Skot built a free Bus Blaster v3 v4 PCB, a high-speed JTAG debugger for ARM processors, FPGAs, CPLDs, flash, and more. v3 v4 is a small update to v2/v2.5 with symmetrical connector placement to make it fit a case.
If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer.
John demonstrates how to interface a vintage LED display with the Arduino. The display in question is a HP 5082-745 model, found in calculators, and other products from this manufacturer in the ’70s.
Using the display is very easy – kudos to the engineers at HP for making a simple design that could be reusable in many applications. The 5082-7415 is a common-cathode unit and wiring is very simple – there are the usual eight anodes for segments a~f and the decimal point, and the five cathodes.
Raj wrote a tutorial on how-to implement servo control on PIC16F microcontrollers. The article starts off with some servo theory, and is followed with an open source practical example.
A servo motor is a special geared DC motor equipped with an electronic circuit for controlling the direction of rotation, as well as the position, of the motor shaft. Because servo motors allows precise angular positioning of their output shaft, they are used extensively in robotics and radio-controlled cars, airplanes, and boats to control the motion of their various parts. In this lab session, we will first explore what a servo motor consists of and how it works and then illustrate how to interface it with a PIC microcontroller.
Chemicaloliver has written a short post describing how to graph ez430 Chronos watch data in Processing.
His post includes links to the source code, which is an extension of the earlier Processing code by Sean Brewer.
Originally written in 2010, this info remains relevant for newly minted Chronos hackers who’ve just received their TI packages from DigiKey.
Our latest 3D model is the PIC TQFP-100 Brakout Board v2. This project lets you get familiar with any PIC microcontroller or dsPIC digital signal processor that come in the TQFP100 (0.4mm) ‘PT’ package quickly and easily.
Check out our tutorial on how to build 3D models from Cadsoft Eagle board files, as well as the tutorial on how to render life like images with Maxwell for Google SketchUp. Later this week we will feature a tutorial on how to use the free Kerkythea to render your images.
The image above was rendered using Kerkythea.
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.
Here is an article from IKALOGIC describing how to implement CMOS cameras as sensors in 8bit microcontrollers. Processing color video in real time requires powerful DSPs or MCUs, but by downgrading the image to gray-scale, and using a lower resolution, processing becomes much easier to handle, so even small 8bit MCUs can handle it
Many robotics competitions imply the usage of line sensors, to follow guidance lines traced on the ground plane. Most competitors will build some kind of optical sensors array for this purpose. This solution tends to be the cause of many “bugs” due to the variation of ambient light which leads to faulty sensor readings. Trust me on this, I have been in that exact same place back when I was a student. Some other competitors will completely get rid of the lines traced on the ground plance, and will use very complex camera based navigation where they direct the camera to the front of the robot.Then they and have to deal with the analysis of all other moving objects and elements and implement various algorithms like shape recognition. So, what I’m mean is why not use the camera as a line sensor array?
Via Embedded Lab.
Giuss built a USB IR Toy v2 free PCB. With the USB IR Toy you can use a remote control with your computer, view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, capture and replay remote control buttons.
If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer.
You can get IR Toy v2 for $22.05, including world wide shipping.
Via the forum.
Here is an app note from Atmel describing how build DIY touch keys using Philipp springs (or any spring made from conductive material) and their qTouch ICs. This design allows PTH LEDs to be mounted inside the keys.
The Philipp™ spring is a simple and cost-effective method of creating a touch key on a dielectric front panel such as glass or plastic, using a conventional PCB behind the panel. The method connects a pad on the PCB to bridge a space of up to a few cm of air gap to the rear of a dielectric panel to form an electrode.
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:
FRIC at ivoidwarranties has developed an Arduino addiction. So when his company needed a replacement time clock he wasn’t content to settle for a substandard commercial unit. In the true hacker spirit he designed his own superior time clock system using Arduino and a Stronglink SL018. The SL018 is an RFID reader/writer that interfaces via I2C. Conveniently, it has a ready made Arduino library.
Though initially designed to work in conjunction with a connected PC, he expanded the system to use micro SD card logging and ethernet connectivity, along with an DS3232 RTC in order to make the project a standalone unit.
FRIC has documented this project’s development in Part 1 and Part 2 of his posts and promises more details. Interesting, practical project. We’d like to see a link to the code/schematic.
Here is an app note from Microchip describing how to use dsPIC digital signal processors to implement digital lock-in amplifiers.
