Limpkin writes: This development platform is primarily aimed at facilitating the realization of high speed (several GHz) functions that quantum physicist need for their experiments, as well as providing data collection capabilities. Without going into many details, it will physically be a 3U rack where users can plug different eurocard modules that perform specific functions. […]
Author Archives: DP
Building a 3-channel, high power RGB LED driver
Francesco Truzzi published a new build, a 3-channel (RGB) LED driver: I built another board, which is a 3-channel (RGB) LED driver based on an inexpensive chipset called PT4115 (you can find them on eBay or Aliexpress). The circuit is very simple and looks like Sparkfun’s PicoBuck. However, I used beefier components and a different chip. You […]
DIY 30 watt stereo amplifier circuit
An article on a DIY 30 watt stereo amplifier circuit by Ron Hoffman over at Gadgetronicx: The Stereo Amplifiers are quite handy in places where we need to amplify the input signals to make it audible for all. Weather it was a party or a simple meeting, this thing will do a perfect job in there. This […]
Understanding the APA102 “Superled”
Tim writes: To investigate the functionality of the AP102, I connected an ATtiny85 to the clock and data input lines and used a logic analyzer to probe both the input and output lines. The microcontroller was programmed to output various bit patterns as described below. I focused my investigation on four areas: Behavior of the […]
#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs
Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch […]
Automated CAD design
An Automated CAD design for enclosures by Jon. He writes: I recently kicked off laser cutting services on Anibit, and I plan to augment that service with a lot of specific product designs that I create. I’m a nut for automation and flexibility, and I’m deficient in intrinsic artistic talent. I determined that, as much as […]
Ambulance drone, a flying toolbox containing emergency supplies for life support
The Ambulance Drone project- a flying defibrillator created by Alec Momont from Technical University of Delft, built as a Master thesis research project. It aims to help save a life: The first minutes after an accident are critical and essential to provide the right care to prevent escalation. Speeding up emergency response can prevent deaths and accelerate recovery […]
Visualizing comparator and Op Amp hysteresis
Kerry Wong writes: Hysteresis can be added to a comparator circuit to improve its stability, especially when the input signal is noisy. In this post, we will examine the hysteresis characteristics of some common comparator and Op Amps using an oscilloscope. Perhaps the most intuitive way to visualize the hysteresis in a circuit is to […]
Free PCB the other way around
Last week Sjaak got a free PCB and a small SMD antenna from a user called Claude on the esp8266.com forum . Claude made the board using Dirtypcbs.com. As Sjaak is a huge fan of QFN chips he went straight to his mancave and started to assemble the board. Close-up of the soldered QFN chip under a USB microscope. There were […]
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will […]
App note: Minimizing the temperature dependence of digital potentiometers (POTs)
An app note from ON Semiconductors. The digital POT has two temperature dependent parameters, the TC of the end-to-end resistance RPOT and the ratiometric TC. The temperature dependence of the parameters of an analog circuit using a digital POT is reduced if the performance of the circuit is shifted from the TC of the end-to-end […]
App note: An introduction to LDO early warning function
Supervisory reset delay prevents premature power fail resets, App note from ON Semiconductor. In today’s world of high speed, high power processors, new demands have been placed on the power source regulator. One example is the need to inform the processor in advance of an impending drop in supply voltage below a critical value. A […]
App note: Calibration of the AVR’s internal temperature reference
Another app note from Atmel, calibration of the AVR’s internal temperature reference (PDF!) This application note describes how to calibrate and compensate the temperature measurements from the ATtiny25/45/85. It can also be used on other AVR® microcontrollers with internal temperature sensors. The temperature measurement is based on an on-chip temperature sensor that is coupled to a single […]
App note: Voltage reference calibration and voltage ADC usage
An app note from Atmel, voltage reference calibration and voltage ADC usage (PDF!): Features • Voltage reference calibration. – 1.100V +/-1mV (typical) and < 90ppm/°C drift from –10°C to +70°C. • Interrupt controlled voltage ADC sampling. • Calculation of voltage and temperature from voltage ADC measurements. Some of the new Atmel AVR Smart Battery devices contain […]
ArTICam: Game boy camera photos with a graphing calculator
A Game boy camera photos with a graphing calculator from Cemetech: ArTICam uses the ArTICL library to connect a TI graphing calculator and a Game Boy camera. The Game Boy camera was an accessory released in 1998 for the popular Game Boy handheld gaming platform, allowing Game Boy owners to take photographs. It is built around […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get free […]
Bus Pirate V4 LCD adapter
Dave of V-Tech Design wrote an article on how to modify a Bus Pirate LCD adapter for the Bus Pirate V4: Why do this? At the time of this writing Dangerous Prototypes had not developed a new LCD adapter for the Bus Pirate V4 and I needed one for a project. So why not modify the existing V3 […]
A development board for the ESP8266-03
Limpkin has developed a development board for the ESP8266-03: The ESP8266 modules come with a pre-loaded firmware that will accept some commands through their UART interface (connect to wifi, open udp socket, send data to this IP…). Moreover, since Espressif recently released their SDK you can now load your own custom programs using the existing bootloader. […]
PCB quadcopter frame
Elpis over at Embedded Day decided to design and make his own PCB quadcopter frame: This is my second build and I desired to build the main frame out of PCB instead of plywood like before. I’ve also include the power distribution on the bottom layer of the PCB in order to have a cleaner […]
Reversing D-Link’s WPS Pin Algorithm
Craig of /dev/ttyS0 wrote an article on reversing D-Link’s WPS Pin Algorithm: While perusing the latest firmware for D-Link’s DIR-810L 80211ac router, I found an interesting bit of code in sbin/ncc, a binary which provides back-end services used by many other processes on the device, including the HTTP and UPnP servers I first began examining this particular piece […]