Android APP Contact Us
login / register Upload
TRENDING:

Koki’o Project Case Goes Live On Crowdsupply

Posted on by Tope Oluyemi

Cowfish Studio has announced the launch of the Koki’o Project Case on Crowdsupply. The Koki’o project case is an open frame design that allows for panoramic viewing of your PCB while protecting the board from harmful contact with hands or tools. The open design also allows entry of air and moisture, which is great for applications that require environmental exposure (i.e. sensors). A set of PCB template libraries are available for most major EDA tools (Eagle, Altium, KiCad) right out of the box. So instead of putting your PCB in a generic enclosure, you have the Koki’o Project Case which is so different from your generic PCB enclosure.

The Koki’o offers 4 versions of the case, they include:

  • Small 80 mm x 50 mm (3.15” x 1.97”)
  • Medium 100 mm x 60 mm (3.94”x 2.36”)
  • Large 120 mm x 70 mm (4.72” x 2.76”)
  • Extra Large 140 mm x 80 mm (5.51” x 3.15”).

The Koki’o case is a durable 18-gauge steel chassis, with a beautiful black powder paint finish. It features keyhole slots for mounting on walls and other surfaces, with its top plate formed from acrylic (PMMA). The Koki’o is available in 3D models, with an adjustable lid to accompany the expansion. The Koki’o is Ideal for prototyping or permanent installations.

Koki’o Steel Chasis

About Pledging, Cowfish Studio says:

“Each pledge level will come with a durable 18-gauge steel chassis with black powder paint finish and keyhole slots for wall mounting, a top plate formed from acrylic (PMMA), machine screws for mounting, two sets of standoffs to accommodate board expansion (5 mm and 10 mm), and protective non-skid rubber feet.” The Koki’o case is open source, and they say “Yes! We have greatly benefited from the open source community and we are dedicated to give back. The hardware is released under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).”

Regarding shipping, the Koki’o project case will be delivered to Crowd Supply’s warehouse for final distribution to backers worldwide. You can visit Crowd Supply’s guide on Ordering, Paying, and Shipping for more information about delivery, VAT payments, etc. All related documents, 3D models, and footprints are available on GitHub.

Features & Specifications:

  • Durable 18 Gauge Steel Chassis, Black Powder Paint Finish
  • Top Plate Formed From Acrylic (PMMA)
  • PCB Templates Compatible With Most Major EDA Tools (Eagle, Altium, KiCad)
  • 3D Models Available
  • Keyhole Slots for Wall Mounting
  • Ideal for Prototyping or Permanent Installations
  • Adjustable Lid to Accommodate Expansion

Cowfish Studio is reassuring those who have backed the board about the availability of the board. They say:

“In order to reduce the frustration of backers, we chose to work ahead of time and made sure that the project was as close as possible to mass production before launching this Crowd Supply campaign. The development and tooling costs are paid for and the funding required is purely to cover the costs of the production runs. They continue “We have suppliers lined up, and to the best of our knowledge, should be able to deliver without any problems.”

About the project, Cowfish studio says:

“We’re excited to announce the launch of the Koki’o Project Case. The project has moved along quite well. That doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges though—there were plenty and I’ll talk about some of them in future campaign updates! As always, a crowd funding campaign is only as successful as its backers make it, so I’m depending on you! I’m very excited about this project and the possibilities it enables, and I hope you are excited about it was well.”

Funding ends on Dec 09, 2020 at 03:59 PM PST (11:59 PM UTC). Visit the Crowdsupply campaign page for more information.

Network Traffic Visualizer

Posted on by Micael Coutinho

Have you ever wanted an indicator of how much the internet is being used at a particular time? You may want to know if your roomies are making it too slow for you to use, or just for the sole purpose of fun. For some reason, the router manufacturers usually do not include an indicator as such, but you do not need to be sad now. Because we are makers, we will make one! Or at least that was what Chandler McCowan from Hackster thought when creating a network traffic visualizer.

