Editorial

Esta é a Newsletter Nº 166 que se apresenta com o mesmo formato que as anteriores. Se gostar da Newsletter partilhe-a!

Todas as Newsletters encontram-se indexadas no link.

Esta Newsletter tem os seguintes tópicos:

• Novidades da Semana
• Ciência e Tecnologia
• Documentação
• Projetos Maker

Faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1750, Ami Argand. Este químico suíço ficou conhecido por ter inventado a lâmpada Argand, um queimador de óleo com um pavio tubular dentro de uma chaminé de vidro que induziu uma corrente de ar através de dois tubos de ferro, concêntricos com o pavio, resultando numa melhor combustão. Queima dez vezes mais que uma simples lamparina a óleo, com menos fumo e cheiro. O óleo de colza usado era viscoso, então a alimentação de combustível era fornecida pela gravidade de um vaso elevado. Ele fabricou a lâmpada por apenas alguns anos porque durante a Revolução Francesa as suas fábricas foram destruídas. Em 1793, não tendo nenhuma compensação por suas perdas, Argand mudou-se para Inglaterra. Ele também é conhecido por ajudar os irmãos Montgolfier com seus voos de balão, e pelo seu trabalho para destilarias.

Faz também anos hoje que nascia, em 1820, William John Macquorn Rankine. Este engenheiro e físico escocês é um dos fundadores da ciência da termodinâmica, particularmente em referência à teoria dos motores a vapor. Como presidente de engenharia civil e mecânica em Glasgow, ele desenvolveu métodos para resolver a distribuição de força em estrutura armadas. Rankine também escreveu sobre a fadiga no metal de eixos ferroviários, sobre as pressões da Terra na mecânica do solo e a estabilidade das paredes. Ele foi eleito Fellow da Royal Society em 1853. Entre suas obras mais importantes estão o Manual de Mecânica Aplicada (1858), Manual do Motor a Vapor e Outros Movimentadores Primários (1859) e Sobre a Teoria Termodinâmica de Ondas de Distúrbios Longitudinais Finitos.

Por fim, faz anos hoje que nascia, em 1891, John Howard Northrop. Este Bioquímico americano recebeu (com James B. Sumner e Wendell M. Stanley) o Prémio Nobel de Química em 1946 por purificar e cristalizar com sucesso certas enzimas, permitindo-lhe determinar a sua natureza química. Durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial, ele conduziu pesquisas sobre processos de fermentação adequados para a produção industrial de acetona e álcool etílico. Este trabalho levou a um estudo de enzimas essenciais para a digestão, respiração e processos gerais da vida. Ele cristalizou a pepsina (1930), uma enzima digestiva presente no suco gástrico, e descobriu que é uma proteína, resolvendo assim a disputa sobre a natureza das enzimas. Usando os mesmos métodos químicos, ele isolou o primeiro vírus bacteriano (bacteriófago) e descobriu que é uma nucleoproteína (1938).

Nesta semana que passou ficámos a saber que a Baidu iniciou a produção em volume da Apolong, o primeiro autocarro totalmente autónomo L4 da China. O Apolong, desenvolvido em parceria com o fabricante de autocarros chinês King Long e com a plataforma aberta autónoma Baidu, será colocado em operação comercial em várias cidades chinesas, incluindo Pequim, Shenzhen, Xiongan, Wuhan e Pingtan, na província de Fujian. O volume de produção da Apolong chegou a 100 unidades na sua fábrica em Xiamen, na província de Fujian, sudeste da China.

Na Newsletter desta semana apresentamos diversos projetos de maker. É apresentado o primeiro número da revista Micro:Mag assim como o livro Software-Defined Radio for Engineers publicado pela Analog.

João Alves ([email protected])

O conteúdo da Newsletter encontra-se sob a licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Baidu Reaches New Milestone in Autonomous Driving with Volume Production of China's First Commercially Deployed Fully Autonomous Bus

"Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) today announced that it has begun volume production of Apolong, China’s first L4 fully autonomous bus, at Baidu Create 2018, the company’s annual AI developer conference. Apolong, developed in partnership with Chinese bus manufacturer King Long and powered by Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform, will be put into commercial operation in several Chinese cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiongan, Wuhan and Pingtan of Fujian province, and has set its sights on overseas markets. At the conference, Baidu also announced the latest upgrade to Apollo – Apollo 3.0 – to better support autonomous driving in geo-fenced areas. The production volume of Apolong has reached 100 units at its manufacturing facility in Xiamen, in southeastern China’s Fujian province. Baidu’s Chairman and CEO Robin Li introduced the milestone as he livestreamed an inside look at the autonomous mini bus production line to more than 6,000 attendees at Baidu Create 2018 in Beijing. “2018 marks the first year of commercialization for autonomous driving." [...]

