large crea, Positioning systems ‘Another type of an automated opplication of radio waves is a post tioning system. Although GPS is nowatlays prety much inthe pub- lic éomaan, in commercial ond military eviation a diferent type of navigation system is used, which has beacons on the ground, instead of satellites in the sky. Small bands have been reserved throughout the spectrum for he various types of positioning systom. The aviavion industry uses several systems side by side. in the IF part of the spectrum are the socalled NDBs (Non-Directional Beo: cons). These transmit, as the name implies, a signal in all direc- tions. In aeroplanes thot vse NDB ravigaton, an arcow points the direcion of the transinitter. As long as this arrow points directly forwards you know you're fying straight towards the transmitter. Another system isthe VOR system (VHF Omnidirectional Range, This navigoticn system fells you at what composs point the aero plore is relate tothe transmitter. Whereas the NDB system only ‘works when you're fying inthe general direction ofthe beacon, the VOR sysiom works regardless of the direction tha aeroplane fies in Tho IS (hnetument Landieg System iz probobly the wos widely known navigotion systom in aviation. Ths asiem assists plots dur ing the loncing, so they con sil make « safe landing when there is tad (ro viity he US indicates wteer te Svoplene son the right course towards the runway and th it otitude Alot cf effort is pot into roplacing these (old foskioned) systems with GPS based ones, bul of the moment GPS js not occurate tenovgh fo use itfor landing aeroplones, Galileo ‘Anumber of Europacn countias are ealaorating on o projec to ‘create © nehvork similar to GPS. Jus ke GPS this network mokes It possible fo determine your postion very accurately. This new sys tem, christened Galileo, also uses a netwark of salalites in space IV's anicipated that this sysiom wil be even more eccurate than the current GPS! Threo krequency bands have been reiotved for this new system, (One is for trarsmissions rom Earth to the satellites to upload new information ar course cortections. Another is for commurications between the satellites and the losis for sending information to users in Earth. ies atthe correct hie ais 2/005‘00MHz 380-395 MHz Tetro{Pol) 1400-430 MHz Trunking radio 430-440 Me radio ametesr (70cm); ship/ shore oder 433 MHz ISM, SRD, LPD- 445 MHz PMR-446 radio 440 ~ 470 MHz PPAR, Tetra 470 - 806 MHz UHF (DVB-T) television 876.1 —958.9 MHz GSM-900 1030 MHe/1090 MH osrorauticalronsgencer (IF) 1.2GHz 1240-13 1300 MHz rectio cmateur (23cm 1650 Miz geostofonary weather satelite 1710.1 ~ 1879.9 Miz G5M-1800 1880 - 19697 Miltz DECT telephones 1899.9- 1934.9 MHz UMTS. 2400 ~ 2500 MitzISM WLAN, Wifi, Blstooh) 2kA6 - 2454 MHZ RAD 2450 MHz microwave ovens: 10 Ghz rodia amateurs The frequencies used for wonsmissions fo users on Earth have been ‘made intentionally igh (max. 5.01 GHz), since these frequencies, low extremely cccurote mecsurements to be made. GSM ‘Mobile: se oees ‘are the application that has changed everyday life significantly in the last few years. Nowadays you con find some- bod ning or texting in almost ce jinable. The tele- aie reas af hasta ee bee maven ke oon The fiat GSM retrks made use of the GSM-900 system. This sy eke eres chr ne a This was later joined by the GSM-1800 network, which operates ‘at frequencies near 1800 MHz. The frequencies for use by third- generation mobiles were auctioned off not long ago. The system used for this, UMTS, employs frequencies that are higher at ‘The disadvantage of these high frequencies is that the range of just due to the higher attenuation by the oir, but is also caused by other obstacles such as walls, cars and trees. Any conducting ‘objects (metal or containing water) contribute to the attenuation. This means tha! many more base stations will be required to cover And finally... |¥ you want fo find out more about the geings an inthe ether you toe lak no fresh th Ire. Wess sich ashe ‘Dich Noticnel Frequsney Register’ ard the pages of ha Radiocemmunt callers Agstey conta 9 val emove of inbrlion about oppt «ations, allocations ond licensing. search for ‘itequency aloca- fion’ on Google returns 0 large number of ciher interesting sites, Links UK RF epactum (general) (Foxe) Rodiocomnusications Agency: u/pablicatian/ca info! 085. US frequency ollocotions: YRS tr sta Does a microwave oven cause interference? rom the feqeny shar youll se that nicowove ovens opti ‘si Wiles LAN en Bebo, ce ae ofa ous tad ‘msewove ovens infer wih vires etek, bt how te hin prone? Wires Ls seo pel madden edgy, wih makes wea ity wide reage ol oq. Tis a: dane on poe to fhe wesinetrercena Sol pat of he pein woud ely rea sell on he omen. The Bevo ste, which so nthe 24 Gt IS tor, lsu he socoed ‘stad spectra madaton. Bebe tansmésiens rp ang between fest one win he bod, veroping ou the ec of posible eee. The befeens may oignt fama micoras ere. hs notion fa fea rel vii xi oe Th or he fx ad eo, ‘wht stop ke pera Feng fre esoping. Mirowave ores eesut- fled ilo a we la sr We i ar iss the who unions we Fray coge nd rata woes shal tt ble {oleae the cena ove. nati he ‘cog aay eas slighty end some AF snl wil cee Tiss uu ol probe, but wih der er deci iron ovesit ol be oir! emoun of erergy your WAN reer dst hae god ingt tgs here io posi tht he oxen ws, sai ond figure 1. RF signals can reach beyend the hovizen usiog layer of ‘onised gases in the amosphere 29REMOTE THERMOMETER Cyril Jouanjan With the aid of a PC and intelligent temperature sensors it is very easy and quick to assemble a professional temperature datalogger. Using e- mail, up to four temperatures can be monitored from a distance. The sensors are simply connected to the PC parallel port. In this articio we describe a system meéasuomentsisavaableandanother Up to three recipients can be entered that measures and records tempera: chart showing the most recent week ‘thermore, its also possible ta check tures, The heart of tho systom is | Thalatierallowe zooming in to areae-_remetely, or oven witen chee, whether Visual Basic program. This software ution of one hout In addition tis pos- a particular alarm has occurred and at veads the temperature sensors, which sible to store the results in separat what date and time. This could be used are part number DS1621 from Dallas ‘orlater manipulation in, for exam- 10 moniter the temperature of an aif: Semiconductor. Upto foureonsore.caa _ple, a spreadchest ‘conditioning system, o for example, ee beconnected. The measuwementact novelty ofthis program is he option temperature in a computer 100m or acy is 