Lukas Fässler from Soldernerd published a project showing how he built a PIC-based beacon keyer:
This is likely the first ham radio related project that I document here on this blog
But my very first PIC project was a beacon keyer that I made for my father, HB9BBD. That was in 2013. A beacon keyer is a great project to get started with microcontrollers since it’s not much more than a fancy way of blinking an LED.
Beacon Keyer – [Link]
Clarinox Technologies Pty Ltd was formed with the aim of providing cost effective and innovative wireless embedded systems solutions to business. Due to the experience of the Clarinox team, more embedded systems are designed to develop leading edge solutions. In addition to delivering flexible and robust wireless protocol software for embedded systems developments.
Clarinox hottest products are Koala® Connect Modules! A compact option for adding Wi-Fi® and / or Bluetooth® to new and existing projects.
These modules will give you a stable environment while used with Koala® EVM, the first and only development board to support development for all major wireless technologies. It enables embedded systems developers to create both low and high power wireless systems communicating over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy. It provides a fast and cost effective way to commence embedded wireless development with all major wireless technologies.
Each module features a single onboard processor to drive the user application in addition to multiple wireless protocols. The modules available are:
Koala® Connect Modules
KM-141201 (20 x 30mm BT/BLE)
KM-153101 (20 x 34mm Wi-Fi+BT/BLE)
Carrier Board for Koala® Connect
KC-018102
Sensor Modules
KM-990501 Sensor Board
The Koala EVM and wireless module family will help shorten development time, reduce development costs, and open the door to new possibilities for wireless device features.
And these are the specifications
MCU: STM32F411 (Bluetooth/BLE), STM32F412 (Wi-Fi + Bluetooth/BLE)
Wi-Fi Radio: TI WL1831MOD / WL1837MOD
Bluetooth / Bluetooth LE Radio: TI WL1831MOD / WL1837MOD
I/O Signals: ADC, GPIO, I2C, I2S, SPI, UART, USB
Industrial Temperature Grade: -40°C to +85°C
Supported Technologies: Wi-Fi WLAN, Wi-Fi Direct Concurrent Operation (Multichannel, Multirole), Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE
You can get your own products from Clarinox by filling this inquiry. More details about Koala Connect Modules are available here, also a start manual for KoalaEVM is available here.
Current sensor amplifier and over current switch project is based on ACS714-30A current sensor and LM358 Op-amp, ½ of LM358 op-amp used as an amplifier for low voltage and 2nd 1/2 LM358 op-amp used as comparator which provides over current TTL output, trimmer potentiometer provided to set the over current limit. ACS714 sensor measures the current up to +/-30Amps, final output of the amplifier is 235mV/1A, and normally over current output is High-TTL, its goes low once the current over shoot than a set point. Circuit requires 5V DC and 40mA, Onboard LED indicates the power. Resistor divider R1, R3 provides bus voltage output for micro-controller interface to measure the bus voltage, choose appropriate value for R3, R1 as per your application and bus voltage, it’s should be less than 5V DC.
Current Sensor Amplifier & Over Current Switch – [Link]
This current sensor amplifier and over current switch project is based on ACS714-30A current sensor and LM358 OPAMP, ½ of LM358 op-amp used as an amplifier for low voltage and 2nd 1/2 LM358 op-amp used as a comparator which provides over current TTL output, trimmer potentiometer provided to set the over current limit. ACS714 sensor measures the current up to +/-30Amps, the final output of the amplifier is 235mV/1A, and normally over current output is High-TTL. It goes low once the current overshoot than a set point. The circuit requires 5V DC and 40mA, and the onboard LED indicates the power. Resistor divider R1, R3 provides bus voltage output for a microcontroller interface to measure the bus voltage, choose the appropriate value for R3, R1 as per your application and bus voltage, it should be less than 5V DC.
ACS714 Current Sensor
The Allegro™ ACS714 provides economical and precise solutions for AC or DC current sensing in automotive systems. The device package allows for easy implementation by the customer. Typical applications include motor control, load detection and management, switch-mode power supplies, and overcurrent fault protection. The device consists of a precise, low-offset, linear Hall circuit with a copper conduction path located near the surface of the die. Applied current flowing through this copper conduction path generates a magnetic field which the Hall IC converts into a proportional voltage. Device accuracy is optimized through the close proximity of the magnetic signal to the Hall transducer. A precise, proportional voltage is provided by the low-offset, chopper-stabilized BiCMOS Hall IC, which is programmed for accuracy after packaging. The output of the device has a positive slope (>VIOUT(Q)) when an increasing current flows through the primary copper conduction path (from pins 1 and 2, to pins 3 and 4), which is the path used for current sampling. The internal resistance of this conductive path is 1.2 mΩ typical, providing low power loss. The thickness of the copper conductor allows survival of the device at up to 5× overcurrent conditions.