How would you make such a device? Easly, a packet sniffer! Hold up, calm yourself down, a packet sniffer is not the most legal thing to do, so we are not encouraging that sort of behavior (but seriously, if you can decrypt those packets, you are a god to me). With something similar to the likes of a packet forwarder, you can inspect the network and count how many packets are going through it. Seems difficult, but in reality, it is not. You can do such a thing with raw sockets, in an afternoon. It is a very good exercise if your goal is to understand the inner workings of the internet in practice, with UDP and TCP, and even go a bit beyond that.

Now, to the nitty-gritty of this project, Chandler made use of an ESP8266 and created a neat PCB to go along with it, housing 8 LEDs and a shift register to control them. Besides that, you get the necessary connectors to program the ESP board, so if you want to make changes to give it more functionalities or even use the kit in another different setting, you can, easily. Unfortunately, the kit does not allow you to be too creative, as there is no space to connect sensors or other peripherals, as most of the GPIO pins are occupied by the LED driver. On the flipside, it is designed to do one thing and does it well. You get a portable Wi-Fi “VU meter”. There is also an interesting 3D printed stand. But even if you feel underwhelmed by the project (which you should not, as it’s sole intend and purpose is to visualize the network), you can use it as a starting point and change it to your liking, as everything is open source: from the PCB schematic and files to the 3D printed stand and the Arduino code, you can access everything.

Lastly, this is still a work in progress, as there is a website currently under development that will provide all the information on this nifty project. While you wait, you can order it on Tindie for $15, which is a reasonable price for a finished product.

New Raspberry Pi 400 sells for $70 and is a computer in a compact keyboard

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Raspberry Pi, whose mission is to put “affordable, high-performance, programmable computers into the hands of people all over the world”, has unveiled Raspberry Pi 400 which is a complete personal computer built into a compact keyboard.

“We’ve never been shy about borrowing a good idea. Which brings us to Raspberry Pi 400: it’s a faster, cooler 4GB Raspberry Pi 4, integrated into a compact keyboard”,

says Eben Upton, founder and CEO of Raspberry Pi.

Since more children are likely going to be dependent on remote learning in the coming months and more people working from home, the Raspberry Pi 400 might just be that affordable solution to many, especially students who are in need of a personal computer. It starts at a price that is a lot cheaper than some of the most budget phones and comes with a keyboard that’s big enough for proper writing. Just plug it into a monitor or a TV using any of its two micro HDMI ports, insert a microSD card, and attach a power cord and a mouse.

The Raspberry Pi 400 shares almost the same computer features as the Raspberry Pi 4, but with a little difference. The Raspberry Pi 400’s quad-core Cortex-A72 (Arm v8) 64-bit SoC runs at 1.8GHz while the Raspberry Pi 4’s SoC runs at 1.5GHz. The Pi 400 also offers only HDMI for audio output while the Raspberry Pi 4 has a 3.5mm audio and video jack.

Features and Specifications of the Raspberry Pi 400 include: 

  • CPU: 64-bit Broadcom BCM2711C0 quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 processor running at 1.8GHz
  • 4GB RAM
  • 1x microSD card slot
  • 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0 and 1x USB Type-C ports
  • 2x micro HDMI support dual display
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi (2.4GHz + 5GHz & Shielded)
  • Bluetooth 5.0 + Bluetooth Low Energy
  • 1x PCB antenna
  • Horizontal 40-pin GPIO header (right angle)
  • 2x micro HDMI ports
  • 1x built-in power button, and
  • Built-in Heat sink
  • Power Input: 5V via USB Type-C (up to 3A)
  • Dimensions: 285mm x 122mm x 21mm
  • Operating temperature: 0°C to +50°C

The Raspberry Pi 400 comes with its own OS but can be made to run a version of Windows. It is available and sells for $70 as a standalone machine or $100 as a ready-to-go kit that includes a mouse, USB-C power supply, microSD card, micro HDMI cable, and Raspberry Pi beginner’s guide. Hopefully, before the first half of next year, the Raspberry Pi 400 should be readily available around the world.

Further details on the computer may be found here.