Mbed OS 5.9.2 released

"We are pleased to announce the Mbed OS 5.9.2 release is now available. This is the latest patch release based on the feature set that Mbed OS 5.9 introduces. Summary In this release, we have updated mbed-coap to version 4.5.0. This brings fixes for the following issues: Hardfault during reconnection retry with Thread mbed-coap: extra response received after registration Incorrect CoAP request blockwise response handling There was a LoRaWAN issue LoRaWAN "Tx Timeout" does not trigger Error Event, which has been fixed in this release. If the radio is unable to transmit, it is considered a fatal error and the application is now notified. In the FSM of the Cellular Connection module there was an issue where the code would crash if the SIM interface was closed too early." [...]

Laser spectroscopy measurements reveal size and shape of the nucleus of nobelium

"Precise measurement of the optical excitation of atomic levels in the atomic shell of three isotopes of the heavy element 102 Sizes and shapes of nuclei with more than 100 protons were so far experimentally inaccessible. Laser spectroscopy is an established technique in measuring fundamental properties of exotic atoms and their nuclei. For the first time, this technique was now extended to precisely measure the optical excitation of atomic levels in the atomic shell of three isotopes of the heavy element nobelium, which contain 102 protons in their nuclei and do not occur naturally. This was reported by an international team of scientists from GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM), TU Darmstadt, KU Leuven in Belgium, the University of Liverpool in the UK und TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada. Nuclei of heavy elements can be produced at minute quantities of a few atoms per second in fusion reactions using powerful particle accelerators. The obtained results are well described by nuclear models, which suggest the nuclei to have a bubble-like structure with lower density in their center than at their surface." [...]

Scientists fine-tune carbon nanotubes for flexible, fingertip-wearable terahertz imagers

"Researchers at Tokyo Tech have developed flexible terahertz imagers based on chemically "tunable" carbon nanotube materials. The findings expand the scope of terahertz applications to include wrap-around, wearable technologies as well as large-area photonic devices. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are beginning to take the electronics world by storm, and now their use in terahertz (THz) technologies has taken a big step forward. Due to their excellent conductivity and unique physical properties, CNTs are an attractive option for next-generation electronic devices. One of the most promising developments is their application in THz devices. Increasingly, THz imagers are emerging as a safe and viable alternative to conventional imaging systems across a wide range of applications, from airport security, food inspection and art authentication to medical and environmental sensing technologies." [...]

Magnetic skyrmions: Not the only ones of their class

"Jülich researchers discover a new type of magnetic particle-like object for data storage devices of the future. Jülich, 28 June 2018 - Tiny magnetic vortex structures, so-called skyrmions, have been researched intensively for some time for future energy-efficient space-saving data storage devices. Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered another class of particle-like magnetic object that could take the development of data storage devices a significant step forward. If skyrmions are used to encode the number "1", then the new objects could be used to encode the number "0". These objects, which are referred to as "chiral magnetic bobbers", are three-dimensional magnetic structures that appear near the surfaces of certain alloys. "For a long time, the unique object for research in the field of chiral magnets was the magnetic skyrmion." [...]

Efficient, eco-friendly production of fine chemicals

"Chemical engineers from ETH Zurich developed a new catalyst for forming a bond between two carbon atoms in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way. This technology could soon make its way into industry. The chemical industry produces not just valuable vitamins, pharmaceuticals, flavours and pesticides, but often a large amount of waste, too. This is particularly true of pharmaceutical and fine-chemical production, where the volume of desired product may be just a fraction of the volume of waste and unsaleable by-products of synthesis. One reason for this is that many chemical reactions make use of catalysts in dissolved form, as Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Professor of Catalysis Engineering, says. Catalysts are substances that accelerate a chemical reaction." [...]

