Microcontroller-Driven Power Supply - 3

MICROCONTROLLER-DRIVEN POWER SUPPLY - 3 Although the intelligent power supply can operate in stand-alone mode without an external computer, its true power and versatility can not be appreciated until use is made of the serial interface that enables a number of instruments to be connected to a simple, yet flexible, control bus. As promised two months ago, this third and final instalment of the article will focus mainly on the supply"s ability to respond to soft- ware control. It will be shown that this is relatively simple to effect, since the bus hardware and command data format have been designed with flexibility in mind, allowing almost any computer to be used, provided it has a programmable serial port. At the end of the article, a number of BASIC example routines are given to aid in getting acquainted with our first computer-controlled test instrument. Nothwithstanding what has been said above, and to get things straight from the outset: the microcontroller-driven power supply...