Lock-in amplifiers use phase-sensitive detection to measure the presence of small signals buried in large amounts of noise. By measuring the coherent system response from an incoming AC signal, the digital lock-in amplifier can detect even minute changes. Both magnitude and phase can be used to characterize the system. Conventionally, lock-in amplifiers use complicated (and expensive) analog circuitry to perform the phase-sensitive detection and filtering. However, modern Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs), such as the dsPIC30F and dsPIC33F families, can be used to remove large amounts of the analog circuitry by performing the necessary operations in software. This capability provides a number of additional benefits including increased reliability, resistance to temperature and aging effects, and the ease with which the system can be modified in the field. By using the built-in signal processing capabilities of the dsPIC33F, it is possible to perform high-speed, high-accuracy measurements on sensors such as strain gauges. The same technique can be applied to other noisy systems such as capacitive sensors or the measurement of modulated light levels.
Bearmos tipped us about this reference design from Analog Devices for high-performance, low cost weigh scales. The design uses load-cell, and a load-cell ADC AD7799.
The trend in weigh scales towards higher accuracy and lower cost has produced an increased demand for high-performance analog signal processing at low cost. The scope of this requirement is not obvious; most weigh scales output the final weight value at a resolution of 1:3,000 or 1:10,000, which is easily met (apparently) by a 12-bit to 14-bit ADC (analog-to-digital converter). However, a closer examination of weigh scales shows that meeting the resolution requirement is not that easily accomplished; in fact, the ADC accuracy needs to be closer to 20 bits. In this article, we discuss some of the system specifications of weigh scales and deal with considerations for designing and building a weigh-scale system. The main areas considered are peak-to-peak-noise resolution, A/D-converter dynamic range, gain drift, and filtering. We compare measured data from a real load cell to inputs from a stable voltage reference, using a weigh-scale reference design as an evaluation board.
Via the forum.
The FUNcube Dongle is a SDR receiver on a USB dongle which currently sells for $125 GPB. It uses the same E4000 tuner found in the $20 RTL-SDR dongle we’ve posted about previously.
The developer is Howard Long, G6VLB, who chronicled the FUNCube’s development in the above video from the 2011 Digital Communications Conference hosted by the ARRL and TAPR in September, 2011 in Baltimore, MD.
Continue reading “DCC 2011: FUNCube project development”
Kerry wrote a tutorial on how to use the MSP430 LaunchPad to program external (off board) standalone MSP430 microcontrollers.
To program an external MSP430G2 device, you need to simply remove all the jumpers from the LaunchPad develpment board and connect the TEST, RST and ground pins with your target device (see picture below). Since the on-board MCU will be disconnected from the flash emulation circuitry there is no need to remove the MCU from the Launchpad when programming an external device. And the external device does not have to be the same type as the one on the LaunchPad either.
Here is a project describing how to build a DIY USB slingshot joystick. The platform is based on a small NXP LPC11U24 breakout board with USB capability, a 3-axis sensor, and a stretch sensor. It is all incorporated into real slingshot frame.
It was inspired as a demo to show off how easy it is becoming to build your own USB devices, thanks to the emergence of ultra-low-cost 32-bit microcontrollers that include USB. There is more about this industry trend and our new mbed NXP LPC11U24 board that we designed to open up these opportunities and enable very productive prototyping of USB devices:
The resulting hack means fusing electronics, microcontrollers, software and, umm…, carpentry!
Via PCBheaven.
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:
Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon:
Coming up:
What are you hacking this week?
Yesterday we wrote about the QuicPSoC3 development beard for PSoC3 ICs from Cypress. You can now download the design files.
Via the comments
Balint Seeber has done it again! In this video he shows how to take the RTL-SDR dongle and use it in conjunction with the open source OP25 project to successfully demodulate APCO Project 25 (P25) digital radio voice communications. P25 is a term used to refer to a modulation system used by many public safety agencies for digital radio transmission purposes.
Continue reading “RTL-SDR APCO Project 25 (P25) receiver”
Robots shared his cheap AFSK terminal node controller design. It’s a cheap alternative to the commercial TNCs, based on a STM32VL discovery board and a small adapter board.
Audio Frequency Shift Keying is an old, low speed packed based radio standard, now primarily used in HAM radios for APRS communication.
What is needed for APRS is a host computer, radio, and a terminal node controller. While the PC and radio are common, and relatively cheap, the TNCs are quite expensive.
Via the forum.
