September 22, 2009

The Project

This was my contest entry in the Microchip "myPIC32 Design Challenge".  A design contest sponsored by Microchip, Digi-Key, and Tech Insights to promote Microchip's new (introduced in late 2007) PIC32 line of 32 bit MCU devices.  For those not familiar with MCUs, it is a low to moderate power microprocessor with a full complement of memories and peripherals on a single chip. 

The competition ran for nearly a full year, beginning on April 15, 2008.  The final  results were announced on April 1, 2009 at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, California.

My design was fortunate enough to "Survive" through Phase 1 (where the field was narrowed from nearly 400 down to 128 entries), and again through Phase 2 to become one of the "Round of 32" entries remaining in the competition at that time.  At the completion of Phase 3 In January 2009, the field was narrowed to just 8 for the final round "Phase 4".  My entry place 11th at the completion of round 3.  At the end of Phase 4 the final prizes were awarded and Ngiha Tran's excellent design "Portable Notetaker for the Blind" was declared the Grand Prize Winner.

SUMMARY

My entry into this competition is an up to date engine management system for older gasoline powered automobile engines, and is also applicable to custom made engines.  This design study also provides a foundation to develop further variants such as Alternate Fuel Control System versions.

Check out the design details and let you friends know about it too! 

Thank you for your interest in this design project, and thank you for your support,
Vernon Johnson