Using light for next-generation data storage

"Tiny, nano-sized crystals of salt encoded with data using light from a laser could be the next data storage technology of choice, following research by Australian scientists. The researchers from the University of South Australia and University of Adelaide, in collaboration with the University of New South Wales, have demonstrated a novel and energy-efficient approach to storing data using light. “With the use of data in society increasing dramatically due to the likes of social media, cloud computing and increased smart phone adoption, existing data storage technologies such as hard drive disks and solid state storage are fast approaching their limits,” says project leader Dr Nick Riesen, a Research Fellow at the University of South Australia and Visiting Fellow at the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS). “We have entered an age where new technologies are required to meet the demands of 100s of terabyte (1000 gigabytes) or even petabyte (one million gigabytes) storage. One of the most promising techniques of achieving this is optical data storage.” Dr Riesen and University of Adelaide PhD student Xuanzhao Pan developed technology based on nanocrystals with light-emitting properties that can be efficiently switched on and off in patterns that represent digital information. The researchers used lasers to alter the electronic states, and therefore the fluorescence properties, of the crystals." [...]

Rough terrain? No problem for beaver-inspired autonomous robot

"Like the state animal of New York, the rover-like vehicle uses surroundings to build complex structures, overcome obstacles Autonomous robots excel in factories and other manmade spaces, but they struggle with the randomness of nature. To help these machines overcome uneven terrain and other obstacles, University at Buffalo researchers have turned to beavers, termites and other animals that build structures in response to simple environmental cues, as opposed to following predetermined plans. “When a beaver builds a dam, it’s not following a blueprint. Instead, it’s reacting to moving water. It’s trying to stop the water from flowing,” says Nils Napp, PhD, assistant professor of computer science and engineering in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “We’re developing a system for autonomous robots to behave similarly." [...]

Self-heating, fast-charging battery makes electric vehicles climate-immune

"Californians do not purchase electric vehicles because they are cool, they buy EVs because they live in a warm climate. Conventional lithium-ion batteries cannot be rapidly charged at temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but now a team of Penn State engineers has created a battery that can self-heat, allowing rapid charging regardless of the outside chill. "Electric vehicles are popular on the west coast because the weather is conducive," said Xiao-Guang Yang, assistant research professor in mechanical engineering, Penn State. "Once you move them to the east coast or Canada, then there is a tremendous issue. We demonstrated that the batteries can be rapidly charged independently of outside temperature." When owners can recharge car batteries in 15 minutes at a charging station, electric vehicle refueling becomes nearly equivalent to gasoline refueling in the time it takes." [...]

The attosecond stopwatch

"Ultra-short, high-intensity X-ray flashes open the door to the foundations of chemical reactions. Free-electron lasers generate these kinds of pulses, but there is a catch: the pulses vary in duration and energy. An international research team has now presented a solution: Using a ring of 16 detectors and a circularly polarized laser beam, they can determine both factors with attosecond accuracy. Free-electron lasers (FELs) generate extremely short and intense X-ray flashes. Researchers can use these flashes to resolve structures with diameters on the scale of hydrogen atoms. They can thus image biomolecules in extremely high resolution to provide completely new insights into the nano-cosmos of nature." [...]

Carbon dioxide-to-methanol process improved by catalyst

"Dramatic improvements have been made to the process of converting carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to methanol, a fuel and building block for a wide range of everyday materials, according to Penn State researchers. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing and climate change is becoming a worldwide concern requiring global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. One approach is to use carbon dioxide as the carbon source in reactions with hydrogen, where the hydrogen is produced from water using renewable energy, and the reaction synthesizes methanol. This will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and mitigate dependence on fossil fuels. Researchers have advanced the process of converting carbon dioxide into methanol, which contains four parts hydrogen, one part oxygen and one part carbon, by developing a new catalyst that uses a specific formulation of palladium and copper. The theoretical and experimental work, recently published in ACS Catalysis, is the result of years of integrated experimental and computational research conducted in a partnership with Dalian University of Technology in China in conjunction with the Penn State-Dalian Joint Center for Energy Research." [...]

HKUST Develops a New Generation of LCD with Higher Efficiency, Resolution and Color Performance

"A research team from the State Key Laboratory on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a new Liquid-crystal display (LCD), which image resolution, energy efficiency as well as color saturation were markedly enhanced, achieving a crucial breakthrough in display technology. Known as Active Matrix Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Display (FLCD) – this latest technology developed by a research team led by Chair Professor from the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering Prof Kwok Hoi-Sing, will see energy efficiency jumped by 3-5 times, and image resolution enhanced by three times – at a lowered cost. Conventional displays have limited energy efficiency, as color filters block and consume 70% of the backlight and energy. To replace color filters, the team developed a field sequential color technology – enabled by fast ferroelectric liquid crystal, which allows display of color images sequentially in time. This technology relies on human vision to fuse these fast-switching images into a full-color picture, so color filters are no longer necessary. As color filters usually make up 30% of a display’s manufacturing cost, its removal result in a cheaper cost of this higher quality FLCD in comparison to its traditional counterparts." [...]

