March 26, 2023

PocketMagic

Where Technology meets magic

Simple AVR Bootloader tutorial

July 21, 2018

I’ve used AVR microcontrollers both for hobbies and work projects. These versatile microcontrollers ran the code I programmed them with, but once the final device was shipped, it was hard to change the firmware (the software running on the microcontroller): The user needed an ISP programmer and the software tools to update the firmware. A more convenient solution is to use a bootloader. The bootloader is a small program that…

An IOT Swing

June 25, 2017

The new generations benefit of an advance over their predecessors. This is a simple equation that guarantees progress. For that I can do a simple comparison between the toys I had as a child and my daughter’s new IOT Swing that I just assembled. An IOT Swing Initially, this was a nice Fisher-Price Precious Planet swing. It is an older model running solely on batteries, so what I did was…

Introduction to CC2541

October 3, 2016

Exploring the versatile AVR microcontrollers or the powerful STM32 counterparts were amazing experiences which resulted in interesting projects, many of them presented on this blog. For a hardware designer, the multitude of options can be overwhelming and this is a good thing. In regards to BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) applications, TI’s CC254X solutions are appealing to say the least. “The CC2541 is a power-optimized true system-on-chip (SoC) solution for both…

Featured by Atmel

November 7, 2015

Trained as a software developer I’ve been active in the field doing mostly mobile apps since 2003. My first contact with microcontrollers came later, in 2009, and I still remember how exciting it was to see the tiny silicon piece run some code. That was the Atmega8 made by Atmel, and the first app was blinking a few LEDs with a simple software loop and a delay. Amazed by the…

Post Beta hardware iteration

August 23, 2015

For the Portable Environmental Monitor beta release, both the project summary and the system design document presented some of the things to improve next. The first PCB was fine, but there was a linear regulator wasting power, that had to be replaced. Also, new ideas needed more hardware changes. Here is another hardware iteration to implement all that. The new changes include: – power efficient Lithium battery voltage converter, using…

Portable Environmental Monitor

August 12, 2015

The portable environmental monitor addresses pollution, the kind that we are unable to see but directly affects our health and causes life threatening diseases. Airborne toxic chemicals, radioactive dust and radioactive radon are correlated with cases of pulmonary cancer. Since our biological senses can do little to warn us of such possible dangers, the plan was to design the Portable environmental monitor as a first line detection and warning system….

The first prototype

August 7, 2015

It’s been a crazy run, trying to make this happen. After less then one month I now have the first functional hardware iteration or the first prototype. The Portable Environmental Monitor has been brought to life! All that’s left is finalising the enclosure (it will be a nice rugged aluminium enclosure, small enough to fit the palm of the hand, despite the many sensors packed inside) and the software (both…

Resistive touchscreen

August 6, 2015

A complicated project July was a tough month, and August is no different. Due to some components arriving late, I’ve only been able to start my work on the Hackaday.io project with considerable delay. So I had to catch up with everything and squeeze the entire development work for this complex project in a month’s timeframe. But the plan was solid and seemed doable … unless Murphy’s laws of chaos…

MiCS-VZ-89 Air Quality Sensor

July 31, 2015

The MiCS-VZ-89 Air Quality Sensor can detect carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds. This article shows how to access its readings via I2C.

ILI9341 touchscreen LCD Library

July 23, 2015

I got a few QVGA LCD’s with resistive touchscreen for an ongoing project. All that was left to do was putting the driver code together. The LCD code part was very much similar to my previous work on the ILI9163 but this time I went for faster SPI communication (also due to the bigger resolution). The microcontroller – an Atmega128 – uses normal SPI transfer and the external quartz crystal…

Introduction to STM32 microcontrollers

July 14, 2015

Introduction to STM32 microcontrollers shows how to setup the ide and toolchain to edit and compile STM32 apps on a MacOS workstation.

Using a Rain sensor with AVR Microcontrollers

October 30, 2013

A simple rain sensor connected to an ATMega8, provides readings on the level of water detected on its surface.