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Goes up For Sale Starting From $25

Posted on by Tope Oluyemi

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has launched the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4)  starting at $25 price and offers up to 8GB RAM, Broadcom BCM2711 SoC with 4x 1.5GHz Cortex-A72 cores found on the RPi 4. The Compute Module 4 is built on the same 64-bit quad-core BCM2711 application processor as Raspberry Pi 4. However, the Compute Module 4 “delivers a step-change in performance over its predecessors: faster CPU cores, better multimedia, more interfacing capabilities, and, for the first time, a choice of RAM densities and a wireless connectivity option.” The Compute Module 4 also features LPDDR4-3200 RAM, but it’s the first with a GbE controller and the first with optional wireless. You can get 802.11b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 5.0 BLE plus an optional external antenna for $5.

The Compute Module 4 features a brand new form factor and a compatibility break with earlier Compute Modules. It substitutes the SODIMM connector of the CM3+, CM3, and original Arm11-based CM1 to dual, high-density, 100-pin perpendicular connectors — one for power and low-speed interfaces found on the CM3/CM3+ and one for high-speed interfaces like PCIe. This significantly reduces the overall footprint of the module to a smaller 55 x 40 x 4.7mm footprint on its carrier board, enabling you to achieve smaller form factors for your products. Raspberry Pi Foundation is launching the CM4 in 32 variants, with four RAM options, four Flash options, and optional wireless connectivity. Prices range from $25 (for the 1GB RAM, Lite, no wireless variant) to $90 (for the 8GB RAM, 32GB Flash, wireless variant). Also, the four variants with 1GB RAM and no wireless keep the same price points ($25, $30, $35, and $40) as their Compute Module 3+ equivalents:

“once again, we’ve managed to pack a lot more performance into the platform without increasing the price.”

Compute Module 4 IO Board

Raspberry Pi Foundation is also launching an updated IO Board to help you get started with the Compute Module 4. Like the IO boards for earlier Compute Module products, this breaks out all the interfaces from the Compute Module to standard connectors, providing a ready-made development platform and a starting point for your own designs. The IO board features two full-size HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet jack, two USB 2.0 ports, and MicroSD card socket (only for use with Lite, no-eMMC Compute Module 4 variants). It also enables x1 socket PCI Express Gen 2, HAT footprint with 40-pin GPIO connector and PoE header, 12V input via barrel jack (supports up to 26V if PCIe unused), Camera and display FPC connectors, and Real-time clock with battery backup. CAD for the IO board is available in KiCad format.

Antenna Kit and Compute Module 4

Available also is an optional, $5 Compute Module 4 Antenna Kit for situations where there’s a metal case that might block the internal antenna, or where it is not possible to provide the necessary ground plane cut-out under the module. The kit comes with a whip antenna with a bulkhead screw fixture and a U.FL connector. The highlight of the spec list includes:

  • 1.5GHz quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A72 CPU
  • VideoCore VI graphics, supporting OpenGL ES 3.x
  • 4Kp60 hardware decode of H.265 (HEVC) video
  • 1080p60 hardware decode, and 1080p30 hardware encode of H.264 (AVC) video
  • Dual HDMI interfaces, at resolutions up to 4K
  • Single-lane PCI Express 2.0 interface
  • Dual MIPI DSI display, and dual MIPI CSI-2 camera interfaces
  • 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM
  • Optional 8GB, 16GB or 32GB eMMC Flash storage
  • Optional 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ac wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.0
  • Gigabit Ethernet PHY with IEEE 1588 support
  • 28 GPIO pins, with up to 6 × UART, 6 × I2C and 5 × SPI

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is available now ranging from $25 to $90. You can also check CanaKit for the SKU. The IO Board costs $35 without a CM4 module. You can find more information on the Raspberry Pi Blog announcement and CM4 product page for shopping and additional documentation.

COM-HPC — Next Generation Standard for Industrial Server Grade Computer-on-Modules

Posted on by mixos

Advantech, a member of the PICMG COM-HPC subcommittee and the leading solution provider for A-IoT platforms and building blocks, announces COM-HPC. The new standard will be the technological platform for a series of high-performance Computer-on-Modules to be released by Advantech as an extension of its portfolio. They will be designed to meet the exacting requirements of next-generation IoT markets, where they have to handle and process with very high quantities of data.

