The Engine is Whistling - The TIIC IDC train!
A train journey often triggers a thought – Have we packed enough for the journey? This drives us to go through our checklist multiple times to ensure we indeed have packed everything.
As the TIIC IDC 2015 train leaves on August 15, 2014 and the student gear towards submitting their project proposals for Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge India Design Contest 2015, I just hope that the teams have packed enough supplies [TI Analog parts and Embedded Processor tools] to take them through the journey and make it a memorable experience.
Your TIIC Checklist & TIIC Wallet
Each team participating in the contest must submit a components request form along with a proposal. This should include list of all the TI components, both the TI Analog Parts and TI Embedded Processors, along with its correct part number and the required quantity. Each team has the luxury to request TI tools worth USD 250 for their project implementation. If it empowers you to implement your solution in a more efficient manner, teams may request tools for >USD250, with the justification. To help students with their checklist we have uploaded webinars from TI experts on how to select an appropriate TI Microcontroller and a Wireless platform for your application.
Launch your Ideas - the TI LaunchPad Ecosystem
The Texas Instruments LaunchPads are the most popular development tools among the students. There are several variants for LaunchPads available from Texas Instruments for each microcontroller family. The LaunchPads along with BoosterPacks, which are plug-in expansion modules for LaunchPad, offer an expanded functionality and can address a variety of project requirements. TI along with other several third parties offers a broad range of BoosterPacks ranging from capacitive touchpad to wireless connectivity, from motor control to LED control and much more!
TI has recently added a new LaunchPad and a new BoosterPack to their ecosystem – the SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi CC3200 LaunchPad and the SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi CC3100 BoosterPack. The first incorporates an ARM Cortex M4 processor along with a Wi-Fi network processor, which makes it an ideal platform for Internet of Things. The second has the same Wi-Fi network capability and can be used with other TI Microcontroller (MCU) LaunchPads. Check them out and choose the most appropriate for your ride.
Ready to use TI designs!
TI has the most extensive reference design library for system designs, which extends across TI’s broad portfolio of Analog, Embedded Processors and Connectivity products. It enables you to jumpstart your system design and speed-up your product prototyping. The reference designs contain all the relevant information starting from a basic system-level block diagram to the design files including Gerber and the BOM details.TI reference designs cover a broad range of applications including industrial, automotive, medical and many more. For example, a team working on a medical gadget that requires heart rate monitoring can refer to the following TI reference design “Optical Heart Rate Monitor Reference Design with BLE Connectivity”. Therefore, we encourage you to review them and leverage.
A large pool of TI Evaluation Kits!
The Texas Instruments Microcontrollers (MCU) are broadly classified as Ultra-Low Power MCUs and the Performance MCUs. TI has a variety of evaluation kits available under Ultra Low Power Family ranging from simplest tools like MSP430 LaunchPads [MSPEXP430G2] to experimenter boards [MSP-EXP430F5529] followed by target boards for specific IC packages. The Evaluation kits under Performance MCUs spans across USB driven controlSTICKs to experimenters like Peripheral Explorer Kit followed by Application specific kits as Solar Application kit, Digital Power Application kit etc. See how they can fit into your design.
So go ahead, load up your kit, and get on the train, before it departs!