Instrumentation & Measurement Solutions -
Handheld Digital Altimeter
Handheld digital altimeters are portable devices that measure altitude based on the change of atmospheric pressure. However, a variety of additional features such as clock, atmospheric pressure, compass and weather information (temperature, humidity etc.) can usually be implemented within a single device. This combination makes it an ideal choice for mountaineers, hikers, adventure enthusiasts and search & rescue staff working in the field.
A handheld digital altimeter is composed of sensors, signal conditioning circuit, ADCs, MCU, human-machine interface, and power supply. The sensors used in a single device may include barometric sensor, magnetic sensor, temperature sensor and humidity sensor. These sensors typically provide analog output, and therefore a signal conditioning circuit (of which amplifiers are the core components) is required to implement amplification and filtering of sensors’ small signals. The processed signals are then converted into digital signals by ADCs so that MCU can calculate based on digital input and certain algorithm to get results of altitude, atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, etc. The human-machine interface on a handheld digital altimeter includes several functional pushbuttons and a display for showing information. The power supply consists of battery, power management and battery management. The power management is used to convert battery power into different voltages to satisfy different requirements. The battery management provides control and protection during battery charge process.
In order to ensure that the handheld digital altimeters have a small size and capability of working properly for a long life even in harsh environment, the components with high integration, low power, wide temperature range and small package, and a large-capacity rechargeable battery that can work in a wide range of temperature should be selected. Meanwhile, the approaches that can reduce system’s power consumption should be adopted as many as possible during system design.
Application Notes
TRAINING
SUPPLIER
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | Sensor | Freescale APEX (altitude pressure experimental design) | MPL115A | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | Freescale DEMO9S08LL16DEMO9S08LL16 Out of the Box Overview | MC9S08LL16 | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | Getting Started with RS08 MCUs | Click Here | |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | LCD Introductory Video | MC9S08LL16 | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | Low End Microcontrollers and LCD - Alta performance | MC9S08LL16 | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | S08LL16 Thermostat Video | MC9S08LL16 | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | S08SF 8 Bit Microcontrollers and Development Kits | Click Here | |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | Save your energy - Flexis Ultra-low-power 8-bit S08QE128 MCU | S08QE128 | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | Segment LCD MCU Solutions with Low Power Features | MC9S08LL | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | MCU | Tower System: TWR-S08LL64 Kit Overview | MC9S08LL64 | Click Here |
FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR | Eva Kit | TWR-S08LL64 Quick Start Demo | MC9S08LL64 | Click Here |
MICROCHIP | MCU | 8-Bit CMOS Microcontrollers With nanoWatt Technology | Click Here | |
MICROCHIP | MCU | An Introduction to nanoWatt XLP: PIC18F46J50 | Click Here | |
MICROCHIP | MCU | Introducing nanoWatt XLP Technology | nanoWatt XLP | Click Here |
MICROCHIP | Eva Kit | Introduction to the PIC24H Starter Kit | nanoWatt XLP | Click Here |
MICROCHIP | MCU | nanoWatt XLP Demo Video | nanoWatt XLP | Click Here |
MICROCHIP | MCU | PIC18F2XK20/4XK20 8-Bit Microcontroller Family | Click Here | |
MICROCHIP | Eva Kit | XLP 16-bit Development Board | DM240311DM240311 | Click Here |
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS | MCU | Getting Started with MSP430 MCUs | Click Here | |
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS | MCU | MSP430 Getting Started Workshop | MSP430 | Click Here |