0.5°C and theinterval between of sending email warning messages _bollex house. The maximum period that successive measurements is 2 sec. _viathe network ta which tha PC is con- can he recorted is one weok, ends, 10 saconds or 1 minuto ected. This requires only an SMTP Each sensor has two alasms thet caa ‘The program candisplay temeasued mailserver. The messages contain the be sat. They are triggered when a values either as @ graph orsimply as date and time and the recipient can _ threshold has boon exceeded. In this, text, A chart with the most recent 69 simply view them as any other ermal 20 ber deca 2/005,FOR THE PC ‘way the alarm can be raised when- ever, for example, the temperature ‘exceeds 25 and 30°C. For each event a separate message can be sont. An ‘upper and lower-limit or two lower lmits are also possible. a hysteresis ot 2°C prevents (many) pointless mes- sages when the temperature hovers around the alarm thteshold, Thi cla- ‘oul allows a cheap warning system to be built. An oli PC with 2 200 MHz ot 0 procassor and notwork card is eas- iy sufficient. Circuits ‘The sensors are connected using the familiar PC bus (Figure 1) The sensor >oards themselves are effectively con- ‘octed in series, whore in each caso the output from one sensor is con- nected to the inpat of the next one. The Jast sensor — which is, of course, the firet ono if only ono sencor ie usod — is connected to te PC. tn Figure 1 ths ts indicated with the symbol'/'-Inciden- tally, the software slso supports. an intornal ISA PC intoriace card. Figure 2 shows ue schematic of a suitable interface for the parallel port of a PC. The design has been derived ‘rom an application note frem Philips and actually consists of only a single IC. The 741505, a hox inverter with open-collector outputs, is used as a blfer. In addition, a couple of pull up resisiors ate required, a 25-way sub-D connector (male) and an RJT1 socket. ‘That's all Sensor connections ‘Tho sensor used! here, the DS1621, already contains practically all the nec: ‘essary components. The IC also con- tains a built-in thermostat, but thet functionality isnot used in this project. ‘The accuracy of the D81821 is of the order of0.5 °C without the need for any special calibration. Tae measuring range spans from -£5 °C to +125 °C and the canversion time is 1 second. ‘As wrell as the IC itself, three addi- tional resistors are required, wiich are necessary for setting the addrass (refer Unt der ete, Figure 9), In this way, conflicts on the FC bus are prevented. The sensors are ‘identified using a 7-bit address, three ‘of which aro programmable by the user (typical for an PC address) plus one ‘meat bit. ‘The address lies between 144 (A2/A1/A0 all logie 2010) and 163 (A2/A1/A0 all logic one) in stops of 2 and is programmed using jumpars. The value that has been set needs to be entored into the Viswal Basie program. PC data logger with email alerting ‘The DS1621 is connocced to tie PC bis tough the wares SDA, SCL and GND. The power supply is derived from the PC. The 100-nF capacitor provides decoupling of this power supply voltage, Construction ‘The circuits wre not very involved and are easily built on a smal piece of pro- totyping beard. Of course, if you are familiar with a PCB layout packese Figure 1. The sensors ave connected vie the PChus, eae rou joe fa ee def Je bef Gd = oie waned Figure 2. One small IC and a few resistors make a complete interface. athen it is alse quite easy to design @ FOB yourselt, ‘The final result is very compact. In the prototype, the pull-down resistors aro SMD versions. They ate very easy to Solder directly to the PCB traces, ‘The sensors are connected to each other using cables fitted with RJIT plugs. The maximum length of the bus ‘hat s allowed depends oa the number of DS1621 circuits and is determined by tho capacitive load on the IC bus (400 pF maximum). In practice, the author, using two sensors, obtained a ‘maximum length of 7 m. If necessary, this longth can be incroasod using bue extenders lke the 928715 from Pailips. Software Now let's take a close look atthe soft- ware, When you start the program for the very first time it will nitialise with the default configuration. You caa sub- sequently modify the contguration by selecting the men General Configura- tion from the main pretam window (Figure 4). The contesponding window will appear (Figure 8), n this window, all the parameters related to the tem- eratute measurements can be adjusted. At2C Bus you selec tho type of PC interface usod. The option ACint instructs the progrem to obtain the ‘configuration information from an sxcemal fle with the name 12Cini. This Ale has tobe in the Windows folder. this tile, under the section [120 Card), you can enter the base adtliess thexs- decimal) of the FC interface card (detaute value is 0300). Under the sec- tion [120 Paral there should be the hexadecimal address of the parallel ort (usually 0x78 for LPT1). ‘The parameters for the four sensors can also be entered in the screen of Figure 5. All the parameters fer one sensor aro noxt to each other. Under neath the decimal address of the sen sor is a text field that can hold the ‘name of the sensor. For example cool- ingt, cooling? By selecting Yes undor Acquisition the actual measuring commences. If sub- sequently Yos under Record in ile is solected, the meesuring results: are saved in a text file (ile opnltet thiough fle. opm.ta), Activating the alarms is done in much the same manner, If Yes is selected under Alert high, the alarm is raised when the corresponding value is excoodad (otherwiss when it drops below this value). You can enter in the remaining text box the message that needs to be sent via email a2 set one Figure 3. Jumpers select the addkess ofthe senzor. Table 1. Addressing Stotie part ‘Adaress | Address | Address | Read/ 2 1 o | Write 1 ° ° 1 a2 | a | #0 | RW ei? | me | Bes | Bnd Bis | en2 | Bil | BHO Finally, you can entor at the bottom how often the temperature from the Sensors neads to be polled (acquisi- tion period), Viewing the results After you have entered the address ‘and name of the censor and activated the acquisition, click OK and you will retum to the main window (Figure 4). ‘This window is updated at the same rato as the acquisition period entered ccatlier, If the sensor lias been detected, the comesponding namo is chown ona Meshing groos background, with the temperature shown onits right. Ifthe sensor des not reply crf the address fentorod is not correct, its nemo appears with a soil red beckground. Inthe same manner, the sofware indi- cates with a green colour whether communication