View allAll Photos Tagged microcontrollers
Back to this stuff again - this will be the main circuit board for my wife's nixie clock. It will hold the microcontroller, the real-time clock chip and backup battery, and the high-voltage power supply for the tubes.
What you see here are the four steps of preparing the board. Upper left, the bare copper board with the design for the bottom side of the board ironed on. Laminated on, really, since I use a laminator instead of an iron, but "ironed on" sounds better and reminds me of those little patches you used to get in cereal boxes. Upper right, the board after being etched (so the top layer now shows through). Lower left, the Lovely Shiny Copper phase after the toner has been scrubbed off. Lower right, tinplated and ready for drilling and cutting.
This time I tried a different circuit board layout program - Cadsoft's Eagle (free version). It's nice, though its interface is weird and it is limited in the size of board it lets you make. The limitation was not so strict I couldn't get this one done, though. Yay!
I had been using ExpressPCB's layout software, which is slick and unlimited in board size, but Eagle has two advantages: one, it can do automatic trace routing, and two, it isn't specifically designed to not let you make your own boards so it's much easier to get actual-size board imagery from it. These two things probably saved me a week of hobby time on this project even though I had to learn a whole new software package.
The autorouting really is nifty - you lay out your circuit as a schematic diagram, then you can create a board from that. The board initially looks like a blank rectangle with all the parts sitting next to it, the electrical connections in place but represented as straight lines so they all cross over each other. You lay the parts out on the board in what you guess is a good arrangement, subject to requirements like needing the power connector to be in a certain place and so on. Then you invoke the autorouter, which figures out how to make all the connections so that they get where they need to go and don't touch one another. This is pretty impressive - it's a low-level Artificial Intelligence problem, akin to (say) coming up with a delivery itinerary for several dozen pizza boys bringing pizzas to a bunch of different houses simultaneously, so that they reach everywhere in the shortest amount of time possible and without crossing each other's paths. As an AI researcher, I have enough professional egotism to think I could write a better one - but since they've saved me the trouble, I'm happy enough to use theirs.
Even better, you can tweak the autorouter's behavior to make its designs friendly to homebrew circuit board production. I attempted that for this board and I think it'll work. I need some practice before the boards I make are elegant - this one has some signals traveling a lot further than they really need to, but it should all work.
I added the hatch-filled areas in Paint Shop Pro as a postprocessing step. I wanted to save etchant - which you can do by filling the big blank areas. At the same time, I didn't want to run my printer out of toner, so I used a hatch fill instead of a solid fill. It seems to have struck a good balance.
Microchip expanded the development platform for its growing portfolio of innovative 8-bit PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs) with Core-Independent Peripherals (CIPs). Designers can combine these building blocks to perform application functions autonomously, and they can be interconnected with an increasing amount of integrated Intelligent Analog peripherals. Because these functions are deterministically and reliably performed in hardware instead of software, CIPs enable system performance that is far beyond traditional MCUs. For more information, visit: www.microchip.com/CIP-090915a
This is an laser cut enclosure for mobile arduino prototyping. I will start selling this soon. A bit more testing is needed.
Check:
A simple AVR breakout/programming target board for the ATmega168 microcontroller (and friends) in a convenient business card form factor. An open-source hardware project from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, read more here.
Microchip’s 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers provide a high-performance platform for developing quality digital-audio playback and accessories. The new PIC32 Bluetooth Audio Development Kit builds on Microchip’s existing stack-integrated Bluetooth audio module with a new low-cost, agency-certified Bluetooth HCI transceiver module based on a standard radio, AVRCP and A2DP Bluetooth profiles tailored for the PIC32, as well as both standard and advanced audio CODECs such as SBC, AAC and MP3. Additionally, this kit can be used with Microchip’s existing Made for iPod® and Android™ stacks. Together, these elements provide a versatile and powerful development platform with a high level of customization and flexibility. For more info, visit www.microchip.com/bluetooth
This is a picture of the ' magic wand clock' you can read about at www.instructables.com/id/E50R4QXZAOEWP86MXK/ .
This is a persistence of vision project.
Microchip expanded its eXtreme Low Power (XLP) PIC® microcontroller (MCU) portfolio. Features of the new PIC24F “GB4” family include an integrated hardware crypto engine with both OTP and Key RAM options for secure key storage, up to 256 KB of Flash memory and a direct drive for segmented LCD displays, in 64-, 100- or 121-pin packages. Dual-partition Flash with Live Update capability allows the devices to hold two independent software applications, and permits the simultaneous programming of one partition while executing application code from the other. These advanced features make the PIC24F “GB4” family ideal for designers of industrial, computer, medical/fitness and portable applications that require secure data transfer and storage, and a long battery life. To learn more about Microchip’s PIC24F “GB4” family of MCUs, visit www.microchip.com/PIC24FJ256GB410-082415a.
All these 8-bit retro computers were loading software from MMC cards using an interface and firmware by Arduino Nut.
Input was the audio out from the netbook. The AC signal is quite reduced by the time it gets to the microcontroller. It is added to a DC bias set by RV2. Mine is set to just under 1.5V.
A technique for setting RV2 is to increase the bias voltage while playing music into Pin 5 of the radio connector. Don't start too low or you'll short out your music player. When the "CD" LED comes on stop increasing and stop the music. The CD light should go out after a couple of seconds. Then start the music again and see that it comes on.
You can measure the bias on Pin 10 of the PIC or Pin 2 of the radio connector. The picture shows measuring using a Picoscope PC oscilloscope on Pin 10 of the PIC.
