Editorial

Esta é a Newsletter Nº 260 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 1856 o inventor norte-americano Granville Woods. Ele detinha inúmeras patentes em diversos campos. Como o inventor negro mais prolífico da carreira do final do século XIX e início do século XX nos EUA, ele foi chamado de Black Edison. A primeira patente de Wood (3 de Junho de 1884) foi para uma caldeira de locomotiva a vapor. Ele fundou a Woods Electric Company, em Cincinnati, Ohio, para desenvolver comercialmente uma variedade de dispositivos eléctricos. Em 1887, ele patenteou seu Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, que permitia a movimentação de comboios para manter ligações de comunicação, evitando acidentes. As suas outras patentes incluíam um transmissor de telefone, uma ferrovia eléctrica, uma incubadora eléctrica para incubação de frangos (1900) e um importante dispositivo de segurança - um freio a ar automático para uso ferroviário.

Faz também hoje anos que nascia, em 1858 o físico teórico alemão Max Planck. Ele estudou em Munique e Berlim, com Helmholtz, Clausius e Kirchhoff e posteriormente ingressou na faculdade. Ele tornou-se professor de física teórica (1889-1926). O seu trabalho sobre a lei da termodinâmica e a distribuição da radiação de um corpo negro levou-o a abandonar os princípios newtonianos clássicos e a introduzir a teoria quântica (1900), pela qual recebeu o Prémio Nobel de Física em 1918. Isto pressupõe que a energia é não é infinitamente subdivisível, mas, no final de contas, existe em quantidades discretas que ele chamou de quanta (latim, "quanto"). Além disso, a energia transportada por um quantum depende em proporção directa à frequência de sua fonte de radiação.

Por fim, faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1941 o programador norte-americano Ray Tomlinson. Ele ficou conhecido por ter implementado o primeiro programa de correio electrónico na ARPANET, a rede precursora da Internet. Para conseguir isso, ele usou o sinal @ para separar o nome do utilizador do nome da sua máquina, um formato que tem sido usado em endereços de e-mail desde então. Pode-se dizer que esta Newsletter chega a todos em parte graças ao sistema criado por este senhor.

Nesta semana que passou a SpaceX fez o seu sétimo lançamento de satélites Starlink. Foi na passada terça-feira que foram colocados mais 60 satélites no espaço. A missão decorreu com sucesso tendo o Falcon 9 sido lançado e recuperado com sucesso pela embarcação “Of Course I Still Love You”.

Também nesta semana foi lançada a nova versão do sistema Ubuntu, a versão 20.04 é uma versão LTS e apresenta inúmeras novidades relativamente ao suporte e às funcionalidades que compõe. A Canonical, no lançamento desta versão com o nome de código Focal Fossa, destaca a utilização da serie 5.4 do Kernel Linux, o suporte nativo do Wireguard para VPNs, um toolchain refrescado de ferramentas de desenvolvimento que inclui o glibc 2.31, OpenJDK 11, Python 3.8.2, php 7.4, perl 5.30, e o golang 1.13. Também a interface gráfica foi actualizada para o GNOME 3.36 e foram feitas diversas melhorias de performance nesta interface.

Na Newsletter desta semana apresentamos diversos artigos científicos assim como projetos de maker. São apresentadas a revista neweletronics de 14 de Abril e a Hackspace Magazine nº30 de Maio de 2020.

João Alves ([email protected])

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

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS arrives

"Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, today announced the general availability of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, with a particular emphasis on security and performance. “Accelerating open source globally is our mission. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is the new state of the art open source platform for the enterprise and the entrepreneur,” said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical. “We bring together thousands of contributors and the world’s largest technology companies to make Ubuntu 20.04 LTS the standard reference platform for secure cloud and edge compute.” Ubuntu has reached the top of independent rankings of enterprise Linux security. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS applies Kernel Self Protection measures, assures control flow integrity and adds stack-clash protection for systemic forward-looking enterprise security. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS also includes Secure Boot to protect against low level attacks and rootkits, often employed by Advanced Persistent Threat groups, and limits attack proliferation or ‘blast radius’ with strict snap confinement of key exposed applications on the desktop and server such as the local Kubernetes package MicroK8s." [...]

Starlink Mission 7

"On Wednesday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m. EDT, or 19:30 p.m. UTC, SpaceX launched its seventh Starlink mission. Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Falcon 9’s first stage previously supported Crew Dragon’s first flight to the International Space Station, launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, and the fourth Starlink mission. Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported the AMOS-17 mission. You can watch a replay of launch below and learn more about the mission here." [...]

