Here’s an update on the PCB design toolkit we posted about earlier:
Saturn PCB Design Toolkit Version 5.8 including the new IPC-2152 Update!
- Changed the formula for Sr in the IPC-2251 Method of the Bandwidth Calculator
- IPC-2251 stated formula is in error
- More work to come on the Signal Properties calculator
- Added Alron 85N to the substrate list
Thanks RichF! Via the forum.
Jeri Ellsworth has posted this video detailing her process for prototyping a resistive multi-touch pad. The process is presented in detail for maximum benefit to those unfamilar with the components of these devices.
A cheap laser pointer shining into an LED can create small voltages, the photovoltaic effect. Wardy uses it to power an ultra low power ATTiny5 microcontroller:
I may have raised an eyebrow slightly to see 2.50V appear on the screen. Hmmmmmm. I had been expecting something like 0.25V or something in that region, based on experiments with LED sensors a few weeks ago.
An idea occurred!
I’ve got an ATTiny5 microcontroller on my bench… can I have it running a USEFUL program while being powered only by the incident light striking a cheap LED?
Luca wrote another tutorial on interfacing the Arduino with a ENC28J60 Ethernet controller. This tutorial covers how to control an Arduino through a web browser. This is his 7th tutorial in the ENC28J60 series, if you are interested in Arduino web interfaces check out the earlier tutorials as well.
When I published my first example about using Arduino as a webserver, many of you wrote me asking how to control Arduino using a web browser: in this blog post I’m going to show you how to control a LED from a web page.
Today we evaluated a bunch of new project designs, and started on the 7400 Contest mini site. There will be an official announcement soon, but we can reveal there is already one really exciting sponsor on board.
Time to book hotels and plan any eating challenges for the Open Hardware Summit and Maker Faire in New York. We’re hoping to visit a few electronics shops there and eat something tasty, help us plan in the forum.
Sent off a new batch of PCBs. Tomorrow is IR Toy debug and update day.
Texas Instruments (or rather their lovely PR firm) send a C2000 Launchpad (with a handwritten note no less!). It’ll be a giveaway soon…after we play with it a bit.
We continued working on the next version of the Logic Shrimp, which uses the new 23LC1024 SRAM to replace the 4 individual SRAM chips used on v1.
Energia is a fork of Arduino’s Processing IDE for TI’s MSP430 microcontrollers. Support is also expected for the Olimexino-5510, a TMS430F5510 Arduino like development board.
Via the contact form. Thanks Uwe!
Mats shared his method of aligning, and positioning all the LEDs on his clock in a perfect circle. He wrote an online PHP script that outputs Eagle commands that position, and rotate the LEDs depending on the parameters you enter into it.
I have written a php script that generates a bunch of moves and rotates to move parts in circles that I use when I want something spaced evenly in a circle. Enter parameters, hit submit, copy the code and paste into the command area in the board editor.
Via the comments.
panStamp is an open source project created for the enthusiasts interested in measuring and controlling things wirelessly. panStamps are small wireless boards specially designed to fit in low-power applications, simple to program and simple to work with. They allow for direct connection with your sensors to make then available wirelessly. panStamps are NOT WiFi modules. They are wireless boards which run a compact stack and communicate with each other using a protocol called SWAP over 868/915 MHz using Texas Instruments CC1101-based radios.
panStamps are Arduino clones so existing libraries should work as well.
Details about architectures, protocols, stack, libraries and applications can be found on the documentation wiki. The project’s source code can be found here.
Need a way to sense or measure something? This list of simple input devices has source and examples for capacitive sensors, PS2 scroll mouse, PS2 keyboard, push-buttons, and resistive touchscreens.
Via the forum
Today’s 3D model is the latest board from our shop, the FT311D Android Open Accessory IC Breakout Board. It’s designed on our DP6037 standard sized board, for compstibility with out Sick of Beige cases.
Check out out Sick of Beige customization tutorial explaining how to fit your project into our Sick of Beige cases.
The models will be published in the Dangerous Prototypes 3D warehouse collection. They are also uploaded to our SVN. You can find them inside the “art” folders in the respective project folders. Check out the 3D view below. You can zoom and rotate the model.