Next-generation robotic cockroach can explore underwater environments

"‘HAMR’ can walk on land, swim, and walk underwater In nature, cockroaches can survive underwater for up to 30 minutes. Now, a robotic cockroach can do even better. Harvard’s Ambulatory Microrobot, known as HAMR, can walk on land, swim on the surface of water, and walk underwater for as long as necessary, opening up new environments for this little bot to explore. This next generation HAMR uses multifunctional foot pads that rely on surface tension and surface tension induced buoyancy when HAMR needs to swim but can also apply a voltage to break the water surface when HAMR needs to sink. This process is called electrowetting, which is the reduction of the contact angle between a material and the water surface under an applied voltage. This change of contact angle makes it easier for objects to break the water surface." [...]

NIST Researchers Simulate Simple Logic for Nanofluidic Computing

"Invigorating the idea of computers based on fluids instead of silicon, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown how computational logic operations could be performed in a liquid medium by simulating the trapping of ions (charged atoms) in graphene (a sheet of carbon atoms) floating in saline solution. The scheme might also be used in applications such as water filtration, energy storage or sensor technology. The idea of using a liquid medium for computing has been around for decades, and various approaches have been proposed. Among its potential advantages, this approach would require very little material and its soft components could conform to custom shapes in, for example, the human body. NIST’s ion-based transistor and logic operations are simpler in concept than earlier proposals. The new simulations show that a special film immersed in liquid can act like a solid silicon-based semiconductor." [...]

Making opaque materials totally transparent

"Most naturally occurring materials have a disordered atomic structure that interferes with the propagation of both sound and electromagnetic waves. When the waves come into contact with these materials, they bounce around and disperse – and their energy dissipates according to a highly complex interference pattern, diminishing in intensity. That means it’s virtually impossible to transmit data or energy intact across wave-scattering media and fully leverage the potential of wave technology. For an example, you need look no further than your smartphone – the geolocation function works less well inside buildings where radiofrequency waves scatter in all directions. Other potential applications include biomedical imaging and geological surveying, where it’s important to be able to send waves across highly disordered media. A team of researchers from two labs at EPFL’s School of Engineering, working in association with TU Wien and the University of Crete, has developed a system that allows sound waves to travel across such media with no distortion." [...]

Let it rain! New coatings make natural fabrics waterproof

"MIT-developed process could offer nontoxic alternative to environmentally harmful chemicals. Fabrics that resist water are essential for everything from rainwear to military tents, but conventional water-repellent coatings have been shown to persist in the environment and accumulate in our bodies, and so are likely to be phased out for safety reasons. That leaves a big gap to be filled if researchers can find safe substitutes. Now, a team at MIT has come up with a promising solution: a coating that not only adds water-repellency to natural fabrics such as cotton and silk, but is also more effective than the existing coatings. The new findings are described in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, in a paper by MIT professors Kripa Varanasi and Karen Gleason, former MIT postdoc Dan Soto, and two others. “The challenge has been driven by the environmental regulators” because of the phaseout of the existing waterproofing chemicals, Varanasi explains." [...]

Materials Research for Energy-efficient Magnetic Cooling

"Examining the Inverse Magnetocaloric Effect Using Neutrons Jülich scientist Nikolaos Biniskos together with his colleagues in a Franco-German research team has gained new insights into the inverse magnetocaloric effect with the help of neutron scattering studies. The results could be useful in the search for suitable magnetocaloric materials for energy-efficient heating and cooling systems. Magnetocaloric materials heat up when they enter a magnetic field, and cool down again when they leave it. This phenomenon can be exploited to produce quiet, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly heating and cooling devices, but the high cost of materials has however severely hampered its wider application in mass-market products. Scientists have known about this effect for more than 100 years: if the magnetic disorder decreases, that is to say, the magnetic entropy, then the lattice entropy increases and the material heats up. If the magnetic field is removed, the magnetic entropy increases and the material can extract heat from the surroundings." [...]

Heat-conducting Crystals Could Help Computer Chips Keep Their Cool

"If your laptop or cellphone starts to feel warm after playing hours of video games or running too many apps at one time, those devices are actually doing their job. Whisking heat away from the circuitry in a computer’s innards to the outside environment is critical: Overheated computer chips can make programs run slower or freeze, shut the device down altogether or cause permanent damage. As consumers demand smaller, faster and more powerful electronic devices that draw more current and generate more heat, the issue of heat management is reaching a bottleneck. With current technology, there’s a limit to the amount of heat that can be dissipated from the inside out. Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and their collaborators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Houston have created a potential solution, described in a study published online July 5 in the journal Science. Dr. Bing Lv (pronounced “love”), assistant professor of physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at UT Dallas, and his colleagues produced crystals of a semiconducting material called boron arsenide that have an extremely high thermal conductivity, a property that describes a material’s ability to transport heat." [...]