AMD Expands 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Desktop Processor Family, Unleashing Powerful “Zen 2” Core For The Mainstream

"Today, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced the newest additions to the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processor family, the AMD Ryzen™ 3 3100 and AMD Ryzen™ 3 3300X processors and AMD B550 Chipset for Socket AM4 designed for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors with over 60 designs in development. Taking advantage of the AMD world-class portfolio of technologies, these new Ryzen 3 desktop processors bring the groundbreaking “Zen 2” core architecture to business users, gamers, and creators worldwide, leveraging Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) technology for increased productivity. With double the threads, twice the bandwidth, and a wide selection of motherboards in development the AMD B550 chipset and Ryzen 3 desktop processors deliver the ideal processing solution from top to bottom. “Games and applications are becoming more and more demanding, and with this, users are demanding more from their PCs,” said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, client business unit. “AMD is committed to providing solutions that meet and exceed those demands for all levels of computing. With the addition of these new Ryzen 3 desktop processors we are continuing this commitment with our mainstream gaming customers." [...]

25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium Rebrands to Ethernet Technology Consortium; Announces 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Specification

"The 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium, originally established to develop 25, 50 and 100 Gbps Ethernet specifications, announced today it has changed its name to the Ethernet Technology Consortium in order to reflect a new focus on higher-speed Ethernet technologies. The goal of the consortium is to enhance the Ethernet specification to operate at new speeds by utilizing specifications that are developed or in development. This allows the organization to work alongside other industry groups and standards bodies to adapt Ethernet at a pace that aligns with the rapidly evolving needs of the industry. The ETC has more than 45 members with top-level promoter members that include Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell, Google, Mellanox and Microsoft. “Ethernet is evolving very quickly and as a group, we felt that having 25G in the name was too constraining for the scope of the consortium,” said Brad Booth, chair of the Ethernet Technology Consortium. “We wanted to open that up so that the industry could have an organization that could enhance Ethernet specifications for new and developing markets.” Championing 800GbE One of the first specifications to be championed by the newly named organization is the 800GBASE-R specification for 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)." [...]

Stretchable sheets of atoms tuned for quantum technologies

"A team of scientists from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Australian National University (ANU) believe they have developed a way to address a decades-long challenge in the field of quantum materials – the spectral tuning of proposed quantum light sources. The researchers say their results, using an atomically thin material, hexagonal boron nitride, constitute a significant step forward in understanding light–matter interactions of quantum systems in 2D materials, and the journey towards scalable on-chip devices for quantum technologies. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials. The ability to finely tune the colours of quantum light has been proposed as a key step in developing quantum network architectures, where photons, the fundamental building block of light, are exploited to serve as the quantum messenger to communicate between distant sites. The scientists harnessed the extreme stretchability of hexagonal boron nitride, also known as “white graphene” to such an extent that they were able to demonstrate a world record for the largest spectral, colour-tuning range from an atomically thin quantum system. Lead author, UTS PhD candidate Noah Mendelson said that the improvement in spectral tuning by almost an order of magnitude would spark interest within both academic and industrial groups “working towards the development of quantum networks and related quantum technologies.” “This material was grown in the lab at UTS with some atomic-scale ‘crystal-mistakes’ that are ultra-bright and extremely stable quantum sources." [...]

Nanosensor can alert a smartphone when plants are stressed

"Carbon nanotubes embedded in leaves detect chemical signals that are produced when a plant is damaged. MIT engineers have developed a way to closely track how plants respond to stresses such as injury, infection, and light damage, using sensors made of carbon nanotubes. These sensors can be embedded in plant leaves, where they report on hydrogen peroxide signaling waves. Plants use hydrogen peroxide to communicate within their leaves, sending out a distress signal that stimulates leaf cells to produce compounds that will help them repair damage or fend off predators such as insects. The new sensors can use these hydrogen peroxide signals to distinguish between different types of stress, as well as between different species of plants. “Plants have a very sophisticated form of internal communication, which we can now observe for the first time." [...]

High-efficiency Catalyst Enhancing the Electric Reduction Performance of CO2

"Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuels and value-added feedstocks, ideally if powered by renewable electricity, provides a route to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and simultaneously close the carbon loop. At present, the rational design and controllable synthesis of more efficient catalysts, combined with the understanding of the catalytic mechanism, in order to achieve the industrial application of CO2 electric reduction technology has become the research focus and difficulty. Recently, a team led by Prof. YU Shuhong and Prof. GAO Minrui from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of CAS developed a microwave heating strategy for synthesizing a transition metal chalcogenide nanostructure that efficiently catalyzes CO2 electroreduction to carbon monoxide (CO). The series of research results were published in Angewandte Chemie and Journal of the American Chemical Society. A considerable challenge in the conversion of CO2 into useful fuels comes from the activation of CO2 to CO2•- or other intermediates, which often requires precious metallic catalysts, high overpotentials, and/or the electrolyte additives (e.g., ionic liquids). In the research, the researchers reported a microwave heating strategy for synthesizing a transition metal chalcogenide nanostructure that efficiently catalyzes CO2 electroreduction to CO." [...]

