Editorial

Esta é a Newsletter Nº 305 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
• Secção Videos

Faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1854, o meteorologista inglês Napier Shaw. Ele estudou a alta atmosfera, usando instrumentos carregados por pipas e balões de alta altitude. Ele mediu o movimento do ar em dois anticiclones, encontrando rácios descendentes de 350 e 450 metros por dia. Ele introduziu a unidade de milibares para medir a pressão do ar (1000 milibares = 1 bar = 1 atmosfera padrão) e o tefigrama para ilustrar a temperatura de um perfil vertical da atmosfera. Ele também foi co-autor de um dos primeiros trabalhos sobre poluição atmosférica, The Smoke Problem of Great Cities (1925).

Faz também hoje anos que nascia, em 1859, o Físico e engenheiro electrotécnico russo Alexander Stepanovich Popov. Ele foi aclamado na Russia como o inventor do Radio. Ao saber do trabalho de Hertz, em 1895 Popov construiu um aparelho que podia registar distúrbios eléctricos causados por raios. Ele aplicou-o para receber sinais feitos pelo homem. Em 1896, ele demonstrou um sistema de radio-telégrafo que transmitia código Morse. Em Fevereiro de 1904, Popov demonstrou pela primeira vez a transmissão de rádio da voz humana. A sua invenção foi usada pela primeira vez pela marinha russa. No entanto, a primeira fábrica de rádios da Rússia foi estabelecida pela empresa Marconi.

Faz igualmente hoje anos que nascia, em 1862, o Astrofísico e matemático suíço Robert Emden. Ele escreveu Gaskugeln (Gas Spheres, 1907), dando um modelo matemático de estrutura estelar como a expansão e compressão de esferas de gás, em que as forças de gravidade e pressão do gás estão em equilíbrio. Ele expandiu o trabalho anterior de J. H. Lane (1869) e A. Ritter (1878-83), que primeiro derivou equações que descrevem estrelas como substâncias químicas gasosas, corpos esféricos mantidos juntos por sua própria gravidade e obedecendo às leis dos gases conhecidas da termodinâmica. Por quatro décadas, a equação de Lane-Emden foi a base do trabalho teórico sobre a estrutura das estrelas: as suas temperaturas e pressões centrais, massas e equilíbrios.

Faz também hoje anos que nascia, em 1877, o inventor e empresário norte-americano Garrett Morgan. Ele inventou um creme para alisar o cabelo, uma embraiagem de automóvel, um dispositivo de respiração com capuz de segurança (1912) que ele aperfeiçoou como uma máscara de gás usada por alguns soldados na primeira Guerra Mundial, e um semáforo de trânsito. Quando ele inventou um semáforo em 1922 (não do tipo vermelho-amarelo-verde), vários outros semáforos já tinham sido patenteados por outros inventores.

Faz igualmente hoje anos que nascia, em 1904, o Físico nuclear, cosmólogo e escritor americano nascido na Rússia George Gamow. Ele foi um dos principais defensores da teoria do Big Bang, que descreve a origem do universo como uma explosão colossal ocorrida há biliões de anos. Em 1954, ele expandiu os seus interesses em bioquímica e seu trabalho com ácido desoxirribonucleico (DNA) deu uma contribuição básica para a teoria genética moderna.

Por fim, faz hoje anos que nascia, em 1922, o cientista da computação inglês Geoff Tootill. Ele, com Tom Kilburn, juntou-se ao projecto de Frederick Williams para projectar uma memória de computador. Para testar a memória, um computador apelidado de "Baby" foi construído, que foi o primeiro computador do mundo com programas armazenados. A máquina usava um novo método para armazenar até 32 instruções ou números num visor de tubo de raios catódicos. A 21 de Junho de 1948, ele terminou seu primeiro teste bem-sucedido, gastando 52 minutos e cerca de três milhões e meio de operações aritméticas, para encontrar o factor adequado mais alto de 2^18.

Nesta semana que passou ficámos a saber que a SpaceX finalmente teve um sucesso com a aterragem do seu prototipo de foguetão Starship. Tendo manobrado correctamente até à Terra, este sucesso acaba por ser agridoce uma vez que passado cerca de 8 minutos do foguetão ter aterrado dá-se uma explosão que destroi completamente.

