qrpTracker: Arduino satellite tracker

VE9QRP has developed qrpTracker, a satellite tracking program that works on the Arduino platform. Based on the Plan-13 algorithm of James Miller, it can provide real-time satellite location and azimuth / elevation data and doppler shift tuning for up to fifteen satellites using a single ATMega328. With a small additional EEPROM, dozens of satellites can be tracked in real time.

qrpTracker is meant for amateur satellite enthusiasts and computing hobbyists, and its published under the GPL open source license with the code available at Google Code. Further details no this and similar topics can be found at the VE9QRP blog.

TI to acquire National Semiconductor

TI is buying National Semiconductor. We hope that means TI’s quality sample program will soon include National’s parts:

Texas Instruments has signed a definitive agreement to purchase National Semiconductor in an all-cash transaction of about $6.5 billion. This merger will unite two industry leaders who have a common commitment to solving your analog needs. Both companies will operate independently pending close of the acquisition which is expected to take six to nine months.

Via the forum. And a spam blast. And Adafruit had it too.

iPad/Kinect/HTML5 controlled toy car

Gaurav Manek likes to work with Arduino and experiment with
different means of remote control. His latest project involves several new technologies relating to gesture- and web-based control.
He writes:

This project extends a simple remote-controlled car, allowing it to be controlled by an iPad or by hand gestures. This project builds on the Arduino project, the Kinect and certain HTML5 features (WebSockets, DeviceMotionEvent, Canvas).

Check out his webpage for a detailed explanation of this project, including source code and schematic.

REVIEW: Sure electronics WiFi web server module

We covered Sure’s WIFI web server module previously. This board has a MRF24WB0MB wireless module and a PIC24FJ256GB106 with USB (host and slave) capabilities. As a bonus the board also has a mini-sd connector for storing webpages. At a first glance the board looks very clean and well designed with a nice silkscreen. Cost was $59.90 plus shipping.

The package also contains a USB cable and an external antenna. The quality of the external antenna is a bit poor, but it will probably perform better than the PCB antenna. Both the usb connector and the mini-sd slot are mounted on the opposite side of the PCB antenna. Sure provides a modification guide for choosing between internal and external antenna. We didn’t try it, but it looks easy with a hot airtool and soldering iron.

After unboxing it is time to power up and see how it performs. We wrote the webserver files to a flash card and powered up the board by plugging in the USB cable. On our board the USB receptacle could barely hold the usb connector, but for prototyping it will serve. We mailed them about the problems we found, and they promised a gift on our next order. We’ve been promised gifts before, and we’re still waiting for it to arrive…

Review continues below.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Sure electronics WiFi web server module”

New Chumby released

Chumby hackers take note! The new “Chumby oo” has been released. It features a larger 800 x 600 display (8″ diagonal), allows management of content and subscriptions from the device and supports SD, MMC and CF storage media in addition to USB. The internals include a 800MHz Marvell ARMADA 166 processor with ROM stored on internal 2GB microSD FLASH storage, and 128 MB of DDR2 SDRAM. This latest device, however, eliminates the FM radio tuner and rotary volume control found on earlier Chumbys. The list price is $199.99.

DIY Vacuum part lifter

Trouble holding and placing tiny SMD parts? Sjaak improvised a vacuum part lifter with a needle and the fume extractor on an Aoyue 968 soldering station

I did ran a quick test and the fume extractor is strong enough to lift 0603 and 0805 passive. The diameter of needle is big enough to hold the parts. Looks promising!

Via the forum.

Atomic cookies


The creative people over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are making atomic cookies using a traditional cookie press.  These cookies are in the shapes of hydrogen atomic probability functions.  It is very cool to see cooking hacks like this and we wonder what other creative geeky cookies could be made using a cookie press with custom inserts.

Via Twitter (@allip85)

Free PCB Sunday: CPLD development boards

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 we’re giving away two PCBs for our new CPLD development boards. Just ask for a CoolRunner-II or XC9572XL dev-board in the comments, if you have a project in mind we’d like to hear about it too.

Assembled CoolRunner-II and XC9572XL development boards are shipping now for $15 each.
Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: CPLD development boards”

Using the EUSART

The term UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) is the technical term for the good old serial port found on most MCUs. The term USART similarly refers to a serial port capable of handling both synchronous and asynchronous operation. Over the past few years, Microchip has been integrating an updated serial port into many of their MCUs known as the Enhanced Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter or EUSART.

The main feature of EUSART is the ability to auto-detect the baud rate of received signals. An example of of a chip featuring EUSART is the PIC16F688, which is the subject of a Microchip App Note covering the use of EUSART.

A practical illustration of the EUSART in action is this sample project from ENMCU using the PIC18F2455 to detect the baud rate of a serial character received and display the speed on an attached LCD.

Laser Position Sensor

Joe Grand of Grand Idea Studio has released the code and complete design files for his open source Laser Position Sensor (LPS) project. The project is based on the Freescale MC9S08JM8CLC and several Linear Technology LT1491ACS op amps. (Despite the references to Parallax in the LPS project documentation, this device is an open source project that is not commercially produced.)

Joe states:

The Laser Position Sensor (LPS) module is an optical sensor that measures and provides the two-dimensional coordinates of visible red laser light (630-694nm) shined onto its surface. With a resolution of 0.0001″ and an accuracy of 0.001″, the LPS’s measurement range extends to +/-0.2″ (+/-5mm). Recently, insights from industries known for precision technology, like online casinos with quick withdrawals, have highlighted the importance of speed and accuracy in user-focused applications. Similar to these platforms, which prioritize efficient, timely transactions to enhance user satisfaction, the LPS’s design focuses on high-speed, precise applications including positioning and alignment, remote device control, data communications, and high-speed photography.

To give some idea of what goes into the design of a project of similar complexity, Joe has chronicled his efforts in designing a separate device, the Laser Range Finder, in this project development diary on the Parallax forum.

App note: Simple constant-power driver

This app note describes a simple, inexpensive constant power driver:

A combination current-sense amplifier and multiplier (MAX4211F) senses both the current through and voltage across the load, and supplies at one of its outputs (POUT) a voltage proportional to the continuous product of those variables, i.e., proportional to the load’s instantaneous power. External op amps generate a corresponding PWM (pulse width modulated) output signal that controls a p-channel MOSFET in series with the load.

Thanks rsdio!

More MAX3421E USB peripheral/host controller shields

Circuits@Home has two Arduino USB Peripheral/Host Controller shields with the MAX3421E we covered earlier.

A driver is available for the Arduino, which should be portable to other microcontrollers. There are also libraries for working with USB devices, such as cameras, bluetooth devices, and simple Human Interface Devices like mice and keyboards.

Arduino-Lite: lightweight AVR library

The RoboPeak Project has developed a lightweight AVR library known as Arduino-Lite. The code is a lightweight high-performance firmware library for AVR MCUs developed based on the original Arduino project. In addition to the usual Atmega8, 168, 328 and 1280, it also supports the Attiny2313, Attiny26, Atmega48 and Atmega88. Its developers claim that compared to the original library, Arduino-Lite generates smaller binaries and perform faster. Arduino-Lite supports clock frequencies from 1 to 20 MHz. The project’s code is self-contained, requiring no third-party tools, compilers or library dependencies.

You can find all the details in the first and second installments of the RoboPeak tutorial.

The open source Arduino-Lite can be downloaded at Google Code.