Analog Devices discusses the sensitivity of analog and digital microphones.
Sensitivity, the ratio of the analog output voltage or digital output value to the input pressure, is a key specification of any microphone. Mapping units in the acoustic domain to units in the electrical domain determines the magnitude of the microphone output signal, given a known input.
This article will discuss the distinction in sensitivity specifications between analog and digital microphones, how to choose a microphone with the best sensitivity for the application, and why adding a bit (or more) of digital gain can enhance the microphone signal.
This app note from Linear Technology describes why ceramic capacitors aren’t an ideal replacement for tantalum based caps. The higher internal inductance of ceramic capacitors creates high voltage spikes:
Applying a voltage step to a ceramic capacitor causes a large current surge that stores energy in the inductances of the power leads. A large voltage spike is created when the stored energy is transferred from these inductances into the ceramic capacitor. These voltage spikes can easily be twice the amplitude of the input voltage step.
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 get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB.
You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another!
Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:
Scott Harden produced this project a while back and decided to pull it out of the archives and send it in. Its a mock up of a Hatsune Miku character singing a techno version of the leekspin song (hence the leek in the character’s right hand.) “The goal was to create a minature Miku which would perform perfectly in sync with audio coming from a portal music player (iPod or something) and NOT require a computer connection. I accomplished it by sending some creative control beeps out of the left channel of the stereo signal. Although I didn’t finish the project, I got pretty far with the prototype, so I decided to dig it out of the archives and share it with the world because it’s pretty entertaining!”
Full project details with schematic and code can be found on Scott’s Geek Spin website.
Via the contact form.
Maxim has a tutorial describing the theory behind CMOS analog switches, and tips for selecting the right ones for your projects.
This tutorial presents the theoretical basis for analog switches and describes some common applications for them. The special features of calibration multiplexers (cal-muxes), fault-protected switches, and force-sense switches are discussed as well.
Microchip covers how to use PIC32s with GSM/GPRS/GPS wireless data and navigation systems. It uses their Machine to Machine board with a GSM/GPRS/GPS communication module:
[Machine-to-Machine] uses a device to capture an event, which is then relayed through a network to an application that translates the event into meaningful information. A common application of M2M is fleet management, where vehicle tracking is wirelessly transmitted to a central monitoring office over cellular networks.
There are many popular M2M applications, one of which is a utility meter. One of the major benefits of a M2M-based utility meter over a traditional one, is immediate operational efficiency from reading and programming meters remotely, which eliminates the need to physically visit the meter.
Arduino fans can now take their hacking projects to a new level with the release by the Arduino crew of their WiFi shield. The shield is designed around an Atmega 32UC3 32bit microcontroller which controls the WiFi stack and the HDG104 from H&D Wireless. The Arduino communicates over SPI with the Atmega32. They use an open source version of TCP/IP and the WiFi software stack allowing for greater user control and maximum hackability.
The shield supports 802.11 b/g network along with WEP and WPA2 Personal security modes.
Links to the board files and Arduino WiFi library can be found on the WiFi shield product page.
The WiFi shield is available from the Arduino store.
Today we worked on Bus pirate v4 firmware, cut some video for next week, and started cleaning the workshop. Sjaak’s gift from our recent food crawl disappeared into the morass. Update: found it!
Also – hating on the Facebook push plugin. It’s our fault for misconfiguring it. There’s a ton of options across all our user accounts, it’s maddening to debug exactly what is happening. Wish there were a ‘lite’ version that is a dependable as the Twitter plugin.
App note posts are ready for the weekend. The prototype for Monday’s 3D model post is rendered and ready.
Matseng designed an IR remote control intervalometer. He got tired of waking up and turning on his air conditioner during the night, so he built a project to do it for him.
The device sends on/off IR codes to the air conditioner, controlling it at set intervals. He designed it on our DP7043 standard PCB template, making it easy for him to add a nice enclosure to his project.
Check out our Sick of Beige customization tutorial, on how to build your own case designs based on our standard sized PCBs.
Via the forum.
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday.
Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week:
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