on the 2C-bus io cor sect (PS 08), ‘Two graphs stow the temperature variatin(s). Tho fist graph contains tho most recant 60 measurements vo: ‘sus time, This display offers a quick Figure 4, The main progrom window gives c good everview of te temperanire history. her daca -2/205view of the most recent information ‘TYoically this is the last hour vehen the ‘measuring intarval is one minute, The second graph, using a zoom fune- Hon and Norizontal slider, allows all measurements to be examined over the pried from 1 hour ago to 7 days and 8 houre, This enables you to view what happoned a few days ago. The measurements in the graph ate Updated once a minute independent of the selecied acquisition period. Alarm via e-mail ‘To activate the alarm vie email you require the folowing: a au aa ce “iar = an SMTP maileervor accessible via the networkte which the measuring Figure 5. A separcte configuration window ie used to eat the necessary parameters. PCis connected. Itno suitable server is available, but the Internet is, then you ean install one yourself. Thoro are numerous free mailservers avai able for all the common operating systems. One example is Mercury transport syetom, which is availablo for both Microsoft Windows as well as Novell Netware, ~ Anemail account, configured forthe name of the tomperaturo station that vwill be sending the messages. ~ Upto three email accounts to recaive the messages, ‘Now goto Mail Parameters to enteral this information (Figure 6). In Mail server IP address eter the address of tho SMTP gervor. In the boxos for ‘Admitisirator, Secondary and Thitd Figure 6, Thore is another window far configuring the © mil funcional email enter the addresses of those ‘who will receive the alarm emails Don' forget to tick the extrosponding Active box. ‘Tho email address of the temperature _erences/Tost, Ifeverything goes well, hovering the mouse over the appropri station is required because mail the message will appear in the mail- ate box. When installing the main pro- servers usually don't accept incoming boxes ofall the recipients, gram, the program TestPC in also ‘mail without a sender's address. Enter Installed at the same tine, This uulty the address that you configured eat i allows the FC-bus to be checked for Confirm by clicking OK. After complet- wane: correct operation and can detect the ing all this you can cend a test mes: Most ofthe boxes inthis progiamhare _senzore coanocted to the bus, sage totheserver from themenu Pre’ a brief help text that appears when About the author Cyril Jovanjan i 38 years old on has qualifications in information engineering (specialty: system- and multimedianetworks). He current ly works in tho south of Fronee. Cyril hos been a liconsed radio oma {eur (FSNYY) since 1988 ond 05 0 consequence of this hobby he has ‘bean engrossed in the various techniques thet ere required for the realisotion of certain subjects, such os mechanics and electronics. MS leases 33WALKING BUG A robot with servo-powered legs MEE A Vreugdenhil Making a robot walk instead of drive around on wheels can be a daunting task. The author of this Walking Bug came up with a remarkably simple solution. 34 blr cli 2/005Akhough out robot does not stand upright on two legs, it can actually ‘wal using just two servos and a min- imum amount of elactronice. The power of the design i, ofcourse, foun in the combination of these two elo- ments, The servos make the ‘natural” ‘movornant noaded hore: just hack and Toh As an advange over other ata ators, they can be ditectly driven by a ‘microcontroller, which saves us alt of siver and interfacing electronics, see Figure 1 ‘The mechanical construction of the ‘Walking Bug is also relatively simpls, the tegs' being secured direcily to the servo spindles. Servos Asservo is basically an electric motor Wwith-a gear assembly driven via an internal positions! detection circuit. Besides the supply vottage, the servo needs a drive signal that serves to indicate the desived position. Conso- ‘quently the servo monitors, changes and maintains its spindies position ally itself As long asthe drive sig- nal semains the same, the servo ‘spindle will not turn — the spindle will only turn if the drive signal changes, “The dive signal consists of square wave pulses with a swing of 5 volts. The period ofthe pulses is constant, while thair width Geetmiites the spindle posi- ton. The zero position of the servo spindle corresponds to & pulsewidth of about 1.5 me. Depending on the desired amount of rotation, the pulses are made shorter or longer, however a constant poriod of 20 me hae to bo maintained, Software (Our purpose is to make the robot put fone leg in front of the other so a5 to make the creature ‘walk’. Considering how acevo neede to be driven, imple: ‘menting this movement may look like ‘a complex tark for a microcontroller to handle. Fortunately, it could be dono ‘without too many problems thanks to {the programming language used by the author. BASCOM-AVR comprises a special routine for driving servos. It ‘accepts a value, supplied in the form of parameter, which directly determines the spindle position, This routine relieves us afthe task of having tocre- 20S tears = | gee|4 ty eo ee “Ce ion ie Flgure 1. The microprocessor exercises dies control over the serve. ate the PWM pulse shape and timing ‘required for sorvo driving. All we need to do is program the actual ‘valting’ of the robot creature. ‘Ths has been achieved as follows in the program. in the main loop. subrou- tine ‘Stop 1" is jamped to ovary 100 ms. In this routine, the micro ‘counts fiom | to 12, the values corre- sponding to the 12 positions a servo spindla tums to when one ‘real’ step. is made. Elsewhere in the program ‘youl find a table allowing the micro to look up a value to be read and Ccopiod to the servo subroutine at the Ccurtont state of the step, ‘That concludes the operation of one servo. However the other servoneeds to work ‘in step’ to enable the creature to actually move forwards (and back- ‘wards). A co-ordinated walking move- ment has been achieved by making ono log proved tho other by an anglo of between 45 and 60 degrees. In the ‘software, this has been implemented bby edding a fixed amount to a current ‘servo position, and roading the value for the result in the lookup table. In this ‘way, the serves follow each other's movement by a fixed difference, jackwards ‘You may have seen on the photographs that our Walking Bug has two ‘anton. nae’. Two stiff wires are secured to microswitch levers, allowing the micro- controller to deteet ifthe Bug has run intoan abstacte. If that is the case, the program