8-bit Microcontroller Training and Resources
Videos
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Wed-Based Utilities
The Battery Life Calculator gives designers a quick and easy way to understand the discharge characteristics of different system configurations to help optimize ultra low-power applications. With 3 easy steps this web-based utility instantly returns a detailed comparison of the Estimated Capacity, Average Current, Self Discharge Current and Estimated System Operating Time for single, parallel and series battery configurations, as well as graphical configurations of the minimum system voltage, and the battery shelf life.
Find microcontroller parts fast by specifying the specs and features you need.
Enter the part number from another company into the utility to find a list of Silicon Labs' products that can replace those parts. Once you find the products you need, you can click on the part number to see more details about the Silicon Labs' device, download the data sheet by clicking on the data sheet link, and export the results to Excel.
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White Papers
Designing a smart water or gas utility meter can present a vexing low-power challenge for embedded control systems requiring RF connectivity. Since a single service call from a technician often exceeds the entire cost of the smart meter, battery life must exceed 20 years. Learn more about how to design power efficient smart gas and water utility meters.
积少成多：如何设计智能燃气表和水表实现能源效率最大化
As batteries become more sophisticated in design and function, you must weigh a set of sometimes-conflicting requirements when determining the optimal battery type for your embedded system, including energy capacity, terminal voltage, physical dimensions, self-discharge rate, power-delivery requirements, etc. Learn more about how to select the optimal battery for your embedded system.
The ability to power wireless sensor nodes from harvested energy sources allows embedded designers to offer self-sustaining systems with significantly reduced cost of ownership for the end-user as well as benefits to the environment. Discover key design considerations for wireless sensor nodes powered by harvested energy sources as they become commercially viable and commonplace technologies used in our homes, offices, factories and infrastructure.
Choosing the right USB communications option depends on several factors, and each solution has different requirements and degrees of flexibility for both the developer and end-user. Is development of USB firmware or drivers required? Does the end-user need to install a driver? Is a PCB redesign required? How much PCB space is available for additional components? Download this white paper to determine the easiest, most cost-effective way to add USB communications to new designs or a legacy system.
Developing code that is compiler independent for microcontrollers adds a great degree of flexibility to any project and helps companies mitigate the risks associated with compiler dependence.
Learn the three most important factors that you should consider when analyzing MCU power efficiencies. We all know the benefits of low power design, and as the use of electronic devices pervades virtually every aspect of our lives, reducing power consumption must start at the semiconductor level, designing in power-saving techniques into the microcontrollers (MCUs) that serve as the intelligent engines behind today's electronic devices.
Although USB connectivity has become a key requirement for many embedded applications, in most cases, it is just one of several design requirements for a typical application. Read this white paper to find an easier path to achieving USB connectivity that also provides the performance and analog capabilities required to enable you to cost-effectively achieve your design goals.
As green energy management becomes a global imperative, the idea of implementing intelligent systems and wireless technology to more efficiently use energy and other natural resources has become a pervasive reality. It began with a relatively simple idea. If you add embedded intelligence and a communications link to a traditional metering device, you have the ability to remotely access the data that the "smart meter" has collected. Whether designing a new smart meter or equipment to retrofit existing meters, there are a number of design considerations that will result in power savings, wireless range improvement and lower system cost.
In order to be successful in the portable health care market, products must above all be very reliable and accurate, but they must also be easy-to-use, low power, support a wide range of voltages, have easy and secure connectivity and of course low cost. Download this white paper to learn how embedded developers can enable increased performance and reliability within strict power and cost budgets to address the stringent safety requirements and increasing competitive feature set in portable medical devices.
USB has become an enormous success in industrial and commercial applications as it continues to replace many legacy serial connections (i.e. RS-232, 485). However, for embedded solution designers, adding USB requires expert knowledge of the USB protocol, exhaustive software development and significant design time. Silicon Labs offers an easier way to retrofit existing systems using USB bridge devices. Read the white paper to find out how.
Isochronous data transfers can be used by USB devices designed to transfer data to or from a host at a constant rate. Systems streaming audio employ isochronous transfers to transmit audio signals in realtime. Silicon Labs' MCU's robust USB peripheral supports isochronous transfers, and each family’s assortment of additional high quality peripherals make them excellent single-chip solutions for USB-based embedded system designs.
One of the problems that developers face when implementing capacitive sensors is the varied length of the traces that connect the sensing device and the capacitive sensor. This manifests itself with two major design challenges for design engineers: the interference susceptibility of the antenna like trace and the unwanted capacitance of the trace itself. In this Silicon Labs tutorial we’ll explore how to solve these problems, for varying applications, with a combination of physical design and compensation algorithms.
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Presentations
This module takes a look at the C8051T62x OTP USB devices and how to develop applications with one time programmable (OTP) devices. After reviewing the material users will have a better understanding of how to minimize cost of development by utilizing flash based equivalents and then target the OTP devices.
This course covers the C8051F38x USB MCU family. It includes a complete overview of the family as well as an in depth look at some of the peripherals and how they operate. Included in the course is a brief overview of the tools available such as USBXpress and the large number of code examples for HID that reduces the development time.
This module provides a comprehensive overview of the USB Human Interface Device (HID) class. It examines aspects of the specification and provides examples for both the MCU firmware and the host application, which is simplified using the Silicon Labs
HID DLL.
This module covers the technical aspects of the Si1000 single chip wireless MCU and the integrated features of the device. It covers the internal operation of the device as well as application advantages such as antenna diversity and automatic frequency control. In addition, a short overview of the available tools is provided.
Ultra-low power microcontroller with capacitive touch sense capabilities is now available with the introduction of the C8051F990 MCU. This training module starts with low power principles and specifications and then moves on to an introduction of Silicon Labs' robust capacitance to digital converter and how it is used to implement single and multi-touch gestures via PCB pads. In addition, an application example is provided that shows how to wake an MCU from a low power state using a slider function.
This course takes a look at the 8051 microcontroller architecture and the associated instruction set. Included is a comprehensive look at the addressing modes and instruction operation.
This module provides a basic understanding of interrupts and their operation. It illustrates how the 8051 microcontroller performs asynchronous code execution as a result of internal or external events and highlights the programming requirements to implement interrupts in the MCU.
The C8051 provides internal memory as well as the ability to access external memory or peripherals using the external memory interface. This course describes the C8051 microcontroller memory architecture and how to access off-chip resources.
Learn about different communication interfaces commonly found on Silicon Labs' MCU devices. This training module covers synchronous and asynchronous designs and shows an example interface using the C8051 microcontroller.
Learn how to implement asynchronous serial communications using the UART peripheral in the C8051F700 capacitive touch sense microcontroller, including the steps required to program the MCU.
This module takes an in depth look at USB and provides examples to illustrate USB operation. Topics covered include descriptors and enumeration all the way through the data transfer phase. Also highlighted are Silicon Labs' solutions that ease the implementation of the protocol in end applications.
Learn about the C8051F58x/59x family designed for automotive applications. This module covers the unique features of the integrated peripherals and sample applications that make the C8051F58x/59x a perfect fit for new designs.
This module takes a look at the metrics that are important for low power system design. It covers the critical operating parameters that ultra low power MCUs must meet and applies them to the system. The firmware aspects of low power design are also covered.
The C8051F91x/90x is the next generation ultra low power MCU from Silicon Labs. This module covers the unique features that make the C8051F91x/90x a perfect fit for new designs where energy efficiency is required.
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