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embedded-lab.com writes:
Microcontrollers are widely used in measuring various physical variables. The techniques involved in the measurements could be different for individual variable type and are mostly based on the characteristics of the variables to be measured. This tutorial describes some methods for measuring the capacitance of a capacitor using microcontrollers. The techniques use the characteristics of the capacitor itself and are therefore universal and can be easily implemented with any microcontrollers.
How to measure capacitance with a microcontroller? – [Link]
Adam introduces the LM21212-1 & LM21215 12-15A High Efficiency, Adjustable Current Synchronous Switching Regulator family, which features:
- Greater than 97% peak efficiency
- 2.95 – 5.5V input voltage range
- Resistor-programmable current (LM21215)
- Synchronous or adjustable frequency up to 1.5 MHz (LM21212-1)
- Start up into pre-biased loads
- Sub-7mΩ integrated FETs
- Output voltage tracking capability
LM21212/15 15A Adjustable Current Buck Regulator – [Link]
Logos Electromechanical LLC Announces the Zigduino, a Shield-Compatible Arduino Clone with Built-in Wireless
SEATTLE Wash. – Feb. 23, 2011 – Logos Electromechanical LLC announced the Zigduino, an Arduino-compatible microcontroller platform that integrates an 802.15.4 radio on the board.
The radio can be configured to support any 802.15.4-based protocol, including ZigBee, Route Under MAC/6LoWPAN, and RF4CE.
The Zigduino uses a reverse polarity SMA connector (RP-SMA) for an external antenna. This allows the user to use nearly any existing 2.4 GHz antenna with it. The Zigduino runs on 3.3V, but all I/O pins are 5V compatible. Read the rest of this entry »
embedded-lab.com writes:
RFID is a technology that uses radio waves for transmitting the identity (unique serial number) of an object or a person. If you have an electronic key to access your office building, it probably uses the same technology. An RFID system has a reader and a transponder (also called tag). The reader transmits electromagnectic waves in its surrounding through an antenna system, and when a tag passes passes through the zone, it is activated and the reader can read the identification data stored inside the electronic tag.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) with a microcontroller – [Link]
robots posted pictures of his reflow oven controller prototype. Software development is in progress, and menus have been added. [via]
Reflow oven controller prototype – [Link]
Nice photos! Austin writes: [via]
While waiting for the Microtouch I won to arrive I got bored and decided to take some photos of kits that I’ve bought from Adafruit. You can check them out on my Adafruit Flickr set. See if you can identify which kits the photos belong to! Also, thanks for the quality parts and kits!
Nice photos! - [Link]
A Gas Water Heater controller built around a netduino-mini, a DS1307 clock and a HiTech HS-6635HB servo. [via]
Gas Water Heater controller built around a netduino-mini, a DS1307 clock and a servo – [Link]
Hannah Perner-Wilson has been experimenting with making speakers out of paper, using conductive tape and strong magnets. [via]
DIY Fabric Speakers – [Link]
The TC-4 shield won’t roast coffee for you, but this homeroasters.org project will help you gather data from up to four thermocouples. From the related code repository: [via]
Probably best to think of the TC4 as programmable interface hardware for multiple thermocouple sensors.
…support(s) both standalone operation using an LCD display and/or data logger operation if the TC4 is attached via USB cable to a PC.Bourbon is a straightforward monitoring and logging application. When used as part of a standalone system it displays elapsed time, BT, ET, and BT-RoR on a 2-line LCD. Since Bourbon creates and sends a continuous data stream over the USB serial interface, realtime graphic display of roast history as well as CSV format data logging can be done if you connect the TC4 to your computer.
Coffee Roaster Arduino Shield – [Link]
Instructables user fraganator writes:
Having a hardware interface to your favourite music / DJ / VJ software can really open up doors in your creativity. The most widespread form of hardware control to your PC for such applications is a MIDI based controller.
A MIDI controller can send and receive MIDI messages to your PC, allowing direct control of your software. Not only that, but the controls can generally be mapped to anything your like. So what might be a volume fader for one person can be an effect filter for another.
This article will describe how to build and program a custom arcade button MIDI controller, while trying to keep the price below $100. It is aimed at electronics and programming novices.
Arcade Button MIDI Controller – [Link]