branches out of the main loop into a subroutine ‘Back’ causing the robot to ‘walk backwards for a while. The Back’ subroutine simply calls ‘Step’ but this ‘time with the variahla ‘Senso sat, With the ‘Sense! flag set, the 12-pesition ‘counter counts down causing the robot to walk backwards. The actual dires- tion isletermined by the microrwitch that was first closed by the obstecle. ‘At the start o! the main loop, before the jump to ‘Back, the veriabl> ‘Direction’ is set; "1! meaning to the left and'2', 1o ‘the right. Siug this variable an extra difference is created between the servo positions, Hardware ‘As you may have guessed from the ‘software description, the hardware is modest’ by all standards, An Atel ‘microcontroller type AT'90S2319 is the “brains’ of the little robot, directly con- trolling tho sorve via port pina PDO and FDS, PD1 and PDS diive 1wo LEDs that light alternately when the robot is walking straight on, or inci is walking backwards to tho ‘ett or “ight”. Si and S2 are microswitches secured ‘tothe two antennae —when actusted, ‘the mioro Imows thet an obstacle isin the way. ‘The bug is powered by four batteries or rechargeable cells — voltage stabil- ination ie not roquited. Construction (On the printed circuit board designed for the Walking Bug (Figure 2) you first mount the passive parts, thet is, then fors, capacitors, ceramic es. 35Figure 2. The braine! of he Walling Bog COMPONENTS LIST Resistors: RL = 1010 RO,R3 = 1kOS Capacitors: €1.C3,C4 = 10008 D1, D2 ~ ED, lowcurren!, Sav Ic} =A19052313.10F1 ‘nator, connectors and microswitches. Next, continue by fitting the LEDs and the microcontroller (preferably in an IC socket). We recommend first checking the olectronies for proper operation. This is simply done by connecting up the hattary and the serves. If the servo discs move up and down and the movement changes when the micioswritches are actuated you can safely assume that the circuitry works as it should, and you are ready to assemble the Walking Bug ‘The backbone of the creature Is formed by astrip of metal bent as illustrated Miscellansous X= 4Mbz coranie resonator K2 = Say Si pnheader Kika = Sway St pinseader 31, 82 = minim microvwich, fa AGF, Conrad Eecrantes 70457 2 eerves 2 baer holders for2 ANA bateties FB 07 1 frm srihepeohopcon Dis, soutce& beads files, order code ‘040071-11 in Figure 3 (example). The PCB is secured at the front using an M3 bolt ‘and nut. Do not forget to insert a PCB ‘spacer, else the copper tracks at the PCB undarside are in danger of ing the metal strip. Immediately ‘behind the fist bend in the metal strip a hole is drilled to accommodate the ‘on/of switch. This switch is inserted between tho battery peck and tho sup. ply connector on the board. Next, secure the ‘legs’ to the servo spindles. "To prevent the robot sagging through its own waight, its loge chould be cut ftom solid metal (steel) wite, for example, 2-mm thick spotes fer bicycie Figure 3. Showing how the various per 36 core sacured to the motel backbone ‘wheels, Most servos have a aise with hholes secured on to the spindle, These holes ean be used for the legs, to0, by bonding the moral wire intoa U ahapo, where the lengih of the lower side of the U equals the distance between the holes. This allows the wir ta bo passed down and up tough two hholes. Next, the end is bent back at the underside of the disc, clamping the wire in plage. At some distance from the servo, again bend the two ends away from the servo at an angle of about 90 deqwoes. The correct position ‘ofthe dise (with the logs secured on it) to the servo spindle may have to be established by trial and error, ‘The servos and battery holdar may be secured using tie wraps, although this makes exchanging the batteries ¢ bit difficult. Altemstively, lue the battery holdors to the serves. A loss porma nent option is to use rubber bands or Vele, Your own experiments ‘This design is ideally suited to further experimentation, not just with the ‘mechanical construction, but also with all parameters used in the software control. For example, if you decide to co dforont loge and adapt tho values In the tables, or te ditference values, the Walking Bug wail continue to work, at least in principle, sometimes beiter. Ssomotimoe with a funny gait! Your aim should be to find the best imeraction between software and hardware, ‘The PCB contains an ISP (in-systom programming) connector, K2, which allows you to reprogram your rebot using BASCOM-AVR (see link at the end of this article). The wiring of the ISP cable (icluding twee resistors) is summarized in Table 1. In BASCOM AVR, select ‘sample electionics pro- gmamme: Web link ‘Table 1. Programming cable dotaile | K2 | function [4 | wos a4os00) | 1 | eet | Sie 8900) | 3 | scx | 7 | 2 | Mso_| 18 3] GND | leaders: 22085Layout Software [tiga eee =—— £149 —"S= + shepira 8 var £125 + sping 8 var DESIGN your two or four layer PC boartis | SEND us your design with just a click _ RECEIVE top quality boards in just days expresspcb.com ADVERTISE IN ELEKTOR ELECTRONIC CONTACT: Huson International Media Cambridge House Gogmore Lane Chertsey KT16 9AP England Tel: +44 (0) 1932 564999 Web: www:husonmedia.com Cea Ly Perr tany Cee eteAs we all know, checkout gates in highstreet stores will faithfully sound an alarm if you walk out with an item not ‘cleared’ by checkout staff, i.e., paid for. This article describes a sensitive detector that will equally faithfully produce a sound in response to pulses picked up from an 13.56 MHz RFID tag transmitter, be it large or small, ‘portal’ or ‘portable’. 38‘The system of passive RFID tecogni- hence low-cost plastic ‘disc’ contain- pulse transmitter working at an BAS tion has been in use for decades ing ao more than a resonant circuit _frequeacy. If the pessive tag is still alwady mainly in large department tuned to any one of many available present in your bag. it will wsonate in ‘and fashion stores like C&A. Tiadition- EAS frequoncios. Thoso are gonorally _rosponse to the trancmittor’s pulso ally, hose systems work at fequen- in the bands 196-28 MHz, 744- and diaw a tiny amount of energy cies designated for ISM (industrial, 8.70 MHz, 7.30-8.70 MHz but many _from it, the coupling being mostly scientific. medical} use other frequencies. may be used through the magnstic (H) rather than doponding on application, pormicsion tho. clectrical component (B). The Many differant frequencies have been and country. Once your purchases _pulse ringing, resonance, energy with: adopted since the early 1980's. The ave been paid for, checkout staff will drawal or indeed any other cistur- system is