Flatter graphene, faster electrons

"Scientists from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and the Department of Physics at the University of Basel developed a technique to flatten corrugations in graphene layers. This leads to an improved sample quality and can be applied to other two-dimensional materials. The results were recently published in Physical Review Letters. Bumps on a road slow down our pace, so do corrugations in graphene to travelling electrons. By flattening the corrugations out, we help electrons move effectively faster through a graphene sheet. Limits because of microscopic distortions The sample quality of graphene has been improved significantly since its discovery." [...]

MegaX, the first camera to capture the smallest particles of light

"EPFL scientists, working in association with Canon, have developed a camera that can take 3D images with record-breaking speed and resolution “It’s something I’d been dreaming of for a long time,” says Edoardo Charbon, an EPFL professor and head of the Advanced Quantum Architecture Laboratory in EPFL’s School of Engineering. “MegaX is the culmination of over 15 years of research on single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), which are photodetectors used in next-generation image-sensor technology.” And Charbon has good reason to be proud, since he and his research team have developed the world’s first million-pixel camera. Their findings have just been published in Optica. A shooting star What makes their camera different is that it can capture and count the very smallest form of light particle: the photon. Photons are invisible to the human eye; we can see only continuous beams of photons, like those used in laser pointers. But MegaX can film the trajectories of individual photons in rays of light." [...]

UCLA Engineers Develop Simpler, Faster Way to Build Complex & Better-Performing 3D Electronics

"UCLA engineers have developed a faster, simpler 3D-printing technique to build electronics, trimming their manufacturing time from hours down to a few minutes. The method can be used to print electronics into complex shapes in volumes that could be used for antenna arrays, prosthetics, sensors and robots. A study detailing the advance was published in Nature Electronics. Most electronic devices today, including smart phones and laptops, use flat, two-dimensional electronics for components, such as internal sensors or antennas. Three-dimensional electronics can offer curves and shapes that help save space inside devices. And complex shapes, which can only be practically made through 3D printing, can also improve product performance, for example, by making an antenna’s signal stronger." [...]

A material with a particular twist

"In a material made of two thin crystal layers that are slightly twisted with respect to each other, researchers at ETH have studied the behaviour of strongly interacting electrons. Doing so, they found a number of surprising properties. Many modern technologies are based on special materials, such as the semiconductors that are important for computers, inside of which electrons can move more or less freely. Exactly how free those electrons are is determined by their quantum properties and the crystal structure of the material. Most of the time they move independently of each other. Under certain conditions, however, strong interactions between the electrons can give rise to particular phenomena." [...]

New scavenger technology allows robots to ‘eat’ metal for energy

"When electronics need their own power sources, there are two basic options: batteries and harvesters. Batteries store energy internally, but are therefore heavy and have a limited supply. Harvesters, such as solar panels, collect energy from their environments. This gets around some of the downsides of batteries but introduces new ones, in that they can only operate in certain conditions and can’t turn that energy into useful power very quickly. New research from the School of Engineering and Applied Science is bridging the gap between these two fundamental technologies for the first time in the form of a “metal-air scavenger” that gets the best of both worlds. This metal-air scavenger works like a battery, in that it provides power by repeatedly breaking and forming a series of chemical bonds." [...]

New hybrid material improves the performance of silicon in Li-ion batteries

"Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have developed a new hybrid material of mesoporous silicon microparticles and carbon nanotubes that can improve the performance of silicon in Li-ion batteries. Advances in battery technology are essential for sustainable development and for achieving climate neutrality. States and companies worldwide are eagerly looking for new and sustainable technologies to achieve climate neutrality in every sector of society, ranging from transportation and production of consumables to energy production. Once green energy is produced, it needs to be stored before it can be used in portable applications. In this step, battery technology plays an essential role in making the consumption of green energy a viable alternative. In the future, silicon will gradually replace carbon as the anode material in Li-ion batteries (LIBs)." [...]

Cool down fast to advance quantum nanotechnology

"Rapidly cooling magnon particles proves a surprisingly effective way to create an elusive quantum state of matter, called a Bose-Einstein condensate. The discovery can help advance quantum physics research and is a step towards the long-term goal of quantum computing at room temperature. An international team of scientists have found an easy way to trigger an unusual state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate. The new method, recently described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, is expected to help advance the research and development of quantum computing at room temperature. The team, led by physicists at the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (TUK) in Germany and University of Vienna in Austria, generated the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) through a sudden change in temperature: first heating up quasi-particles slowly, then rapidly cooling them down back to room temperature. They demonstrated the method using quasi-particles called magnons, which represent the quanta of magnetic excitations of a solid body." [...]

