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The RC1180-KNX2 from Radiocrafts AS targets building automation applications and claims to be the world’s first RF module with a complete embedded KNX-RF multiprotocol stack. KNX-RF Multi is an extension of the European standard for building automation with extra redundancy and increased reliability. The embedded protocol is backward compatible with KNX-RF 1.1 and KNX Ready and can be used with unidirectional and bidirectional devices.
The new module is intended to be used with sensors, actuators and other home and building automation devices. It operates in the 868 MHz band using Listen Before Talk (LBT) and frequency agility to reduce collisions. Up to five frequencies are scanned and selected automatically. A single receiver can be linked with up to 64 transmitters, enabling very large RF networks. [via]
RF module features embedded multiprotocol stack - [Link]
RiderScan – Manage horses with Adafruit gear! RFID barn management system made for Misty Brae Farm of Virginia…
This is a demo of the RiderScan system; an RFID barn management system made for Misty Brae Farm of Virginia. The system is comprised mostly (~85%) of electronic goodies from Adafruit Industries (http://www.adafruit.com/) and cobbled together using an Arduino Mega Protoshield and lots of Acrylic.
RiderScan – Manage horses with Adafruit gear! RFID barn management system - [Link]
Digi Launches Wi-Fi Version of Popular XBee Module, we’re checking this out shortly! [via]
Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) today introduced the XBee® Wi-Fi, an embedded module that enables industry leading low power, serial-to-Wi-Fi networking in the popular XBee form factor. Because of the XBee’s common footprint and application programming interface (API), customers can now create a single board design for wireless products that supports 802.15.4, ZigBee, ZigBee Smart Energy, 2.4 GHz, 900 and 868 MHz, Wi-Fi and proprietary DigiMesh protocols.
“XBee modules offer developers tremendous flexibility and are extremely easy to use,” said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. “By adding a low-power Wi-Fi module to the XBee product family we give customers the fastest and most flexible way to get Wi-Fi up and running on their systems.”
Ideal for energy management, wireless sensor networks and intelligent asset management, the XBee Wi-Fi offers 802.11 b/g/n networking and flexible SPI and UART serial interfaces. Because the module includes the 802.11 b/g/n physical layer, baseband MAC and TCP/IP stack, developers can add Wi-Fi to their products simply by connecting to the XBee Wi-Fi’s serial port. The XBee Wi-Fi is fully tested at manufacture and comes with modular certification for the U.S., E.U., Canada and a number of other countries, further reducing the time to market, development expense and design complexity.
Digi Launches Wi-Fi Version of Popular XBee Module - [Link]
It’s a microcontroller version of the keyboard-input radio transmitter used with the Enigma coding machine. It takes strings of text, turns them into characters, and sends them over an audio signal for wireless transfer (across the room using audio levels, or long distance using radio waves). This mode of sending text over radio is called Hellschreiber, and is more resistant to noise than radio teletype (RTTY) and other modes of its era.
I before E except after Hellschreiber - [Link]
Clever! – [via]
A big issue in setting up satellite communications networks is the antennas – it takes time to set them up. In the wake of a big disaster cell networks can be damaged when the towers fall and take months to repair. For television crews and military units carrying a rigid satellite antenna can be a serious logistical problem, as even a metre-sized dish is quite heavy and difficult to transport.
Enter GATR Technologies, which has designed an inflatable 1.2-metre satellite antenna that can fit into a backpack and be carried by a single person. The company’s antenna looks something like a beach ball. It is a double-layered sphere with one layer a nylon mesh and the other made from sail material. The antenna is in the centre.
Inflatable antenna you can stick in your backpack - [Link]
An introduction to AM/FM active antennas: [via]
This article is a reference design (RD) for an automobile AM/FM active antenna. The RD presents the flexibility of the MAX2180 active antenna low-noise amplifier (LNA) and shows how to set the AM and FM gain and the automatic gain control attack point. Single and dual antenna schematics are detailed, including the input and output matching circuits. Using this design together with the data sheet and device’s evaluation (EV) kit, a prototype antenna can easily be developed for a wide range of active antenna requirements.
App note: AM/FM active antenna - [Link]
Ham radio is nothing new, however if your new to electronics, or interested in becoming a ham, we suggest reading one of Dan’s self-study guides. [via]
The RMS value of an AC signal is the voltage that causes the same power dissipation as
a DC voltage of the same value. (G5B07) For an AC signal with a sine-wave shape, the
RMS value is .707 times the peak value. 12 volts is the RMS voltage of a sine wave with
a value of 17 volts peak. (G5B09)Conversely, the peak-to-peak value of an AC signal is 2 × 1.414 × the RMS value.
Accordingly, 339.4 volts is the peak-to-peak voltage of a sine wave that has an RMS
voltage of 120 volts. (G5B08)Power is equal to the RMS voltage times the current, or
P (watts) = VRMS x IUsing Ohm’s Law, we can show that:
P = V2RMS / R
P = I2 x R
Amateur radio study guide has much information about electronics – [Link]
dangerousprototypes.com writes:
KarlP from the website “False and misleading information” has written this AVR code library for the MRF24J40 802.15.4 radio chip.
The MRF24J40 operates in the 2.4 GHz band and supports ZigBee™, MiWi™ protocols and proprietary protocols. It interfaces with an MCU via a four-wire SPI interface.
Updated MRF24J40 library code - [Link]
Flyport is a revolutionary Wi-Fi module which is part of the Italian open source platform openPicus.
Flyport is not simply a serial to Wi-Fi solution, but a smart module with no need of an external host processor as it combines Processor power (Microchip PIC24F 256K Flash) with Connectivity (Microchip Wi-Fi certified transceiver).
A wide range of wireless applications can be easily developed and run on Flyport with openPicus IDE, and no Wi-Fi expertise is needed. The IDE allows to focus on application as openPicus framework, which is based on freeRTOS, manages the Wireless stack and its events.
Beth has a nack for make her own RFID cards. This time she has made one on a duct tape substrate, she says is indistinguishable for a manufactured RFID card distance wise. [via]
Duct tape RFID tag – [Link]