New Superconductor Technology for the Transmission Grid

"Researchers Design Superconducting Cable for High-voltage Power Transmission– Feasibility Study Reveals Advantages over Conventional Cable Systems The German energy transition makes it necessary to extend the transmission grid. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), to-gether with the grid operator TenneT, now studies the use of superconductor technology as an alternative to conventional power cables for short grid sections within the framework of the ENSURE Kopernikus Project. The superconductor cables de-signed by KIT for this purpose are efficient and powerful. After successful testing, they might allow for a more compact con-struction of power transmission lines in the three-phase grid. The length of the transmission grid in Germany totals about 35,000 km. To ensure that the power produced from renewable energy sources gets to the locations where it is needed, it is planned to extend the grid by about 5,300 km in the course of the ener-giewende." [...]

Researchers find, and possibly fix, toxicity in nanomaterials

"UO and Oregon State University scientists were baffled. New testing of mixtures of nanoparticles had led to an 88 percent mortality rate in zebrafish embryos, after earlier testing had found the materials to be free of toxins. Looking more extensively, they found that a new automated delivery system, meant to speed the mixing of products for testing in the fish, created a synergistic, or multiplying, effect that triggered the toxicity. The method used to analyze what was happening, it turns out, could provide a solution that could keep the nanotechnology field moving forward, said study co-author Jim Hutchison of the UO Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. While it isn’t clear that the new-found toxicity affecting zebrafish poses a threat to human health, the four-member research team said caution is necessary. “Years after showing that these materials were the most benign and among the least toxic materials that we’ve ever seen, we did these experiments with the surfactants and found that, in this case, they were toxic,” Hutchison said." [...]

Ultimate precision for sensor technology using qubits and machine learning

"Extracting information quickly from quantum states is necessary for future quantum processors and super-sensitive detectors in existing technologies. There are limits to how accurately you can measure things. Think of an X-ray image: it is likely quite blurry and something only an expert physician can interpret properly. The contrast between different tissues is rather poor but could be improved by longer exposure times, higher intensity, or by taking several images and overlapping them. But there are considerable limitations: humans can safely be exposed to only so much radiation, and imaging takes time and resources. A well-established rule of thumb is the so-called standard quantum limit: the precision of the measurement scales inversely with the square root of available resources." [...]

Electron spectrometer deciphers quantum mechanical effects

"Electronic circuits are miniaturized to such an extent that quantum mechanical effects become noticeable. Using photoelectron spectrometers, solid-state physicists and material developers can discover more about such electron-based processes. Fraunhofer researchers have helped revolutionize this technology with a new spectrometer that works in the megahertz range. Our vision is limited to the macroscopic world. If we look at an object, we merely see its surface. At the nanoscale, things would appear very different." [...]

Fibre-optic transmission of 4000 km made possible by ultra-low-noise optical amplifiers

"Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, have demonstrated a 4000 kilometre fibre-optical transmission link using ultra low-noise, phase-sensitive optical amplifiers. This is a reach improvement of almost six times what is possible when using conventional optical amplifiers.​ The results are published in Nature Communications. Video streaming, cloud storage and other online services have created an insatiable demand for higher transmission capacity. To meet this demand, new technologies capable of significant improvements over existing solutions are being explored worldwide. The reach and capacity in today’s fibre optical transmission links are both limited by the accumulation of noise, originating from optical amplifiers in the link, and by the signal distortion from nonlinear effects in the transmission fibre. In this ground-breaking demonstration, the researchers showed that the use of phase-sensitive amplifiers can significantly, and simultaneously, reduce the impact of both of these effects." [...]