This new standard was necessary as the existing standard COM Express Type 7, in place since 2016, is not able to handle the demands of new requirements, such as 5G-data communication. Upcoming applications will be the real time data synchronization and the processing of machinery in factory lines – or different locations – for industrial automation. Defense-systems, medical imaging applications and warehouses employing robots will also be typical use-cases for this high-performance module.

“PICMG Is excited about the pending completion of the COM-HPC specification. Advantech continues to be a leader in IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms. Their commitment to the development of COM-HPC will lead to the rapid adoption of the forthcoming open specification.”

said by Jessica Isquith, PICMG President.

Advantech played an important role in defining the specifications for more than two years. The standard is scheduled for ratification at the end of 2020.

High Core Count and Memory Capacity Delivers Improved Performance

All five COM-HPC module standards (A ~ E) will utilize 800 pins via two new high-speed connectors with at least 4 x 100 pins each and 2 x 400-pin board -to-board connectors.

Besides other improvements, this allows an increased power input and optimized I/O expansion capabilities. The available board sizes enable the adoption of high-level processors. Larger model COM-HPC modules are compatible with 4 ~ 8 pcs long DIMM memory expansion sockets. Additionally, the module’s TDP supports 110W processors (in comparison: COM-Express only supports up to 65 Watts). COM-HPC accepts power inputs higher than 300W to deliver excellent performance with powerful devices. Size E features up to 1TB memory via 8x pcs long DIMM memory capacity. Size C offers 128GB via 4x pcs SODIMM (Figure 1).

Key Features will be:

  • Intel® Xeon® D 16Core/TDP 110W processor
  • Up to 512GB memory with 8pcs 288pin RDIMM/LRDIMM
  • Up to 45 lanes PCIe Gen. 3 (x16, x8, x4, x1), 4x ports USB 3.0, & 2x ports SATA III
  • Up to 4x ports 10GBASE-KR, and 1x port 1000BASE-T
  • Pinout: COM-HPC Server type
  • Dimensions: Size E 200 x 160 mm (0.65 x 0.52 in)

Advanced Data Transmission and I/O Expansion

COM-HPC supports higher bandwidths via innovative BGA-type board-to-board connectors. These solutions offer PCIe 4.0 and PCIe Gen 5 (32GT/s) support, and can be scaled up to 65 lanes. They feature ports for 4x USB 4.0 or USB 3.2 Gen. 2 x 2, up to 10GBASE-T and 8x ports 25GBASE-KR with sideband signals. COM-HPC also offers more low power I/O such as 12x GPIO, SPI, IPMB, I2C, and SMBus for intelligent system management.

Coming soon:

Advantech will release a COM-HPC evaluation kit called SOM-8990 and a carrier board called SOM-DB8900, in the fourth quarter of 2020. This will be a server pinout equipped with Intel Xeon® D processor.

For more information regarding COM-HPC or other Advantech products and services, please visit our website at http://bit.ly/Advantech_COM-HPC or contact your local sales support team under 00800-2426-8081 or embedded@advantech.eu. Learn more as well about Advantech’s local customization options under http://bit.ly/AdvantechDMS

ST to make cartridges for Covid-19 tests

Posted on by mixos

STMicroelectronics is to manufacture cartridges for a multi-sample lab-on-a-chip test system developed by Alifax in Italy. By Nick Flaherty @ eenewseurope.com

The move extends ST’s manufacturing from packaging the microfluidics lab-on-a-chip device to making the whole cartridge, which measures 46.9mm x 21.9mm x 8.2mm, at its backend plant in Malta. Alifax then adds the chemical reagents for the Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) test. Other test cartridges are assembled in a cleanroom.

The cartridge can be used to detect many different types of pathogens, but the main focus is of course Covid-19, with test results in less than an hour. It can also handle multiple samples in a single cartridge, which is a key design feature to boost throughput.

