2013 CES, Here We Come!

Ultra HD TVs. Windows 8 tablets. Large-screen smartphones. Bendable screens. These are just a few of the new gadgets that promise to fill the booths at the Las Vegas Convention Center next week. It’s time for the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

This is an exciting period not just for the OEMs that are producing these gadgets, but also for the companies behind many of the underlying technologies that are making these gadgets possible. Take microcontrollers (MCUs), for example. Microcontrollers are powering many of the world’s smart, connected devices. Some studies have revealed that on a given day–at work, home and play–we’re likely to interact with as many as 150 MCUs in the digital devices and systems that we use. It’s the spread of The Internet of Things, and MCUs are right at the core.

At CES, Atmel will host a meeting room where customers can see demos of MCUs and other products and meet with Atmel Technology Experts and executives. To schedule a meeting, contact your local sales rep or email events@atmel.com. In addition, CES attendees can see our ZigBee Light Link and Wireless Composer/Sniffer solutions in the ZigBee Pavilion; our meeting room will feature a selection of other wireless solutions.

From our microcontroller portfolio, we’ll be showcasing demos including:

• Ultra-low power SAM4L MCUs, our newest ARM Cortex-M4 processor-based devices
• AVR XMEGA E MCUs, using its asynchronous event system on a 6-string LED board
• An ARM processor-based embedded microprocessor that powers an in-home health monitor

With the dazzling array of touch-based products that typically fill the CES show floor, Atmel is excited to be behind many of the technologies that give these products their distinct capabilities. The newest touchscreen controllers in our maXTouch S Series are Windows 8 certified, feature integrated sensor hub technology and support screen sizes up to 17.3″. At CES, we’ll demo sensor hub technology on a Windows 8 tablet.

We are also excited to share the newest demos of our XSense flexible touch sensors. These demos highlight some key features of XSense for smartphones, tablets and other industrial designs: narrow borders, support for curved surfaces, support for larger touchscreens.

We look forward to meeting many of you at 2013 CES!

Arduino-Based Personal Satellites Could Launch This Fall

The Arduino platform has become a common component in robotics and an array of do-it-yourself (DIY) tech gadgets. Now, Arduino boards, based on Atmel AVR megaAVR 8-bit and ARM processor-based microcontrollers, are poised to power personal satellites that could get launched into space as early as this fall.

One of the driving forces behind these cracker-sized satellites, dubbed “Sprites,” is Zac Manchester, who recently talked to the San Francisco Chronicle about his Kickstarter-funded project. Working from NASA’s Ames Research Center, Manchester and his team are aiming to get 250 of the personal satellites into space via a container placed inside the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which resupplies the International Space Station.

More on the Sprite project here. What would you do with your own personal satellite?

Smart, Connected Design at 2013 CES

Going to the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next month? In our meeting room at the show, Atmel will showcase embedded technologies that inspire smart, connected designs. Among our many demos:

• QTouchADC and QMatrix touch sensing algorithms, proximity sensing, haptics and buttons, sliders and wheels functionality
• XSense touch sensor demo with curved glass
• Health monitor developed with ARM processor-based microcontrollers (MCUs)
• Low-power SAM4L ARM Cortex-M4 processor-based solution
• Sensor hub implementation with maXTouch S touchscreen controllers
• Atmel ZigBee Light Link

To schedule a meeting with Atmel executives and Tech Experts at CES, contact your local sales representative or send an email to events@atmel.com. We will also be in the ZigBee Pavilion with demos of our ZigBee Light Link and Wireless Composer/Sniffer solutions.

We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas!

Engineering TV Talks Atmel Studio 6

Engineering TV’s Paul Whytock talks about Atmel Studio 6 with John Fogelin, Atmel’s principal technologist for software platforms MCU. From the company’s booth at the recent Electronica show, the two talked about how increasing software complexity has created the need for integrated development environments to evolve into platforms. The Atmel Studio 6 integrated development platform, for example, includes the Atmel Gallery apps store for third-party extensions and plug-ins. These additional tools have transformed Atmel Studio into a more comprehensive environment for efficient design of AVR and ARM core-based applications. Watch interview.

Have you tried Atmel Studio 6? What do you think about the platform?

Powering Down 32-Bit MCUs

32-bit microcontrollers are getting designed into pretty much every electronic product. Until recently they were used primarily in industrial and automotive applications, but with improved architectures leading to significantly lower power consumption, MCUs are now being adopted in a broad range of portable and battery-powered applications. The folks at Atmel have introduced a new, ultra low power family of ARM® Cortex™-M4 processor-based MCUs that consume just one-third the power of currently available solutions. Various sleep modes that enable the MCU to shut down unused modules along with software-controlled clock gating are used to tailor the power consumption based on the application’s requirement. In addition, unused peripherals can also be fully shut down individually and enabled again during runtime, further lowering power consumption without compromising system operation. Learn more about SAM4L devices.

Atmel CEO sees this as the age of the microcontroller

Great article by Atmel’s CEO Steve Laub in Electronics Weekly on how microcontrollers are powering today’s smart devices: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/24/10/2012/54842/atmel-ceo-sees-this-as-the-age-of-the-microcontroller.htm