Engineers develop method to improve efficiency and heat tolerance of devices

"When it comes to increasing electric storage efficiency and electric breakdown strength — the ability of an electrical system to operate at higher voltage and temperatures with great efficiency — increasing one traditionally has led to a decrease in the other. Penn State researchers, led by Qiming Zhang, distinguished professor of electrical engineering, recently developed a scalable method that relies on engineered materials to increase both properties. The researchers altered a dielectric capacitor, a device that stores and regulates energy and is commonly used in electronics and electric systems. Using dopants —small, engineered materials also called metamaterials — the researchers altered the dielectric capacitor to increase storage capacity while also increasing electric charge efficiency, meaning the capacitor can withstand greater voltage with very little energy loss at temperatures higher than 300 degrees Fahrenheit. While other researchers have been able to do this for dielectric capacitors, the methods have been too expensive to scale for use with real products. Zhang and the other Penn State researchers reported their results in a recent issue of Science Advances." [...]

Water replaces toxins: Green production of plastics

"Although organic plastics are not harmful to the environment themselves, toxic substances are often used during their synthesis. TU Wien shows - there is another way. Many materials that we use every day are not sustainable. Some are harmful to plants or animals, others contain rare elements that will not always be as readily available as they are today. A great hope for the future is to achieve different material properties by using novel organic molecules. Organic high-performance materials containing only common elements such as carbon, hydrogen or oxygen could solve our resource problem - but their preparation is usually anything but environmentally friendly." [...]

Diamonds shine in energy storage solution

"Dr Haifei Zhan, from the QUT Centre for Materials Science, and his colleagues successfully modelled the mechanical energy storage and release capabilities of a diamond nanothread (DNT) bundle – a collection of ultrathin one-dimensional carbon threads that store energy when twisted or stretched. “Similar to a compressed coil or children’s wind-up toy, energy can be released as the twisted bundle unravels,” Dr Zhan said. “If you can make a system to control the power supplied by the nanothread bundle it would be a safer and more stable energy storage solution for many applications.” The new carbon structure could be a potential micro-scale power supply for anything from implanted biomedical sensing systems monitoring heart and brain functions, to small robotics and electronics. “Unlike chemical storage such as lithium ion batteries, which use electro-chemical reactions to store and release energy, a mechanical energy system itself would carry much lower risk by comparison,” Dr Zhan said. “At high temperatures chemical storage systems can explode or can become non-responsive at low temperatures. These can also leak upon failure, causing chemical pollution." [...]

Matheminecraft: when Mathematics merge with Minecraft

"Using the famous computer game Minecraft, Mathematicians at EPFL have developed a video game around Eulerian Cycles. It is now freely available online to everyone. Mathematician David Strütt, a scientific collaborator at EPFL, worked for four months to develop Matheminecraft, a math video game in Minecraft, where the gamer has to find a Eulerian cycle in a graph. Minecraft is a sandbox video game released in 2011, where the gamer can build almost anything, from simple houses to complex calculators, using only cubes and fluids. These countless possibilities are what lured David Strütt into Minecraft’s universe: “the game might be first intended for kids but I was studying for my Bachelor’s degree in mathematics when I discovered it. I fell in love with the game when I realized there is all the necessary blocks to build a Turing machine inside the game." [...]

Advanced memory from advanced materials

"Electrical manipulation of magnetic particle allows for large high-speed memory Researchers successfully demonstrated a method to switch a novel material between two different nonvolatile states at very high speeds and with great accuracy. The physical constituents of the device in question are significantly robust against external influences such as magnetic fields. These facts together mean a high-speed and high-capacity memory device could be created. Such a device would also be extremely energy efficient. In 1929, theoretical physicist Hermann Weyl was exploring the newly derived Dirac equation, which describes many things in particle physics and led to the discovery of antimatter. He noticed the equation implied the existence of a massless particle which became known as the Weyl fermion." [...]

Photonic microwave generation using on-chip optical frequency combs

"Using integrated photonic chips fabricated at EPFL, scientists have demonstrated laser-based microwave generators. These microwave signals, as well as their optical carriers, could be used in radars, satellite communications and future 5G wireless networks. In our information society, the synthesis, distribution, and processing of radio and microwave signals are ubiquitous in wireless networks, telecommunications, and radars. The current tendency is to use carriers in higher frequency bands, especially with looming bandwidth bottlenecks due to demands for e.g. 5G and the “Internet of Things”. “Microwave photonics”, a combination of microwave engineering and optoelectronics, might offer a solution." [...]

Speeding-up quantum computing using giant atomic ions

"An international team of researchers have found a new way to speed up quantum computing that could pave the way for huge leaps forward in computer processing power. Scientists from the University of Nottingham and University of Stockholm have sped-up trapped ion quantum computing using a new experimental approach – trapped Rydberg ions; their results have just been published in Nature. In conventional digital computers, logic gates consist of operational bits that are silicon based electronic devices. Information is encoded in two classical states (“0” and “1”) of a bit. This means that capacities of a classical computer increase linearly with the number of bits. To deal with emerging scientific and industrial problems, large computing facilities or supercomputers are built." [...]