Software-Defined Radio for Engineers, 2018

"Software-Defined Radio for Engineers, by Travis F. Collins, Robin Getz, Di Pu, and Alexander M. Wyglinski, 2018, ISBN-13: 978-1-63081-457-1. The objective of this book is to provide a hands-on learning experience using Software Defined Radio for engineering students and industry practitioners who are interested in mastering the design, implementation, and experimentation of communication systems. This book provides a fresh perspective on understanding and creating new communication systems from scratch. Communication system engineers need to understand the impact of the hardware on the performance of the communication algorithms being used and how well the overall system operates in terms of successfully recovering the intercepted signal. This book is written for both industry practitioners who are seeking to enhance their skill set by learning about the design and implementation of communication systems using SDR technology, as well as both undergraduate and graduate students who would like to learn about and master communication systems technology in order to become the next generation of industry practitioners and academic researchers. The book contains theoretical explanations about the various elements forming a communication system, practical hands-on examples and lessons that help synthesize these concepts, and a wealth of important facts and details to take into consideration when building a real-world communication system." [...]

micro:mag issue 1

"The first issue of micro:mag is here! micro:bits In Libraries In this issues cover article, Michael Rimicans is giving us some insight into the micro:bit in libraries scheme. You can now loan out micro:bits in hundreds of UK libraries, giving more people the chance to get hands on with computer science. micro:bit in Wonderland We got the chance to exclusively interview the authors of micro:bit in wonderland. This amazing book which is based on the bestseller Alice in Wonderland mixes the classic tale of Alice with the micro:bit. Hear how the book was written and what’s next for the authors of this amazing book." [...]

DIY Controller for Paragliding Games

"I've played a few different paragliding games and always found the problem of what controls you use. Mouse and Keyboard aren't great as paraglider flying is very analog. It's kind of similar to a flight simulatior or car racing game, you need a joystick or racing wheel to have a great experience playing. So, I decided to design and make my own. I had various concepts but ended up going for sliding potentiometer because they are cheap, compact and readily available. " [...]

Building a keyboard from scratch

"This is the story of me designing and building a computer keyboard from scratch. It covers every step from idea to design to build, from electronics to mechanics to firmware to key layouts and from hits to misses. The result is a unique keyboard and a long story to tell. " [...]

Automated Irrigation System Arduino Controller

"In the summer of 2018 I had the opportunity to work with a senior at my college to finalize and finish up his senior engineering project. This project was an automated drip irrigation system at our campus garden. The system consists of a 550 gallon tank that is filled via rain water, a pump to circulate the tank's water, two solenoid valves, drip emitters, and various sensors such as 2 soil moisture sensors, a temperature sensor, a water sensor. Although we are using this Arduino Controller for this irrigation system this design can be adapted for many other projects. Our Arduino is receiving information from our water level sensor, a temperature sensor, and the two soil moisture sensors to decide whether or not the tank valve should be opened for watering but adapting this design to work with more and/or different sensors should not be too difficult. Our system works like this." [...]

The Not So Crap Clock

"First, why call it the Crap Clock? Well, it lowers expectations with the hope of exceeding them :-) Also there is an LED on the seconds display which will never light due to a bit of short sighted design. Second, this ain't really a how to make the 'thing' more a reflection on design choices and all the materials you need to go about building your own. The Crap Clock is a clock running from a ATMEGA328 which drives 82 LEDs via a 74HC595 driving the rows and a TLC5940 sinking the current across the columns. As DS3231 keeps the time and can be kept running with the battery input terminals. The clock has several modes to view the time, date, year, temperature and then modes for setting the time and date with the two buttons." [...]

Energy Manager Using Heltec LoRa 32 WiFi and Arduino

"This project involves the implementation of a system responsible for collecting data about the electric energy generated by an off grid photovoltaic system and transmitting them to an LED panel through wireless, using two LoRa 32 WiFi controllers, responsible for monitoring electrical energy data generated by a photovoltaic system, transferring them via LoRa protocol and sending the collected information to an Arduino Uno, responsible for writing on a 96x16 LED display composed of three panels P10. " [...]

DIY Touch Sensor/Switch ESP8266 | Node MCU

"NodeMCU has a single ADC(Analog to Digital Converter) input which is not enough for big complex projects but is definitely enough for small projects which require a single analog sensor or even a simple switch. The in-built analog-to-digital converter of NodeMCU has 10 bit range i.e it gives value between 0 to 1024 and can take maximum input of 3.3v .So 0v input or GND returns value 0 at ADC pin and 3.3v returns 1024. Now this analog-to-digital converter is very sensitive .It can sense close circuit between itself and the 3.3v pin of the NodeMCU and can return values according to the resistance between them. This can be used for a switching action or even brightness control of a LED. And such a switch can be made easily without any extra parts. " [...]

A Tiny Alarm System Using a Super Tiny Arduino Compatible Board!