Are you an experienced maker who are looking for more advanced Arduino skills to get?
Warren Andrews, an experienced engineer and journalist, wrote a new book that walks makers through building 10 outside-the-box projects, helping them advance their engineering and electronics know-how. With this book, makers will delve more deeply into hardware design, electronics, and programming.
The “Arduino Playground: Geeky Projects for the Curious Maker” book is published by the Geek book publisher, No Starch Press. Projects inside the book provide a way to build new things that vary between practical and fun.
The book has 11 chapters, the first one is a warm up, it contains a quick guide to get the Arduino ready, prepare the IDE and try some sketches, making DIY PCBs, and using SOICs. Each chapter of the other 10 chapters is a project chapter that starts with listing the required tools, components, and software, followed by detailed instructions of the build containing all sketches and board templates. There are also author’s design notes, which are sure to provide inspiration for your own inventions.
Reviews
“Arduino Playground is not for the faint of heart. Unless the faint of heart person plans to build a pacemaker with Arduino!” —ScienceBlogs
“This is a book designed for Arduino enthusiasts who’ve mastered the basics, conquered the soldering iron, and programmed a robot or two. Warren Andrews shows you how to keep your hardware hands busy.” —I Programmer
The book is available for $30 on No Starch Press and Amazon. You can view the detailed table of contents and the index, and also you can download Chapter 4: A Watch Winder, and the sketches, templates, and PCB files used in this book.
IoE era is here since we are able now to add mobile radio capabilities in our applications! The latest incarnation of the cell phone network will offer internet connectivity and possibilities that could only be dreamt of previously depending on your standpoint, and many more factors.
And now let’s embed these concept in medical applications, like “Smart Bandage” . It is conceivable that sensors embedded in a medical dressing could continuously monitor the wound healing process and send alerts to medical personnel when an infection is detected. Maybe the patient could not tell accurately since the pain is not a valid indicator of biological dysfunction. The problem is that we all have different thresholds; some stalwarts may endure the pain and only end up visiting a doctor as a last resort when the simple infection has developed into something nastier. Other patients will be convinced that a slight twinge is evidence of a life threatening condition. An objective assessment of the patient’s state of health will not only be reassuring to the patient, but also lead to a more efficient use of medical resources and reduced health care costs.
For this reason, band-aids with sensors and 5G network interfaces seem like a win-win formula. They will give the doctor an early indication of problems and may even be able to run rudimentary diagnostics to indicate the cause of the problem. Instead of long waiting times for appointments and expensive laboratory tests we could, for example get an immediate recommendation of an effective antibiotic. This is just one small example of the many benefits that the IoE will eventually bring to medical care in the future.
“That intelligent dressing uses nano-technology to sense the state of that wound at any one specific time. It would connect that wound to a 5G infrastructure and that infrastructure through your telephone will also know things about you – where you are, how active you are at any one time. You combine all of that intelligence so the clinician knows the performance of the specific wound at any specific time and can then tailor the treatment protocol to the individual and wound in question.” – Prof Marc Clement, chairman of the Institute of Life Science (ILS).
Via: Elektor
Michael Dunn @ edn.com has compiled a list of software that most enginners should be aware off.
We’re living in a golden age of software, where many useful programs are available – for free!
Let’s survey some of what’s out there that just might interest an engineering crowd like the EDN community.
I can’t offer personal opinions on most of these packages, but I expect to hear back from you after you’ve test driven a few.
Mostly free engineering software – [Link]
by Max Maxfield @ eeweb.com:
A little while ago, it struck me that I was getting tired of explaining what FPGAs are and how they work their magic to those of my chums who — thus far — have worked only with microcontrollers (MCUs), so I decided to write a three-part mini-series of articles to offer as an introduction.
FPGAs For MCU Guys – [Link]
Susan Nordyk @ edn.com:
A single-chip 2.6 A driver for brushed DC motors, STMicroelectronics’ STSPIN250 targets battery-powered portable and wearable applications. This low-voltage, energy-efficient driver integrates a power MOSFET bridge and fixed off-time PWM current controller in a tiny 3×3 mm VFQFPN package.
Motor driver fits small IoT devices – [Link]
by Susan Nordyk @ edn.com
The MAX17055 single-cell fuel gauge from Maxim not only eliminates battery characterization, but also keeps SOC (state-of-charge) error to within 1% in most scenarios. With its ModelGauge m5 EZ algorithm, the device provides tolerance against battery diversity for most lithium batteries and applications. It also allows system designer’s to decide when to shut down the device when the battery gets low, maximizing device runtime.
As the battery approaches the critical region near empty, the ModelGauge m5 algorithm invokes a special error correction mechanism that eliminates any error. In addition, it provides three methods for reporting the age of the battery: reduction in capacity, increase in battery resistance, and cycle odometer.
Fuel gauge needs no battery characterization – [Link]
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