Na Newsletter desta semana apresentamos diversas noticias, artigos científicos, projetos de maker assim como alguns videos interessantes. É apresentada a revista newelectronics de 23 de Fevereiro e o livro "Introduction to Scientific Programming with Python".

João Alves ([email protected])

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

SpaceX's SN10 Starship prototype lands after epic test launch — but then explodes

"SpaceX's latest Starship prototype went out in a blaze of glory. The Starship SN10 spacecraft touched down successfully after a high-altitude test flight today (March 3), a major milestone for the company and its crewed Mars ambitions. But the vehicle didn't manage to hold itself together, exploding about eight minutes after landing. The big stainless-steel SN10 (short for "Serial No. 10") launched from SpaceX's South Texas site at 6:15 p.m. EST (2315 GMT), rose 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) into the sky and then came back to Earth for a smooth touchdown 6 minutes and 20 seconds after liftoff. It was the third high-altitude test flight for a Starship vehicle but the first to feature a successful landing." [...]

China's Huawei, reeling from U.S. sanctions, plans foray into EVs - sources

"China’s Huawei plans to make electric vehicles under its own brand and could launch some models this year, four sources said, as the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, battered by U.S. sanctions, explores a strategic shift. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is in talks with state-owned Changan Automobile and other automakers to use their car plants to make its electric vehicles (EVs), according to two of the people familiar with the matter. Huawei is also in discussions with Beijing-backed BAIC Group’s BluePark New Energy Technology to manufacture its EVs, said one of the two and a separate person with direct knowledge of the matter. The plan heralds a potentially major shift in direction for Huawei after nearly two-years of U.S. sanctions that have cut its access to key supply chains, forcing it to sell a part of its smartphone business to keep the brand alive. Huawei was placed on a trade blacklist by the Trump administration over national security concerns. Many industry executives see little chance that blocks on the sale of billions of dollars of U.S. technology and chips to the Chinese company, which has denied wrongdoing, will be reversed by his successor." [...]

Toyota Breaks Ground for "Woven City"

"Construction of the prototype city of the future where all ecosystems are connected begins at the Higashi-Fuji site (Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture) Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Woven Planet Holdings, Inc. (Woven Planet), the Toyota Group company responsible for a wide range of mobility development projects, anchored in software, held a groundbreaking ceremony (Jichinsai) for the construction of Woven City at 11:00 a.m. on February 23 at the old vehicle yard adjacent to the former Higashi-Fuji Plant site of Toyota Motor East Japan, Inc. (TMEJ). Along with Governor Heita Kawakatsu of Shizuoka Prefecture, Mayor Kenji Takamura of Susono City, and other guests representing the local community, the ceremony was attended by Toyota President Akio Toyoda, Woven Planet CEO James Kuffner, TMEJ President Kazuhiro Miyauchi, as well as others involved in the project. Together, the leaders expressed their hopes for the safe start to construction. "The Woven City project officially starts today," said President Toyoda. "Taking action as one has decided is never an easy task. I must express my deepest gratitude to all who have provided their whole-hearted support and cooperation to the project through today." [...]

Announcing the Arduino IDE 2.0 (beta)

"The Arduino IDE is the well-known software we all use to program our boards. Its development started in 2005 based on the graphical interface of the Processing project and has never stopped since. During these years, countless hours of development by the Arduino team with the help of a vibrant community made the Arduino IDE the de facto standard for electronics prototyping. Thanks to an extensible framework based on modular board support packages, the IDE supports more than 1,000 official and non-official boards; it’s translated in 66 languages, mentioned by more than 3,000 books, and is still growing: during the last year, it was downloaded more than 39 millions of times. More than ever. First off, a big thank you to the Arduino community that makes development possible with donations and — even more important — by buying original Arduino boards: we use your money to pay the developers that work daily on the Arduino open source software for the benefit of everyone." [...]