Electronic Skin Fully Powered by Sweat Can Monitor Health, Serve as Human-Machine Interface

"One of the ways we experience the world around us is through our skin. From sensing temperature and pressure to pleasure or pain, the many nerve endings in our skin tell us a great deal. Our skin can also tell the outside world a great deal about us as well. Moms press their hands against our foreheads to see if we have a fever. A date might see a blush rising on our cheeks during an intimate conversation. People at the gym might infer you are having a good workout from the beads of sweat on you." [...]

Researchers discover ferroelectricity at the atomic scale

"A team of researchers have managed to grow ultra-thin material on silicon that can power small electronic devices As electronic devices become progressively smaller, the technology that powers them needs to get smaller and thinner. One of the key challenges scientists face in developing this technology is finding materials that can perform well at an ultrathin size. But now, Berkeley researchers think they may have the answer. Led by Sayeef Salahuddin, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, and graduate student Suraj Cheema, a team of researchers has managed to grow onto silicon an ultrathin material that demonstrates a unique electrical property called ferroelectricity. The duo’s findings were published in the April 22 issue of Nature. Ferroelectricity refers to a class of materials that can not only achieve spontaneous electric polarization, but also reverse its direction when exposed to an external electric field, which is promising for electronics." [...]

HackSpace magazine #30

"The Arduino ecosystem is fantastic and covers a huge range of hardware and software, but this size can mean some of it’s best bits are a little hard to find. In this issue, we pick out our 75 top tips for building awesome Arduino projects 3D print with wood (mixed with plastic) Find the best budget oscilloscope Kamui Cosplay reveal what it really takes to create great costumes Build a vacuum former Connect a 1940s radio to the internet" [...]

newelectronics 14 Abril 2020

"New Electronics is a fortnightly magazine focusing on technological innovation, news and the latest developments in the electronics sector. Downloadable as a digital page turner or pdf file, or offered as a hard copy, the New Electronics magazine is available in a format to suit you. " [...]

Logging 2 Electricity Smart Meters Using Arduino Nano Every

"This project describes how to log electricity consumption of 2 different consumer circuits by reading the corresponding 2 smart meters ("eHz"="elektronische Haushaltszähler") simultaneously to an SD card. It all started wanting to get a better understanding of electricity consumption w/i our household. There are 2 smart meters, the first one tracking electricity consumption of the heat pump and a second one tracking general electricity consumption (lights, stove,...). In the www I found a project that does this job for 1 smart meter (by Volker Wegert). However that project is using an Arduino Uno and due to its memory limitations only data of 1 smart meter can be logged. Nevertheless it gave me (I'm pretty much new to Arduino, electronics and programming) a lot of insight and ideas." [...]

8-bit ATtiny85 Circle Of Life

"Why use a giant computer running MicroPython or CircuitPython when you could use something much less powerful than an IBM PC, Commodore, or Apple II. Requirements An ATtiny85 microcontroller. An ATtiny45 can fit, so it'd probably work. Some way to flash your program into it. An apa102 aka DotStar LED disc such as Adafruit's lovely DotStar disc. A 5V DC multi-amp power supply (a USB-C 5V 3A brick works for me)." [...]

RGB LED Matrices with CircuitPython

"Bring a little bit of Times Square into your home with our RGB LED matrix panels. These panels are normally used to make video walls — here in New York we see them on the sides of buses and on bus stops — to display animations or short video clips. We thought they looked really cool so we picked up a few boxes from the factory. They come in a variety of sizes from 16x32 pixels and up. Using the new RGBMatrix library, CircuitPython can blast pixels to these displays really quickly. Use it with DisplayIO for showing text, bitmaps, animations, and more." [...]

Smart 3D Printer Filament Counter

"Why bother counting filament? A few reasons: Successful prints require a properly-calibrated extruder: when the gcode tells the extruder to move the filament 2mm, it needs to move exactly 2mm. Bad things happen if it over-extrudes or under-extrudes. A well-calibrated counter can keep an extruder honest. Slicers approximate how much total filament a given print will take (in both length and weight) and I'd like to check those values. Measuring the movement of filament also let's me know when printing has started and when it has stopped." [...]

Shield for Arduino From Old Russian VFD Tubes: Clock, Thermometer, Volt Meter...

"This project took almost half a year to complete. I cannot describe how much work went into this project. Doing this project alone would take me forever so I had some help from my friends. Here you can see our work compiled in one very long instructable. Features of this project: Compatible only with Arduino UNO boards Drives four IV-3/ IV-3a/ IV-6 VFD tubes. Those tubes are very power efficient, even are more efficient than nixie and look pretty cool." [...]

DIY Walkie-Talkie With Generic 433MHz RF Modules

"In this project I will show you how to use generic 433MHz RF modules from Ebay in order to create a functional Walkie-Talkie. That means we will compare different RF Modules, learn a bit about a class d amplifier and finally build the Walkie-Talkie. It can be powered by a normal powerbank for around 130 hours and features a range of around 15m. Let's get started! " [...]