​The 300g desktop Molecular Mouse developed by Alifax is a small portable instrument that contains a broad range of ST components, including STM32 MCUs, sensors, amplifiers, and other devices. The cartridge has six reaction chambers, and for the Covid-19 test, Alifax is using two chambers per sample. Each chamber supports precise heating and cooling of the reagents and samples to amplify the target genetic material, if it is present. Alifax adds a fluorescent reagent to identify the key parts of a virus.

“One crucial lesson from the current global pandemic is the importance of rapid, cost-efficient point-of-care testing that allows immediate remote diagnosis, and then, if necessary, patient isolation,” said Alessandro Cremonesi, Chief Innovation Officer, STMicroelectronics. “ST has been investing in its Real-Time PCR platform convinced that innovative semiconductor-based diagnostic solutions can positively impact our lives.“

“Leveraging our high-volume semiconductor-manufacturing technology and long-term leadership in microfluidics, we’ve developed a rapidly customizable, highly flexible cartridge and instrumentation platform that delivers rapid and precise point-of-care diagnostic results, which Alifax has used to respond almost immediately to present pandemic and future diagnostic needs,” added Benedetto Vigna, President Analog MEMS, and Sensors Group, STMicroelectronics.

“Building on our passion for research and excellence in innovation, Alifax has established its strength in hematology and bacteriology for diagnostic purposes. By working closely with ST and combining its foundational microfluidic and other technology in the Molecular Mouse and our pathogen-specific assays, starting from a COVID-19 test, we’re ready to contribute to rapidly diagnosing, isolating, and ultimately stopping the spread of pathogens,” said Paolo Galiano, President of Alifax.

Alifax had been developing 4-5 assay panels for sepsis, and one assay to detect Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya when the pandemic began and pivoted to develop the Covid-19 assays. The sepsis and Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya assays will follow soon.

E522.48 – 16 channel automotive LED driver with bus interface

Posted on by mixos

The E522.48 is a multi-channel PWM driver for e.g. light application. It provides 16 current sinks with integrated 10bit PWM generator for each channel. Each of the drivers can digitally be configured to drive up to 100mA with a selectable slew rate. The device supports I²C bus controlled operation to enable fast light animation sequences. For failsafe conditions the device provides internal non-volatile memory to store channel individual current and duty cycle information for highest flexibility. An advanced device power management feature allows LED channel bundling with automatic current balancing to external resistors resulting in reduced device power dissipation. Various diagnostic features, like LED open, short condition detection and temperature sensor, are provided to meet automotive requirements. To protect the device from thermal damage, the device implements a configurable LED supply and device temperature dependent automatic LED current derating.

Features

  • Fast I²C bus interface for dynamic LED control
  • Device and LED supply voltage range from 5V up to 40V
  • 16 PWM generators with 10bit resolution
  • 16 programmable LED drivers up to 100mA
  • LED driver current selection step size of 100µA
  • 2 prioritized PWMIN interface pins
  • PWMIN interface with fallback data
  • Direct PWM input
  • 10bit ADC for LED open, short and system diagnosis
  • Single lamp mode behaviour option
  • Advanced device power management by channel bundling option
  • Automatic supply and temperature dependent LED current derating
  • LED channel individual bin class brightness correction
  • Optional external LED bin class resistor evaluation
  • Developed according ISO26262 supporting applications up to ASIL B

more information: https://www.elmos.com/produkte/power-management-ics/led-driver-ic/e52280e52281e52282e52283.html

New UltraBK DC/DC Converters Feature Two-Stage Design

Posted on by mixos

Fully Integrated DC/DC Converters from Murata Feature Patented Ultra-Compact, High-Efficiency Design

Leveraging a multi-patented design that significantly reduces the footprint and height of power-conversion circuitry, Murata has introduced the UltraBK™ family of compact, low-profile, fully-integrated DC/DC converters.

The UltraBK™ converters are aimed at space-constrained applications such as IT and network infrastructure equipment. In addition to unprecedented space savings, they deliver high energy efficiency, high reliability, outstanding low-noise performance, and fast transient response.