"Hello, today we are going to make a tiny cool project. We are going to build a tiny alarm device that measures the distance between itself and an object in front of it. And when the object moves past a set distance, the device will notify you with a loud buzzer noise. To make a tiny alarm device, we need tiny components, that is why we used PICO as our microcontroller, as it fulfills our needs while being very small in size. We also used commonly used components to read the distance and give a signal to the buzzer. This project will take you around 45 minutes to finish, if you chose to use the provided code." [...]

Internet Connected Power Usage Monitor

"Monitor the power usage for your home and individual devices with this Particle Photon connected Current Cost EnviR power monitor. Introduction Current Cost make a range of electricity power meters, including the EnviR that wirelessly connects to a clamp meter for the house supply, these can be picked up relatively cheaply on eBay as well as individual IAM modules for appliances. The Envir displays the power usage and trends on an LCD screen which is nice, however getting this data to the internet for long term monitoring and potentially acting on is a different matter. The Envir doesn't have built in Internet connectivity but Current Cost do sell a NetSmart module that plugs into the Envir, however this only sends the data to CurrentCosts own platform (my.currentcost.com), which leaves a lot to be desired, what I wanted was some way to get my electricity usage data to my preferred IoT platform (Tinamous.com - see my profile for one of the reasons why :-) ), and to use the power of the Photon to do some processing before sending the data. After a little digging I discovered the Currrent Cost Envir monitor uses a simple serial interface via the RJ45 jack, this can also be used to power the Envir unit as well. Just add a Photon (or Electron), a RJ45 lead and some code...." [...]

From Flashlight to Motion Sensor With ESP8266 and MQTT

"In this post, I would present items below: LEDs need a limiting current circuithow to make a flashlightmake a light powered by the portable battery, and dimming the LEDs by ESP8266 via MQTTThe video is the recap and a short explanation of how this works, I planned to have PIR sensor included, but the tutorial gets rather long so that the PIR sensor will be presented in the second part of this topic. So let begins. " [...]

DIY Miniature Solar Tracker

"In this project I will show you how to create a solar tracker which like the name implies can follow the movement of the sun throughout the day. And at the end I will show you the energy harvest difference between a solar tracker mounted solar panel and a flat mounted solar panel. Let's get started! " [...]

A NeoPixel Pomodoro Timer

"Help manage your time and take regular breaks with this Pomodoro Timer project. I know many people who get value from a simple tool called the Pomodoro Technique. It's a time management technique used to break work into periods of activity separated by short breaks. Each activity period is called a pomodoro. Why "pomodoro"? The technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo, who named the technique "pomodoro" as a nod to the tomato kitchen timer he initially used." [...]

OpenDeck MIDI Platform

"OpenDeck is a platform suited both for prototyping and developing custom MIDI controllers. Platform uses class-compliant USB MIDI which makes it compatible with any MIDI software on any OS. Main part of the platform is board on which various components used to build a MIDI controller can be connected. OpenDeck supports the following components: Buttons Encoders LEDs (single color or RGB) Potentiometers FSRs (force-sensitive resistors) LCD/OLED displays (Arduino Mega and Teensy++ 2.0 only) OpenDeck supports sending of both 7-bit and 14-bit Non-Registered Part Numbers (NRPN), latching messages on buttons, various encoding modes for quadrature encoders, LED control using MIDI In, configurable MIDI channels for each component individually, daisy-chaining of boards etc. Full list of supported features can be found here. All configuration is done using custom SysEx protocol explained in detail on Wiki page or using Web interface." [...]

Bucky Glow

"A geometric object that lights up and plays music The Bucky Glow is an interactive LED dodecahedron consisting of 11 LEDs, which are controlled with an Arduino Nano. Using the Arduino programming environment, you can create endless light-up patterns. The Bucky Glow also includes break-out header pins, so you have access to eleven digitial I/O pins, a TX (transmit) pin, a RX (receive) pin, reset pin, and ground pin. These pins enable you to connect the Bucky Glow to sensors (e.g. capacitive touch, infrared, ultrasonic), motors, MIDI jacks, and any other electronics you can think of. There are tons of unique ways to make the Bucky Glow musical and interactive." [...]

ESP8266 Deep Sleep Mode

"My Adafruit HUZZAH Feather ESP8266 consumes 0.080 amps (80 ma) in normal operation. With one wire and a single line of code, I can drop that to about 0.010 amps (10 ma), according to my USB power monitor. I connected a wire from GPIO16 (pin 16) to RESET (RST). I'm using the Arduino IDE to program my ESP8266, so at the end of my loop, I insert void loop() { // other code in my sketch ESP.deepSleep(60e6); } Which puts the ESP8266 to sleep for 60 seconds, and then reboots, running through my code once more before going back to sleep. This greatly extends my battery life. You can change the 60 to whatever number of seconds you want the unit to sleep." [...]