extremely simple and has remove the tag(s). Nothing will hap- bance of the magnetic field created by proved quite effective in stopping pen if you then carry your shopping the TX power ie faithfully detected shoplifiess. Al ciothes and other items bag tluough an RFID checkout gate, _and analarm is sounded. Time to open for sale in the shop are ‘tagged with The ABSor glass gate contains alarge your bagatthe request of ‘Security’ or 2 difficult to remove, mass-produced. antenna coupled to.a quite powerful tho shop manager, 2: heir decries 29Figure 2, Slock diagrom of the NE/SA6I5 (courtesy Phils) Figure 3. The PCB is single sled but elso carries components at the solder sido, in this case 0 couple cf 100-nF SMD capacitors for effective supply decoupling From flaky to reliable In tho eavly days of passive RFID, the checkout gates and associated hard- ware produced more fake than real alarms, to the extent of staff oftan no longer bothering about continuous alarms. Those were also the days ‘when you could welk through an RFID gato with 2 common-or-gardon grid dipper in your pocket tuned toon EAS frequency and trigger mayhem in the security department. In follow-up svs- tems great improvements wore achieved in rospect of reliability by minteturising and higing RFID tage in and on clothes and books. instead of Yempoving the tag, it was ‘disabled’ (we'd say grossly detuned) by a strong magnetic pulse at the checkout. ‘Today, much of the world’s feshion end 40 clothes retall wede seems to be ‘tagged’ invisibly and transmitters hhave hecome unebtrusive tothe extant of being handheld, much like a metel ‘detector for use on persons. The asi principle, however, unchanged: a paseive tag will either detune or “load a nearby RFID trans- miter Passive RFIDs cannot convey data unless that's taken to mean “I how”, Aleo, goods (and avan livestock) identification using unique numbers is securely in the realms of active REID or barcode systems, never passive RFID, ‘The ISM fequency 13.56 MHz on which cur receiver is designed to work seeins to bo inuse for active as well as passive (EAS) RFIDs. A dedicated receiver ‘The detuning and resonance effects COMPONENTS LIST Resistors: RI = 10102 R= BAUD RB = hn? Re = 4700 5 = 1kOS. RG = 150. RY = ai RB = 100ka, Ro = 8600 Pl = 100k preset Capacitor Cl = dolernine experimentally; ton wahout 2 = 470pF C3, C7.C10 = 100nF SHAD cate 0805: Ch 29)F 1AV radial C5 = 2098 Ch = Sop C1 7008 C12 = IpF 16V saad C13 = 47nF C14 =2)F2 16y redial Semiconductors! DI = IED, groon, low erent 122 = LED, red, low current Tl =BC547B. 12,13,F4 = 8C5578 [Gl = NESISN of 546 15N (DiFZ0 cate) 12 UP2951CN (DIPS case) i] = Be quaitz crystal BZ1 = 6V DC (active) buzzer Miscellaneous: FLLFL2 = SIE3.5 IF ceramic filter Si = on/olf switch, | contect, trey poston Narn 3708 decot 9V batery wilh dipon leads PCB, ref: 040299-1 from Tho PCBShop mentioned above take place at rela tively small distances from the trans- niftter, say, two mottes or loeo depend ing on TX power and antennas used, ‘Tobe able to spot an active 13.56-MHz REID transmitter ffom a greater dis- tance wo obviously azed a eensitive receiver and a pickup antenna that’s a5 small as possible. Here, a super- heterodyne receiver is used in combi- nation with an otchsd microstrip antenna. Our design is not sultable for 1S4-KHIz RFID systems. "The circuit diagram in Figure 1 is hap. pily uncluttored and deos not contain 2 microcontroller or any other blact box element. The central part is an E615 (or $A815) integrated circuit, IC1. Referring to the block diagram of the IC in Figure 2 welll explain the operation of the receiver. For conven ince, the pinout of the 20-pin DIP ver. be denis 2/08,sion ofthe IC is also shown. ‘The SA615, says Philips, is high per formance monolithic ov-power FM IF system incorporating a mixer/oscilla tor, two limiting intermediate tte- quency amplifiers, a quadrature detec- tor. muting logarithmic received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and voltage regulator. If the type code scunds vaguely familiar we bet that's due to the ‘615 combining the functions of the famous NE/SA802/612 double-bat anced mixer and the NE/SA6O4 demoduletor chip. As compared with the NFVSA60S ths NE/SAG1S features, ‘mong other plus points, « higher mixer input intercept point IF bandwith (25 ME2), "The NE/SABDS and NF/SASt! tionally identical but the ‘615 has improved speci respects (s02 SAB15 datasheet). "The RFID transmitter signal is pickod upby acloved loop antenna made fom PCB tacks. Together with tuning capacitors C1 and C2 we're looking at 2 miniature magnetic loop antenna, ‘The balanced ontensa signal. is applied straight away to the mixer inside the NE/SA615, The oscillator input of the mixor (rofor to Figure 2) receives an @MHz signal obtained from quartz crystal X1. The difference frequency obtained from the mixer is 1356-8 = 5.56 Mifz, which is taken through a 55 Mitz ceramic filter (nor mally used for TV sound subcarrier systems), The filter's bandwicth of about 200 kia is suficiant to receive signals between about 13.350 MHz Figure S. Top sido of the boord with all the ports fited. Note tho wire link and 18.580 MHz, which nicaly covers connecting the stripline anvtenno to C2//C1 our taruet frequency of 13.560 MHz. ‘The output signal of the IF amplifier inside the NE/$4015 (pa 10) is applied to another 55 MHlzcetamic filter FL2, ‘The detector's tigger level can beset §=— Construction ‘oradditional suppression of unwanted to personal requirements using preset mixor products. Tho limitarinside tho PI practice it should be eottomax- ‘Tha receiver ie built on the printed ai SA/NEGLS (input: pin 14) also amplifies imum sensitivity, fe, the LED should cult board shown in Figure 3. The Figure 4. Some components need fo be fitted a the solder side of the beard, too. the IF signal, Referring back to Fig- ist rot come on when youresure there _boatd is single-sided and no problems ure 2, both filtered amplifier sigmalsare isnt active RFIDTX for miles aiound. are expected in the construction appliod to the RSSI circuit which Nona tho loce, powerful SW stations er department as only regular size com serves totell us the signal strength of manmade uolse around 12.5 MHz may ponents are used at the top’ side and a the RFID transmitter cause the LED tolight occasionally The few SMD caps at tho solder side. Also, ‘The RSSI outpat (pin 7) supplies acu adjustable threshold also allows alower there are no inductors ta wind! ront botwoon 0 and 80UA as ameas- battery voltage fafter several hours of The SMD capacitors at the colder side le of the recelved signal