AWC, a long-time leader in producing floating point coprocessors for microcontrollers, is pleased to introduce a simpler, more powerful math coprocessor. Our other coprocessors (the PAK-I, II, and IX) are designed for highly efficient communications, and for demanding applications, they are still a great choice. however, their efficiency requires some effort to master. Sometimes you just want a simple way to get floating point results. That's where the PAK-XII comes into play.

The PAK-XII uses simple 9600 baud TTL-level RS232. You send ASCII digits and commands to it and it replies in ASCII. It is like having an RPN (reverse polish notation) calculator connected to your microcontroller.

How easy is it to use the PAK-XII? Try this simple Basic Stamp program:

x=114 ' in real life, this might come from a sensor
SEROUT TX,BAUD,[dec x," 3.325*="]
SERIN RX,BAUD,[dec result,WAIT("."),dec4 frac]

That's it! You just computed 3.325 * 114 and read the answer in two parts (a whole number part and a fractional part).

NEW: The PAK-XII can now store up to 10 macros to help make complex expressions more efficient.

This powerful PAK not only has all the math power you've come to expect from our high-end coprocessors, but it also has an analog comparator and 6 A/D channels (with up to 10-bit accuracy). Suppose you want to read 4 samples from channel 0, average them, and convert them to a voltage reading. Easy! Just write:

SEROUT TX,BAUD,["a0 a0 a0 a0+++4/5*1024/"]

The PAK uses RPN (like an HP calculator does). It has a 15 level stack and also has 10 temporary storage registers. This easy to use chip augments your Stamp or other microcontroller with full 32-bit floating point math. The PAK-XII is a standard 28-pin (.3" spacing) IC that can interface with your microcontroller using only 2 pins (you may wish to use one additional handshaking line).

Features include:

The Details

With the PAK-XII you'll receive the IC, a ceramic resonator, a manual, and a software disk. The disk contains examples (which you can also find in our document library online).

You can read the manual online and find an example application in the Document Library.