DK7IN has some interesting notes on this at www.dk7in.de/TinyTrak_e.html
I reckon a simple circuit can decode the signal, something I'm working on in software simulation at the moment and fingers crossed could try in hardware.
MCUs offering extensive connectivity interfaces, powerful performance and robust hardware-based security.
Microchip announced a new family of PIC32MX3/4 microcontrollers (MCUs) in 64/16 KB, 256/64 KB and 512/128 KB Flash/Ram configurations. These new MCUs are coupled with comprehensive software and tools from Microchip for designs in connectivity, graphics, digital audio and general-purpose embedded control. The MCUs are an expansion to the popular PIC32MX3/4 series of high-performance 32-bit microcontrollers. They offer higher RAM memory options and higher integration of peripherals at a lower cost. The PIC32MX3/4 feature 28 x 10-bit ADCs and 5 UARTS, 105 DMIPS performance, serial peripherals, graphic-display, capacitive-touch, connectivity and digital audio support. For more info, visit: www.microchip.com/get/N0VF
Microchip expanded its eXtreme Low Power (XLP) PIC® microcontroller (MCU) portfolio. Features of the new PIC24F “GB4” family include an integrated hardware crypto engine with both OTP and Key RAM options for secure key storage, up to 256 KB of Flash memory and a direct drive for segmented LCD displays, in 64-, 100- or 121-pin packages. Dual-partition Flash with Live Update capability allows the devices to hold two independent software applications, and permits the simultaneous programming of one partition while executing application code from the other. These advanced features make the PIC24F “GB4” family ideal for designers of industrial, computer, medical/fitness and portable applications that require secure data transfer and storage, and a long battery life. To learn more about Microchip’s PIC24F “GB4” family of MCUs, visit www.microchip.com/PIC24FJ256GB410-082415a.
Microchip's MRF24WB0MA/MB are next-generation, agency-certified embedded Wi-Fi® transceiver modules. The IEEE 802.11 module firmware has an easy-to-use API driver interface to Microchip’s free TCP/IP Protocol stack and 8-, 16- or 32-bit PIC® microcontrollers. For additional information, please visit Microchip’s online Wireless Design Center at www.microchip.com/get/A96T.
The pre-cut veroboard needed to make the USBtinyISP. (See decarchive.org/~prd/2009/11/a-veroboard-based-usbtinyisp-... and www.adafruit.com/usbtinyisp for more details.)
Microchip announced the expansion of its Low Power PIC® microcontroller (MCU) portfolio. Features of the new PIC24F “GB6” family include up to 1 MB of Flash memory with Error Correction Code (ECC) and 32 KB of RAM, making it the first 16-bit MCU in Microchip’s portfolio to offer such a large memory size. Also featuring dual-partition Flash with Live Update capability, these devices can hold two independent software applications, permitting the simultaneous programming of one partition while executing application code from the other. This powerful combination of features makes the PIC24F “GB6” family ideal for industrial, computer, medical/fitness and portable applications that require a long battery life, and data transfer and storage without the need of external memory, such as electricity metering, HVAC control, fingerprint scanners and gaming. For more information of the GB6 family, visit: www.microchip.com/PIC24FGB6-112315a
Mode Selection switched and AF output level pot fit nicely into the lid of this ABS project enclosure.
Spot the couple of soldering iron slips (Oops I've melted the plastic case again!)
www.ti.com/tool/ek-tm4c123gxl TM4C123G LaunchPad. It's an ARM Cortex M4C based Microcontroller with the BOOSTXL-Senshub board on top. It comes ogether wih ti's Codecomposer Studio (without code size limits, etc).
The Sensehub contains:
InvenSense MPU-9150: 9-axis MEMS motion tracking
3-axis gyro
3-axis accelerometer
3-axis compass
Bosch Sensortec BMP180 pressure sensor
Sensirion SHT21 humidity and ambient temperature sensor
Intersil ISL29023 ambient and infrared light sensor
TI's TMP006 non-contact infrared temperature sensor
In this project design mp3 player. This player is based on a BU9458KV decoder, and a PIC18F452 microcontroller.
This 7-Segment Digital Clock is controlled by PIC16F627A. More detail check out picnote.blogspot.com
The solder side of the finished product consisting of an ATtiny2313 microcontroller, a 74HC125 tri-state buffer, a type-B USB socket, the 10-pin ISP connector and a handful of discrete components. With the exception of the red wire running between the USB socket and the ISP port, the red wires carry the programming signals, the blue are there to reverse the order of the USB signals, and the black wires are ground. (See decarchive.org/~prd/2009/11/a-veroboard-based-usbtinyisp-... and www.adafruit.com/usbtinyisp for more details.)
Circa 3:50PM. After our light harp demonstration today for a class on tangible user interfaces I realized that there was a bunch of strange stuff in my backpack.
Microchip partnered with Kalki Technologies to provide a Device Language Message Specification (DLMS) protocol stack that is optimized for 16-bit PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs). The DLMS protocol has become the worldwide standard of choice among smart meter designers for interoperability among metering systems, including most energy types (electricity, gas, heat and water), multiple applications (residential, transmission and distribution), and numerous communication media (RS232, RS485, PSTN, GSM, GPRS, IPv4, PPP and PLC); as well as secure data access, via AES 128 encryption. For more information visit www.microchip.com/DLMS
I made a shield to connect a Seeedstudio 4-digit-display (not in the image) in a stack to the D1 mini. The upper shield is the RTC
The HP 95LX is reputedly the smallest MS-DOS computer ever built, and it runs off a pair of AA batteries. Here, I have it connected up to a MAX232 level shifter and an Atmel AVR chip, the ATmega8, at 9600 baud.