strength. The use) so be compensated, of the board have to be Gited frst. The relationship is logarithmic allowing The receiver has asimple power sup- positive aspect of their small size is large signals to be measured too. This ply consisting mainly of a low-drop their sxtromely affective decoupling allows us to oquip curdotector with regulator LP2051 whove low battery _ abilities while alzo allowing the board two activity outpuis:aLED, D1 anda indicator signal is used tollghtan LED size to be Kept to a minimum. The buzzer for far away and nearby RFID when the battery voltagedrops below SMDs may be seon in the photo of the tranemittors respectively, about 6V solder ice of the board, Figure 4. Tho ‘Tho demodulstor in tho NE/SA15 is The current consumption of the top side of the boned with all the com simply not required so we need not —_recelver in standby (non-activated) _poxents fitted appears in Figure b. waste any words or even extemel —_stateisabout mA fom the9-volt PP3. Quite satisfied with the results parts on it battery. obtained wo plan to-apply SMD cape 22005 eens, abe relied “upon to supply much stronger signals so you should be able to detect their presence and activity fiom quite ‘a distance — a nice highstreet pastime ‘hil the missus does the shopping ‘Tho valuos of R2 and RI are subject to experimentation if you want different ‘LED/buzzer activation thresholds. ‘The anteuna may be carefully tuned to resonance at 12.55 MHz by tweaking Figure 6. A look inside our tested prototype of the RFID detector the capacitance across it (C1//C2). This is conveniently done with the aid of a rid dipper ora squarewave ganerator and monitoring the voltage developed for decoupling at the solder side’ moe diecast case ftom Hammond will also across Pi (RSS output). If your func- often in fuuue Blektor projects, soit allow the batiery tobe seaured iner- tion generator docs not reach up {0 may be good idea iobuy a smallstock nally with Ver. Plenty of rom, too, 126MEs then set ita afequency of ofOE05-sze 100 nF capacitors you forthoon-lf ewitchorpushbution. which 13.58 Misi an oda harmonic abject to the use of SDs altogether (lise 2722 Mita ox 4.52 M2). Teun then solder on a couple of miniature hte tie generator output with sts ceramic C's instead, Test, use, nominal impedance in series with a ‘Tho NE/SABIS is best soldered onto eusfomization fon tums of elf ingulated wie formed the board sather than inserted in a ino sal 1oop, Hold tls loop chose sockat The quartzcrysalispeferably Using a dip meter we were able to tothe detecta’s antennaand incresse aby pralle wre. make the TED light at several metres the generator ouputioral nti an RSST The photographs undeiline our strong dlistanco fromthe detector The buzzer indleaton is oktsinad. Now work cn UHR I MONC ENGL” GRIER IeIE! ipewuhaNalGameierien SeVcithepamauwcua maGimaawania lime wis ieanee Phtudeg Gia Coee AYE OO NE WiNigeecraieas, Feo ava Ubea GORE eesnc nner mace pebayhre-g ecteyrerty Seoua an ae oe oe The road not taken fated wilh a fesechencs Of se Goats et ine On alk Meal (cme vos oe hp oma ation Comes Vag ay don! G6 Sus Some of you moy wonder why the eesiver is net designed ising a tondard interme: dhe kequency of 455 kHz or 10.7 MHz. Abo all, he NE/SA615 con handle both tnd a wide choice o filer is avoilable fr those indusystondard F fequencies. Ih ure is possible fo build single conversion recover for 13.56 MHz uxing the results, Both variants azo, of course, NE/SABIS end 455 tH er 10.7 Mie IF lot's assume wo wish to vse on F of toss suitable for covert operation. 495 KH for which mony dit chap cecani fiers are available. Consequenly, ies the local oscilaor {10} frequency would have lo be 13.56 MHz = 0.455 MHz 14.015 Hz er 13.105 Mitr. Both are perfectly possible if you are willing to fork Note out 15:20 pound fer @ custom made quartz crystal and sufer © sypoly time cf 4-6 The RFID receiver described in this ortt wwaeks. The same horors apply f on IF of 10.7 MHz is chosen: ‘impossible’ LO cle is intended for educational or scien frequencies ike 24,26 MHz ct 2.86 MHz enetce fram the calculations, fifi use only. t ill sourd an alarm if The almatvepresened here, © cheap BIVHz mirecennole| eral ond wo "esther 13.56MMs orice equally law cos ceramic filers beols ary atm of using nonstandard quortz sterecied rlch many Indico: pass Sisk re DN pret cence of « (hidden) REID tag ofthe active or possive type, a2 ht lars: 2/005For rapid development of electro ots each of a paranmed 1G Asay wd Low cost USB PIC. programmers eaetgat ro Hangs on taining Resources for arming (CPLD prograruring alii [i cee TA AA Wie nh TERJE co.uk Handyscope HS3 2ch: Resolution Menu - 12, 14 or 16bits Sample Rates - 5,10,25,50,4100 Ms/s models Y Oscilloscope v Spectrum Analyzer v Voltmeter plus! v Transient Recorder Y Arbitrary Waveform Gen. / Two hi-z probes 1:1~1:10 ¥ USB 1.1 0r2.0 v Windows OS- all 1Tp usa 2s Sphere od stil se, 3s co P27 3 Toto 45) soos Faxon aetee invGitptO cor vnentptOtcom anemtaplon Seber elas Ccompist courses lactones and programing ic systems... re ore te ces pet enna neers Seeing aoe ie eee ae jtal oxen idem, velopment: ike this mobi tex messagig "yslen bit fom Fes, Equipment for atatogaing, ontrol and PC scopes Deck mince? 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Profesional manufaccuring ourputs allow you to finish the design process with ease. imap Stop press... Stop press... Stop press... Stop press. Stop press. ‘ = By customer demand now with Eagle import as well as Tsien Boardmaker 2 import. : " allfora brochure ries & CD on +44 (0) 1684 73662 lord 3 Number One Systems - Oak Lane -Bredon Tewkesbury - Gls - United Kingdom - GL20 7LR UK 1/5: ie a3VHF FM Antenna Together with a good directional antenna this high performance two-stage antenna amplifier for the VHF FM broadcast band will enable you to capture far removed (DX! stations. Alternatively, it will drastically improve reception of FM signals you’ve come to accept as marginal and noisy in your area. FM broadcast transmitters are normally meant to have a usaf range of 30-100 Jim. Fing, but ityou aro in « fringe amma, all you may get isa vary Weak signal, possibly even blotted out by a power- ful station around the comer For various reasons, an increasing ‘umber of people ave not satisfied with the quality of racio signals that can be received via cable systems, Unfortu nately, ctass-medulation, and other nasty effects created in the head end station are in stark contrast with the supecb quality of high-end FM tuners that can be bought commorcially. Net sumptisingly, owners of such tuners wil often proterto have theit own antenna on the roof Add to thet a high-perform- ance FM antens booster like the one doscribed here and you can start Diing es well as enjoying high-quality stereo reception, The author employs the present amplifier in combination with a Sangoan ATS.803 World band reoeiver, a Philips RR-S71 runer and a single-element cubical quad di tional antenna at a height of she 22005Booster Figure’1: Credit chegresn of the svoseige precniplec lar VIE FM recatvars 18 feet, Using ths setup he Is able to receive FM stations as fat off as 500 km. Cirevit description In the design we're about to describe you'll find the following important Parameters coupled: low noise figuie (approx. 