UT50 NaI Scintillation probe

August 7, 2013

I met some great people today, and I also got a wonderful device for my ongoing experiments as a gift: The UT50 Scintillation probe, manufactured by SC ICPM SA Romania. It features a huge NaI(TL) crystal, with a diameter of 5.5cm and 5.5cm length. The photomultiplier is a British EMI9656KB and the entire device is encapsulated in an aluminum modular cylinder of no more than 24cm total length and 1270g…

AVR SDCard FAT support with FatFS

August 2, 2013

You’ve probably seen or done lots of cool microcontroller projects already, but did you ever consider adding permanent data storage to your projects? I did, and there are numerous advantages: saving data from sensors (data logger), saving configuration files, reading external content like images or songs, and so on! One thing is to connect an SD Card to an AVR microcontroller via SPI (relatively easy), a completely different thing is…

Using FS1000A/XY-FST RF Radio module with AVRs

July 31, 2013

Wireless data transfer can be useful for a variety of projects. I stumbled upon a very low cost emitter+receiver modules pair, and planned to use it for some time now. There are a few variants available on the market, but they do quite the same thing, just the operating frequency might be different (315MHz / 418MHz / 433MHz/ 915MHz): The emitter usually has 3 pins (VCC->5V, GND, DATA), with a…

Coil Winding machine counter with Atmega8 and Reed relay

May 25, 2013

A digital counter with a nice LCD display that supports both incrementing and decrementing. Good for various purposes, in this case as a display to a coil winding machine.

Atmega8 and Nokia 5110 LCD

April 8, 2013

A C++ Library for AVR microcontrollers that allows easy connectivity to the Nokia 3110/5110 graphical LCDs.

Dual H-Bridge for controlling two motors

March 27, 2013

Build a dual H-bridge board to control two motors.

How to set the AVR Fusebits

March 11, 2013

Learn how to set your atmega to work with various external crystals, program the fusebits, and build a fusebit doctor to revive your AVRs, in case you wrote the wrong settings .

NMEA GPS Library for AVR Microcontrollers

February 25, 2013

An open source library that allows you to use a NMEA GPS Module with an AVR Microcontroller. UART Communication and NMEA Parser is included.

ATMega128 and HD44780 LCD using 3 Wires with the 74HC164

February 21, 2013

Learn how to transform your HD44780 LCD into a easy to use, serial LCD, that you can connect to your microcontroller using only 3 wires! It’s time to save a few pins, and expand your project’s functionality!

Building a robot – Make the robot follow you

February 7, 2013

Building an autonomous robot using a rover platform and advanced electronics is not an easy job. Kevin asked me to build a robot that would follow its user. A companion, very much like a robo-dog. See the project log here.

DIY/Homemade Radiation Geiger Dosimeter

December 1, 2012

A digital dosimeter design that can be used with multiple geiger tubes, constructed around the atmega8 microcontroller and a 2×16 LCD. Equipped with a radio Bluetooth module for remote operation.

BMP085 Barometric pressure sensor

November 11, 2012

The BMP085 is a compact, low power sensor for reading temperature, barometric pressure and altitude. See it in use with Atmel microprocessors.

Temperature and Humidity sensor DHT-22

November 9, 2012

DHT-22 is a small size, compact, dual temperature and humidity sensor featuring one-wire connectivity.

HC-SR04 Sonar with Atmega8 microcontroller

November 4, 2012

Build an ultrasonic sonar for non-contact distance measurements, using an Atmega8 and a HC-SR04

uRADMonitor – Online Radiation monitoring station

October 21, 2012

I’ve developed the uRADMonitor as an Environmental Radiation Surveillance automated monitoring device. Data is gathered in real time, 24/7, and is exported via the Internet to a database online. The data is available in customizable charts for analysis.

Temperature Sensors DS18B20 and DHT11 with Atmega8

October 7, 2012

Use the Atmega8 with two temperature sensors: the DS18B20 and the DHT-11. The latter also offers relative humidity data.

Atmega8 and enc28J60 for ethernet support

July 30, 2012

Learn how to create a network interface for your microcontroller projects. Here I have shown an example using the Atmega8 and the enc28j60 . Build a simple Webserver to show sensor data such as temperature or humidity.

Capacitor Discharge Microspot Welder / Cutter

July 15, 2012

A DIY microspot soldering/welding/cutting device using energy stored in a very large capacitor delivered as precisely calculated pulses to working electrodes.

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