No-contact IR Thermometer

"My local Department of Health got in touch with me because they needed a way to track the body temperature of their employee's health on a daily basis during the 2020 Covid-19 crisis. Normal, off the shelf IR thermometers were starting to be scarce in supply, so I was asked if I could produce a design for a DIY version. This design relies heavily on the work done by Aswinth Raj in this post: https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects... I wanted to make some design changes in a few significant ways: I wanted to make the enclosure as fast to manufacture as possible, opting for a laser cut flat pack design over 3d printing. Given that supply lines are presently strained, I wanted to bring the rest of the BOM down to as sustainable and cheap as possible. I've swapped the genuine Arduino Micro for the generic Arduino Nano." [...]

Bar Graph Clock IOT (ESP8266 + 3D Printed Case)

"On this Instructables I will explain you how to build an IOT 256 LED Bar Graph Clock. This clock is not very difficult to make, not very expensive yet you'll need be patient to tell the time ^^ but it's pleasant to make and full of teaching. To make this clock, the main steps will be to : Make a Clip-on Box Find the exact time with WiFi and NTP protocole Program a 8x32 LED Matrix witch represent 256 LED Supplies: Led Matrix WS2812B 8x32 11€ The 8x32 WS2812B LED Matrix is also called NeoMatrix by Adafruit company. A Nodemcu ESP8266 board 3 to 4€ (Nodemcu is finer than Wemos) Some 3D-printer filament (≈ 120g) 2 screws or nails A USB cable (USB Type A to Micro USB Type B) A USB wall adapter Required tools A 3D printer, mine is a Creality CR-10 A pliers A solder iron Optional tools Some hot glue A USB DC voltage tester (pretty useful in lot of project)" [...]

Multi-channel Wifi Voltage & Current Meter

"When breadboarding, one often needs to monitor different parts of the circuit at once. To avoid the pain having to stick the multimeter probes from one place to another, I wanted to design a multi-channel voltage and current meter. The Ina260 board from Adafruit provides a very effective and efficient way for doing so. It contains a very accurate voltage and current meter with an integrated I2C bridge (saving a lot of pins when combining 3 of them!). The only thing missing was a display. Hence the decision to hook the boards up onto an ESP32 development board, which can easily carry a webserver to present the measured items on a PC/mobile screen." [...]

Pcb Speaker V2

"I recently made an interesting wireless speaker project that was a finalist in the PCB competition. You can check this post by clicking here and the video as I created by clicking here. I used PCB for this, which I made myself and as I announced, I also made it on a professional board. This is my first purchased PCB and I am very satisfied with it. In the previous post, I described the project stages from idea to prototype, and in this project, I will focus on finalizing the project. It cost me around $ 15, here is a set of elements: RDA5807 ATMEGA328P-AU 128x32 OLED I2C SMD ENCODER SMD TACT SWITCH PCB 5V Battery" [...]

Cardboard Quadcopter

"If you're looking at making a quadcopter for the first time, or you don't have a ton of money then this instructable is for you! Or maybe you're not sure that it's the right thing for you? Let me reassure you, this is a great hobby! The thing I probably love most about quadcopters, especially the bigger ones, is that they can fly in nearly any weather, and are completely stable. Another great thing is that you don't need a ton of space to fly them. When I first started building this quadcopter I had many challenges and design flaws to overcome." [...]

Levitating Side Table Made From Old Cardboard Boxes

"When I was looking for something cool and fun to make during these indoor quarantine days, I stumbled upon tensegrity models. It's really interesting physics and saw mainly tiny models, so I wanted to try and build it larger with a bit more ability to lift some light objects :-). The optical illusion is my favorite part of the final result and maybe the best part is that it doesn't require a lot of time or difficult materials so anyone can start to make something like this! " [...]

LED Clock Using Neopixels

"Welcome to my instructable on how to make a LED clock using 60 Neopixels. You will find 3 PDF's attached one is for the segments of the clock, another is for the base and lastly one is a template to assist with gluing the sections together. So to complete this you will need the following Ring of 60 neopixels comes in 4 quarters. search for "ws2812 ring 60" (£12.00) RTC search for "DS3231 module" (£2.50) Arduino Nano (£4) 3mm/1/8" plywood. pieces of wire. hopefully you will have some around?" [...]

Arduino Wire Game

"For this project, I referenced it from this website, and changed it to make a new project. This project is called the Wire Game, where you will take a metal handle and make it go through the wire without touching the wire. If the handle touches wire, a buzzer will buzz, so this game will challenge will focusing and your stability of hands. Originally, the old one that I've referenced only has a buzzer. Therefore, I have added a LCD panel to the device, that will tell the players how to play the game, and a finish-point that you touch the fish point, a LED lightbulb will light up, indicating that you've WON! - 1 Arduino Leonardo - 1 Buzzer - 1 LED Lightbulb(any color, preferably green) - 1 LCD board - 1 bundle of aluminum wire - 4 bundles of copper wire - 4 alligator clips - 1 shoebox (not mandatory) - 1 pen (not mandatory)" [...]