1 dB); high gain (up to 40 dB) and low susceptibility tointermodula- tion products. Ye the amplifier is inex pensive and easy to bulld. "The cicuit diegram in Figure 1 reveals the eoeret: dusl-gate MOSFET. in po ons T! and Tz. The frst of these, 72, configured mainly for low noise and antenna matching and the second, T2 for high gain. Unusually, the antenna ‘signal s applied to via its source (S) terminal, which is convenient because unlike one of the gates (G1 and G2) it 2/06 lo alieedy represents a fairly low imped- ance. None the less, for impedance matching with the 80.0 coax cable a tap neads to be used on tuned filter Lyca. For VHF and UHF amplifiers, DG-MOs- FETS ropresent a good alternative to ‘choop but nolay bipolar trancictors and very expensive and difficult to get Ga- AS FER. "The gain of the second DG-MOSFET in ‘tho circuit ie adjustable using presot Pi which vaties the bias voltage to 72's G2 terminal — this is the classic way of controlling the gain of a DG- MOSFET and it atill worke very woll Such a contol is included in the design toallow you to get the exact amount of gain required for your particular appli- cestion. For example, if you live near a powerful VHF FM or TV broadcast transmitter then you'l find that lot of gain produces cross-modulation and New horizons in 3-metre band DXing other unwanted effects lke coupled ‘oscillation ane ‘birdio' within the FM band, For stability the supply voltage is decoupled at several locations by elec- ‘yolytio and ceramic eapacitars for tho low and high ftequeucies respectively. ‘Toonable it to bs mounted 2s close as possible to the antenna, the amplifier |e powered via the download coax cable, Le., ever coax connectors con- nected to K2 and K3. Inthe supply, the RF signal is taken off the coax core by capacitor C19, The supply voltage ts adjustable to some extent with pot P2, which will also allaw a degree of gain contral. Tha current through ‘power ox’ LED D2 should be about 10 ma. Ifa low-cur- rent LED is used, then R8 has to be increased accordingly. With electrical ‘fty in mind we stongly suggest tho use of a mains adapter with 12 VDC. ‘output. Depending on the gain set and the BG-MOSFET sad the circuit will ‘consume about 50 mA 0.8 100-mA or slightly more powerful adapter will be fine in most cases, Construction ‘The amplifier is built on the single- sided printed circuit board shown in Figure 2. The inductors in the design are all very simple to make, see the parts list for construction details. Lt, L2.andL3, are wound on a 4.5mm dia dill or pencil. Lt then needs to be stretched to @ length of about 10 mm. ‘You'll ind that a relatively large resis- tor is nosdod to wind choke L4 on — we used a 0.5-watt carbomfilm resis tor from the junikhox (metal flm resis- tors seem to have taken over com- plately), The value 1 MQ is uncritical, ‘what we're after is ‘alot’ of earhon for ‘the core so 820 k or 1.2 Mi will do just as wall ‘Tho DG-MOSFRT aro not only sensi tive to static discharges but also easy to fit the wrong way around. The non- ‘SMD versions require 5mm holes t be drilled ia the PCB. Make absolutely ‘sure you know each MOSFET's final orientation on the boaid before solder- ing it in place — check, think hard and arFigure 2. Copper track layout and component mounting plan of the PCB designed for the antenna booster. COMPONENTS LIST Rosistore: BY 100. F2- 150k = 1Na FA 2200. £5 100k f= 303 P= tka, pa 1ho2* PI = 47.0 prosat H F2= 100 brcer polenionstor Copecitore: C1 C6 = 2996 cavaimic €2 C5, C14 = 226 immer Semiconductors: DI,D = INaoa7, 21D TiI2= BF965 or BF9GES Inductors: FBLFO2 BO ~ 5 tues 0.15 mm {385W6) ercmeled copper wire on loritebood “ U7 ns 0.9 vm ho. C0850) snomelled ecpper wie ecncl ce Sr length VOmmy tap ot 8 hte hom groued LIS =7 ten: 09 me dia. (208WO, intra da, Seen, Cosewound 14230 buns 0.15 dia [38SWVC) shatelld cepper wire on © VIMO O.SW rosie C3, C7.C17, C18 Inf coramie C4, CO; C13 C15 = 100nF ceramic C8. cy nea Tonk coraric Kika C11, C16 ~ 100} 25V radial C12 '= 3pF9 ceramic C19 = 13pF corcic Miscellaneous: F socket, PCB mount S| = on/off switch, 1 contact PCB, ef. 040145'1, avilable from The PCBShop Type | Case |_ Transfer admittance (m5) 103 zd sortoa a SOT103 | 9 somos [a SSS~*dSSC~i‘ SOTTz3 (SMD)_| «| or 3992 |s0T143 (SMD) 2d 1 (Boe4 | SOTIA3 SD} eid B96 | SOTI4S (SMD) 18 18 aoa |sommaaisapy | —~S~—ieaSSS*~*dtCSCSC~C~i 48 refer to the component drawing shown in Figure 1, You may find that the legs are a bit too long for the PCH but don't 30 your cutter until the vory last nent because without the stud marker (source terminal) you will be lost for device orientation, Several VHE/URF DG-MOSFETS may be used in this circuit — see Table 1 With some dexterity itis also possibls to use SMD devicos. In general, yo should aim to use a BF with a iow noise figure, although that may imply a slightly reduced overall gain, Remember, however, thet the «ampli gain is secondary to the noise fig ure — in practice, any gain between, 2508 and 40 dB will be just fine. ‘The pawer supply parts are net ascom= ‘modated on ® PCB but may be eon- nected up using flying lead construc tion ina small case, ‘The finished FC should bo cleaned vith isopropyl aleahal to emove solder resid. The. amplifier must be housed in a metal case with proper coax connec. tore used for Ki and K2. The author ‘used F-type sockets as customary with satellite TV rigs. They are cheap and easy to obtain. Hewovnr, BNC sockets tay be used equally vel. Tho connec- tions between the sockets and the amplifier input and output should be eps as short as possible using thin coax cable like RG174/U Setting up Give the PCB a final, thorough inspec ton for bad soldering, vrrong compo- ents, etc., and resolve all problems before proceeding Sot all pests and trimmers to the cen ‘te of their travel. Apply power to the amplifier and check the various test voltagos indicated in the circuit dia gram. These voltages are typical aud should not be taken to mean the ‘law ‘Tune your VHF FM radi to a weak sig nal at around 98 MHz. Tune the ampli fer back o front, that is, frst C14, hen 5 and then C2 for best reception — yout ears and the tuner's $ meter will toll you what's happening. I necessary reduce or increase tbe gain using PI. A {good way to simulate a weak signal is to tum the antenna avray from the transmitter direction ‘Tue ampiifir's 3-dB bandwidth will be about 10 MHz with all tuned elements at the centre frequency. By careful rotuniag of tho threo trimmer capaci tors. (‘staggering’), this may be ‘wicloned to 20-25 MHz at the cost of some gain, Fina tuning may also he he 1/208All change to SMD Although the 8F964 DGMOSFET is no lenger produced, # is sill rind in elacrenice rato and txplus circuits. Broadly spacke ing, DG MOSFETs rom the BF9.