Building ESP-1 Balancing Robot

"I was always fascinated with balancing robots and wanted to build one myself. Some time ago I started collecting IMU, arduino boards, wheels, motors for other wheeled robots and one day decided to build a balancing robot instead. I've used wheels from old four wheel drive robot that used mouse sensors for odometry and was driven by an Arduino Pro mini. That robot never went alive anyway :) Originally the robot was built using Arduino pro mini and all it could do was balance. I was thinking to add BT module to control it until I discovered that I have ESP8266 lying around. Also I decided to use a better IMU algorithm instead of DPU of the MPU6050." [...]

Morphing Digital Clock

"A quick video about this project. I have since implemented a way to set timezone. Thanks to the work of the Arduino and ESP8266 community, this cool clock is a surprisingly easy to build! Just two main components: Display (obviously) and a WiFi MicroController No soldering required No programming skill required, code is provided! Let's get started! " [...]

Infinity Mirror Clock

"This is a handmade clock mainly for decoration. There are several LED lights in the clock, when turned on, it is a beautiful decoration for bedroom. When turned off, its a small mirror. Of course, its a clock itself. " [...]

Make Your Own Awesome VU Meter!

"Today we are going to look at the VU meter, it's fundamentals and it's build. By the end of this tutorial, you will have made your very own VU Meter! " [...]

DIY Laser Engraver Machine

"This document presents all necessary information for the assembly and start up of a laser engraver, with the purpose of engraving wood, glass, bamboo and others compatible materials. Here, you can find the instructions for the assembly and necessary sets to make our engraving without problems with T2LASER software. At last section, we talk about how to correct possible problems which we can have when we assembly our kit. " [...]

IPad Play Timer

"I think this is a topic every parent is struggling with. How much can the kids play with their iPads (or any other tablet). We tried multiple approaches, like fixed times, but that did not really work as our kid then always wanted to go home the moment he was allowed to play with his iPad. The iPad Play TimerSo I made the iPad Play Timer. A clear, simple device, that gives kids self-control on when they can use their beloved iPad. In the software you can set for each day of the week how much time they are allowed to play on the iPad (or any other Tablet)." [...]

FISH&GO! A WiFi Rover controlled by Blynk APP

"Based on the Fishino UNO board, a simple and funny project to join practicality and fun together. We are going to build a robot on wheels controlled from the “Blynk” app and we are going to take advantage of the color sensor to program for games: Freestyle, ColorColor, Run and CrazyTaxi. Thanks to development boards like Arduino, today, if you have some familiarity with electronics and programming, you can turn once complex ideas into reality. Even the programming of applications (more commonly called apps) for a smartphone is nowadays made easier by specific programs that guide into their creation. The project proposed in these pages supports these statements, because it is about creating a robot on wheel piloted by a smartphone through Wi-Fi and an app which implementation is made easy by the availability of some free applications, thanks to which we will be able to create a catching graphical interface without having to write a single line of code for Android or iOS! We didn’t, however, stop at wirelessly commanding a small robot, but we wanted to create some electronic games, which have the robot as a protagonist, to execute on your smartphone." [...]

ESP8266 LED Matrix Clock

"ESP8266 LED Matrix Clock Simple LED matrix Clock based on the popular ESP8266 with Real Time Clock module and time synchronization over WiFi from an NTP server. " [...]

Marshmello LED Hat

"Marshmello Hat with LEDs and ESP8266 web server control for effects. Story Building This time I wanted to create a fancy blinking hat for parties (and room accessory). You can use an Arduino to loop through the effects, or an ESP like in this example to make it controlable over WiFi. Unfortunately, my DIY market was offering 15L white buckets only. If you plan your own hat, I suggest you at least 29cm in diameter and 35cm in height (20-25L). I bought a helmet and extracted the inlay." [...]

ESP8266 Temperature Controlled Relay

"A friend of mine is a scientist who does experiments that are very sensitive to air temperature and humidity. The incubator room has a small ceramic heater but the heater's thermostat was not nearly accurate enough, only able to maintain the temperature within 10-15 degrees. Commercial devices that log temperature and humidity can be quite expensive, and getting the data from the device can be difficult. Plus, they can't control the temperature, only log the data. He asked how hard would it be to build a device that could accurately control the heater through a relay while logging the temperature and humidity. Sounded easy enough." [...]