Open Hardware Remake of the Commodore Amiga 500+ Mainboard

"Rämixx500 is an Open Hardware remake of the Commodore Amiga 500+ mainboard, revision 8A.1. Many Amiga 500+ computers are suffering an early death because of the built-in barrel battery that powers their internal real-time clocks. Such batteries have long exceeded their planned lives and in many cases have started to leak alkaline liquids over the mainboard, corroding copper traces and destroying components. This damage can sometimes be repaired trivially, but many times it requires a lot of time and effort. Sometimes it adds up to other damage occurred over time and so it would just be better to have a new board built with new components to move the few critical chips over. Amiga mainboards haven't been produced for the last 30 years, but they are relatively simple by today's standards, thus an amateur project to make new ones was started." [...]

High-Voltage FLASH Programming on ATTINY85

"The Atmel ATTINY85 is a great chip (cheap, easy to use, supported in the Arduino IDE). Unfortunately it only has 5 IO pins, which limits its usability. There are guides on using a High-Voltage Programmer (HVP) to change the Reset pin into an IO pin. However, that prevents you from programming the Flash (Program Memory) until you re-enable the Reset pin. Thankfully the Flash can be programmed with an HVP, but the commands and protocol are different. My USBtinyISP simply cannot be modified to be an HVP." [...]

ESP-01 based Sonoff wireless smart switch

"Control all the appliances by just one tap. An IoT based Smart appliance controller using ESP-01 Story: 1. ESP-01: Basically, it is the first wireless device in a small module, which was first used as wireless interfacing with the Arduino prototyping board. After some years later, it became a small standalone wireless module that acts as a micro-controller as well as a wireless device. It consists of two GPIO pins that can be triggered as programmed from the Arduino IDE. 2." [...]

ESP-01 based Weather Notifier

"1. ESP8266 ESP-01: Basically, it is the first hardware that was used with Arduino UNO for wireless communication. After a few years later, it became standalone hardware that sends and receives the information through wireless medium and since it has two GPIO pins, so it can be used to trigger depending upon the conditions. 2. Why I chose this project? I chose this project because I wanted to enhance my IoT skills and to know how to control the hardware under certain conditions." [...]

Arduino-(KVM)-Switch

"This is a fully functional keyboard switch (KVM but while only the keyboard), based on the combination of Arduino UNO + Arduino LEONARDO pro Micro. Arduino UNO sends data from a connected USB keyboard via SoftwareSerial to 2 Arduino LEONARDOs that emulate the keyboard. Keyboard is toggled with ScrollLock Key. I recommend USB cable keyboard. All SoftwareSerials has baud rate: 38400 (increased to 115200)" [...]

FPGA dev board based on Lattice iCE40 8k

"What a Lattice iCE40 FPGA needs A clock input. Has to be provided by an oscillator, it doesn't have a crystal driver. 1.2v core supply for the internal logic. 2.5v non volatile memory supply. Can be provided via a voltage drop over a diode from 3.3v. IO supply for the IO pins, different banks of IO can have different supplies." [...]

Build an Inhouse IoT Air Quality Sensor - No Cloud Required

"Build a full-functional small IoT device to monitor inhouse air conditions without using cloud services. The quality of the indoor or outdoor air depends on many sources of pollution and also by the weather. This device captures some of common and some of the most interesting parameters by using 2 sensor chips. Temperature Humidity Pressure Organic Gas Micro-Particles The sensors used here are the BME680 for getting temperature, humidity, pressure and organic gas values and the PMS5003 to get density of the micro particles. By using the HomeDing library it is easy to build a device that is connected to your home Network only and can be reached and controlled by any browser on the network. It comes with a selection of Elements that allow using the most common sensor chips, devices and other services." [...]

SwitchBlox

"Compact and robust 10/100MB 5 Port Ethernet Switch Small Ethernet Switch for demanding applications. Wide, protected input voltage range from 7 to 40V. 5V, 2A output available. 5 port ethernet network switch works out the box. 10/100MB Speed. Auto MDI-X crossover." [...]

Tobers Multidisplay for ESP8266 and ESP32

"LED Matrix Display showing time, date, news, current weather & forecast, own messages and Spotify currently playing (ESP32 only). Tobers Multidisplay is a LED-Matrix display controlled by an ESP8266 or an ESP32. It can show current time and date, news, current weather & forecast, up to four custom messages, one guest message and - if ESP32 - information about the song currently playing on Spotify. Tobers Multidisplay is widely and easily configurable via web interface. Inspiration Being fascinated by all kind of LED matrixes and always searching the web for inspiration, I discovered the fantastic Parola Library, which makes it easy to get nice text animations on a matrix.There is a great number of projects online basing on this library - all kinds of clocks, message displays, news displays etc. A really nice one is the Display made by ericBcreator, which was a significant inspiration for my project." [...]