« teres in the “raditonal! SOT103 cous ore being suporioded fal by their SMD (SOTI 43] coun lspers. These are perfect clecical replacements but require shor! wiras inorder to be fited on a board laid offer a SOT103 trensister. In many cases, fhe lype number & thal of the SOTTO parent device pls on offer, For example, a BF96OS fs elecncak Iy compare wih the 8F99¢9, and the same apphes tothe BF98) ond is successor he BE9? | a os Tepe = ‘A further inlocosfng potat 10 note ie thot the 8 efi s inths typo code of SOT143 DG-MOSFET. indicates o ‘corn ‘reflected pinout. q 5 The layout of the PCB designed for the ontenna boos s er alows both SMD {SOT!43) ard ‘loaded’ (SOTIO3) gg a 7 DGMOSFEIs from the BF9scx sores tobe fited, tho lator boing moustedrecotsod in a Sam hale clow (oornn a ing their erminols tbe soldered Fish with tho PCB eorey | [e2 frocks. Unforunotaly, “’ sulix SOT143 DGMOSFET | ls eee connot be used on this board achieved by stietching ox compressing 120 MHz (VHF airband), 145 MHz(2m equipment like’ grid dipper to see the three aic-spaced inductors. This radio amatour band or even 146. whore it dooe rosonato, go for trial mothod may be for specialists only, 174 MHz (PMR band). Some experi- and ettor by fiting an inductor with however. ence may be required in tweaking the fewer turns and see what happens inductors for resonance at theirnew then. Whatever the frequency, the frequency however. Ifyou find that 2 booster will not fail to giva the kiss of Other bands particular trimmer no longer ‘peaks’ fe to adiuff receiver. The amplifier may be modified for use then the L/C combination is out of at slightly higher frequencies like range. Lacking specislised test Pinos [Fornell ory 12-14 Oxcloscope AMC Contes NE, Fennell Li Sioesy Oscitoscope eu he oo ei rau Covet = te STEWART of READING {7A KING STREET, MORTIMER NR READNG PGT 36S, "es 1 12G31717, oe OTTERSIEITS wine stewart-f-reading.co.0e 27205. aoButterfly Dipole Rac eget) eae : tes) UTE, Digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) is now available in many parts of the country. Of course, you need a DVB-T receiver and a (new) UHF TV antenna. If you don’t have a suitable antenna, the small indoor DIY alternative described here is a simple and economical solution. 50for DVB-T ‘Teurestilal digital video broadcasting 1s now available in many parts of the country, and there are plans to avert. ally ewiteh off existing PAL analogue broadcasts altogether, in some parts of Europe this is already happening, I you currently receive talevision by satelite of cable and, for roasone of cost, wish to switch over to DVB-T, 3 DVB-compatible antenna is required. Of course, this is not connected diroctly to the television, but rather ‘laa DVB‘ receiver, or so-called ‘set- top box’ Oniy 2 few of the DVB-T recsivers have ‘simple indoor antenna available as an accessory. Figure 1 shows an example of a basic rod antenna, The main disadvantages of this type of antenna are ite somtimes unsightly appearance and its narrow-band san- sitivity compared to the width of the UHP band over whieh the digital chan nels are spread. ‘More appropriate for indoor DVB-T use is the patch antenna known as a ‘but- torfly dipole’ after its striking shape ‘As vell as demonstrating a better ‘broad-band performance in eld trials, this comparatively discreet antenna ‘ean oasily be hiddon, for examplo behind a modesty sized picture frame. DVI ‘Thanks to the data compression offered by MPEG-2 it is possible to transmit four digital channels in the samo bandwidth ae that occupied by single analogue chanel This is partlc- ularly impressive when you consider that a modern television signal with 625 linoe and a 50 His fild érequency ‘would give a rave digitised data rate of around 216 Mbit/s. The bandwidth required for that would ba prohibitive for terrestrial or catallte transmissions. MPEG-2 is a significant advance on the MPEG-1 video compression stan- dard, Ttean reduce the digital data rate 27S. ee cts 10 1327 Mbit/s, just 6% of ts onginat value. Also, @ sophisticated modula- tion schome, known as COFDM (Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex), ensures that the available bandwidth and transmit power are used optimally. Very early article on DVB-T may be found in [3] Butterfly dipole ‘Tho zeal antenna impedance of a but- terly dipole is of the same order of ‘magnitude as that of @ full-wave dipole. For such a full;wave dipole eye tem a typical impedance would he ‘between 240 9 and 3002, and in prac- tice probsbly nearer 200 (than 240.0. In any case, matching is required to the nominal 79 2 input impedance of the antenna input of the receiver, For 8 matching transformer, used as shown in Figure 2, with a transmission ratio of N, we have: N= (aija)'2 fy where a and ate respectively the ‘input and output impedances of the system and n, and n, are the numbers of turns on each side of the trans fomet. For a trausinission ratio N= 2 with n= m+n, and n, = nq we find ‘hat the numbors of tarms n,,n3 and ng are all equal. This makes th practical construction ofthis transformet consid- erably simpler: because the same volt- age appears acioss all the windings, ‘and besause we do not need the gal venic isolation between input and out- ‘pur that # full transformer would offer, we can use a single coll with x cantre tap oe chown in Figure 3. Commercial low loss alr cored versions of this transformer have a bifilar con- struction. Figure 4 shows the arrange- ment, where eight tums of two paral- 1910.5 mm diameter enamelled copper ‘wires (nere shown in black and white So clarity) are wound on # d.mm diar:- Simple and economical DIY indoor antennas Figure 1. A simple indoor DYBT antenna by TechniSat, 31

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