The converters achieve their extremely low height and compact footprint using an innovative two-stage design. This design combines a switched-capacitor charge pump followed by a smaller buck or boost converter with lower-voltage power MOSFETs and reduced output inductance compared to conventional designs. The capacitor network provides almost lossless conversion of the input voltage at any ratio, enabling overall operating efficiency as high as 90.5%. The output inductor is approximately 10 times smaller than for a comparable conventional circuit, allowing the entire converter to fit in a 10.5 mm x 9.0 mm LGA package only 2.1 mm high. Moreover, electromagnetic emission (EMI) is typically 20 dB lower.

“Conventional power converters can occupy 30-50% of circuit-board real estate and typically require large, tall inductors that pose layout challenges and can interfere with cooling airflow,” said Shuji Mikami, Power Modules Division, Low Power Products Department, Murata. “Our UltraBK™ family changes everything for designers, simplifying board design and thermal management while also raising power density and delivering excellent energy efficiency, transient performance, and low noise emission.”

Murata is launching the UltraBK™ family by introducing four buck converters that provide a choice of 4 A and 6 A output ratings and the option of a built-in I2C port to allow digital configuration and control. The converters have a wide input voltage range of 6.0 V to 14.4 V, with programmable output voltage from 0.7 V to 1.8 V.

The 4A MYTNA1R84RELA2RA and 6A MYTNA1R86RELA2RA, and similar MYTNC1R84RELA2RA and MYTNC1R86RELA2RA with I2C control, are now available from Murata’s distributors.

Brushed DC Motor Controller Using Infra-Red Remote

Posted on by mixos

This project enables the user to control a Brushed DC Motor using an Infra-Red Remote Control, thus controlling speed, direction, and also brake of DC Motor is possible. It’s an Arduino compatible open-source hardware that helps you develop many DC Motor control applications. The user has to write the code as per the application requirement.  The project is based on three main parts, Atmega328 microcontroller, LMD18201 DC Motor H-bridge, and TSOP1838 Infra-red receiver. This board can control DC motor up to 48V DC with continuous current up to 3A and with peak current 6A.

Example Arduino code is available under Downloads below. This code will help you to control the speed of the motor in 4 steps up/down using an infra-red remote control with help of two switches.

Brushed DC Motor Controller Using Infra-Red Remote – [Link]

MIT CSAIL’s SwingBot learns the physical properties of an object to swing it into nearly any desired pose

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Being a human is far easier than being an artificial machine. The things we take for granted sometimes are some of the toughest tasks to give robots. Take, for instance, something as simple and mundane as handling objects of different sizes and weights. We as humans really do not care about how we are able to carry objects and swing them in almost any directions, we just know that it’s something we can do even without thinking, probably because in our fingertips lies other information that goes beyond size and weight, like texture, friction, shape etc.

This however is not an easy task for robots because before a robot can swing any object, it has to first learn about the object’s friction and center of mass. Getting them to handle a single object might even be easy, but handling and swinging different objects of multiple sizes and weights are an entirely complex task.

A team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) have developed a robotic arm that can use a pair of grippers to pick up objects, estimate its size and weight, and swing it into nearly any desired pose.

“As applications for robotic manipulation shift from industrial to service tasks, the need for robots to deduce the physical properties of objects increases. To cope with the diversity of objects and tasks in the real world, robots require models that can quickly infer the physical properties of objects with as few interactions as possible and without explicit supervision”, says MIT CSAIL. “We present SwingBot, a robot system that identifies physical features of held objects from tactile exploration, providing crucial information for a dynamic swing-up manipulation. The goal of SwingBot is to enable a robot to swing up an unknown object to a desired pose (0°~200°) after performing a single exploratory action.”

SwingBot uses tactile exploration to learn the physical properties (size and weight) of an object. After picking up the object, its grippers use GelSight tactile sensors to measure force distribution and pose of the object by shaking it between its fingers. It then uses the information to swing the object in nearly any pose.

The CSAIL team was able to test SwingBot with unseen objects having different levels of friction and centers of mass and the model was observed to have performed better on lighter objects with less uncertainty compared to heavier ones.

For industries looking for more efficient and cost-effective tactile robots, the SwingBot might just be an option to consider.

More information may be found here [PDF]

TOP PCB Companies