50V to 5V @7A Synchronous Buck (Step-down) Converter –

"This module is a non-isolated 7A DC-DC converter. The module can convert any DC voltage between 7V to 50V to a 5V DC with load current up to 7A. The project has been designed around LM5116 Wide Range Synchronous Buck Controller IC. The design includes 6uH toroid inductor and two N channel MOSFETS. The operating frequency is 250 KHz. The LM5116 is a synchronous buck controller intended for step-down regulator applications from a high-voltage or widely varying input supply." [...]

Coin sorting and counting machine

"Coin sorting machine based on Arduino Mega which is sorting and counting EURO coins. Originally the project was born after my son builded a coin sorting machine for his school project. We thought it would be cool to count the money. " [...]

Reverse-engineering the TL431: the most common chip you've never heard of

"A die photo of the interesting but little-known TL431 power supply IC provides an opportunity to explore how analog circuits are implemented in silicon. While the circuit below may look like a maze, the chip is actually relatively simple and can be reverse-engineered with a bit of examination. This article explains how transistors, resistors, and other components are implemented in silicon to form the chip below. The TL431 is a "programmable precision reference"[1] and is commonly used in switching power supplies, where it provides feedback indicating if the output voltage is too high or too low. By using a special circuit called a bandgap, the TL431 provides a stable voltage reference across a wide temperature range. The block diagram of the TL431 below shows that it has a 2.5 volt reference and a comparator[1], but looking at the die shows that internally it is quite different from the block diagram." [...]

Game Boy Advance Bluetooth HID

"Turn your Game Boy Advance into a Bluetooth Gamepad Use a Gameboy Advance as a Bluetooth Gamepad to play your favorite games on emulators running on PC, Android, Mac or any Bluetooth compatible device The device is basically an ESP32 connected to the GBA through the link port. With the device connected and without any cartridge inserted in the GBA, once the GBA turns on the ESP32 sends a small rom to be loaded in the GBA. This rom is a program made to enable communication between the ESP32 and GBA for both handling bluetooth connection and sending the user input to the ESP32 when it is connected to a bluetooth host and act as a gamepad. Unfortunately it only works with traditional GBA and I couldn't make it work with GBA SP. I think GBA SP just doesn't give enough power. When turned on the ESP32 performs a multiboot sequence through the SPI to the GBA sending a rom that the ESP32 has stored in the flash memory." [...]

simplyRetro-D8

"This repository contains everything to rebuild the simplyRetro D8. The D8 is my first attempt to build a small custom bartop from scratch. " [...]

IOT Digital Clock

"Display Date and Time directly from NTP server. NO need for Real time clocks ( RTC ). Why to use Real Time Clocks ( RTC ) to provide time values to our smart projects. Why add a new hardware when we can do it with just the software. Lets make a Clock which takes time from NTP servers, i.e. the Time keepers of the world." [...]

USB (5V) to Dual Output +/-15V or +/-12V Step-Up DC-DC Converter

"This USB to dual output step-up DC-DC converter has been designed to be used in industrial automation control equipment, sensors, isolated operational amplifiers and test & measurement equipment that require bipolar supply voltages. The module provides +/-15V or +/-12V DC load current up-to +/-100mA. An onboard PCB solder jumper is provided to set the output voltage 15V or 12V DC. The project typically provides 75 to 82% efficiency over most of the load range. It operates with current-mode feedback at 200Khz. The MAX743 DC-DC converter IC contains all the active circuitry needed to build small, dual-output power supplies." [...]

Using CCM on STM32F303CC

"here are many silicon vendors that make MCUs and most of them they use the same cores (e.g. ARM Cortex). Therefore, in order to compete each other, vendors need to make themselves stand out from their competitors and this is done in many different ways. Of course, the most important is the price, but some times that’s not enough, because even the low price doesn’t mean that the controller fits your project. Therefore, vendors come with different peripherals, clocks, power saving modes e.t.c. Sometimes though, vendors provide some very interesting features in their cores and in this post I will get down to the Core-Coupled Memory (CCM) that you can find in some STM32 MCUs." [...]

DIY Arduino + GY-906 Infrared Thermometer

"Follow this project to make an infrared thermometer by yourself! The infrared thermometer can measure the surface temperature of an object. Its advantage is non-contact temperature measurement, which can conveniently and accurately measure the temperature of a remote object. Now I'm going to introduce the materials, tools and manufacturing methods needed to make an infrared thermometer. List of materials Arduino Nano × 1 Touch button × 1 Resistance (5K ohm, 200 ohm) × 1 5V laser transmitter × 1 Dual-control switch × 1 OLED 0.96 ″ screen × 1 GY-906 temperature sensor MLX90614 sensor with capacitance or resistance × 1 9V battery × several 3D printer × 1 PLA printing supplies × several" [...]