Relativity Space unveils a reusable, 3D-printed rocket to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9

"Relativity Space, the 3D-printing rocket builder, is making another big bet: Developing a fully reusable rocket, designed to match the power and capability of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rockets. Called Terran R, the reusable rocket is “really an obvious evolution” from the company’s Terran 1 rocket, Relativity CEO Tim Ellis told CNBC – the latter of which Relativity expects to launch for the first time later in 2021. “It’s the same architecture, the same propellant, the same factory, the same 3D printers, the same avionics and the same team,” Ellis said. “I’ve always been a huge fan of reusability. No matter how you look at it – even with 3D printing, and dropping the cost, and [increasing the] automation of a launch vehicle – making it reusable has got to be part of that future,” Ellis added. Terran R is the first of several new initiatives that Ellis expects Relativity to unveil in the year ahead, with the company having raised more than $680 million since its founding five years ago." [...]

China’s Tianwen-1 zooms in on Mars surface on cusp of new tech era

"China’s Mars orbiter has beamed back high-resolution images, revealing geographic features of the red planet in detail. The photos taken by Tianwen-1 come a week after the United States released a panorama of the Martian surface snapped by the rover Perseverance. They also come as China prepares to unveil a new five-year plan centred on science and hi-tech innovation, with aerospace technology expected to be a priority programme. Chinese mission spokesman Liu Tongjie told state television that two of the orbiter’s images were snapped at an altitude of about 330km (205 miles) and had a resolution down to 70cm (27 inches), revealing fine details of the Martian landscape. “These two pictures clearly show craters, mountain ridges and dunes,” said Liu, from the China National Space Administration. “One image shows a crater with a diameter of about 620 metres and clearly displays the lines at the bottom of the crater.” A colour photo was taken of the northern polar region at an altitude of 5,000km." [...]

Perseverance rover: NASA's Mars car to seek signs of ancient life

"The Perseverance rover will hunt for signs of ancient life and cache samples for future return to Earth. NASA's Perseverance rover isn't just exploring the Red Planet. The life-hunting robot will also help a little bit of Mars make it to Earth a decade or so from now, if all goes according to plan. Perseverance, the centerpiece of NASA's $2.7 billion Mars 2020 mission, touched down inside the Red Planet's Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. Once it's fully up and running, the car-sized robot will search for evidence of past microbial life and collect several dozen samples for future return to Earth, among other ambitious tasks. "I don't think we've had a mission that is going to contribute so much to both science and technology," NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk told Space.com shortly before Perseverance touched down." [...]

SpaceX launches 60 new Starlink satellites, while Starship moves closer to being able to launch up to 400 at a time

"SpaceX has launched another batch of its Starlink satellites — the usual complement of 60 of the low Earth orbit spacecraft, which will join the more than 1,000 already making up the existing constellation. This is the fifth launch of Starlink satellites for SpaceX this year, and the twentieth overall. Earlier this year, SpaceX opened up Starlink access to anyone in a current or planned service area via a pre-order reservation system with a refundable up-front deposit. The company aims to continue launches like this one apace throughout 2021 in order to get the constellation to the point where it can serve customers over a much larger portion of the globe. SpaceX COO and President Gwynne Shotwell has previously said that the company expects it should have coverage over much of the globe at a constellation size of around 1,200 satellites, but the company has plans to launch more than 30,000 to fully build out its network capacity and speed. While SpaceX is making good progress on Starlink with its Falcon 9 launcher, it’s also looking ahead to Starship as a key driver of the constellation’s growth." [...]

Intel Launches SSD for Everyday Computing, Mainstream Gaming

"Building on Intel’s Memory and Storage 2020 event in December, Intel today is launching the Intel® Solid State Drive (SSD) 670p, a 144-layer quad-level cell (QLC)-based client SSD. “The Intel SSD 670p is based on our 144-Layer QLC 3D NAND with 128 gigabytes per die and provides up to two times better read performance, 38% better random read performance and up to 50% better latency over our previous generation SSDs. By offering peak performance, capacities up to 2 terabytes, and improved reliability, the Intel SSD 670p is the ideal storage solution for thin-and-light laptops.” –Rob Crooke, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the NAND Products and Solutions Group What It Does: Developed using the latest QLC technology, the Intel SSD 670p is equipped with capacity of up to 2 terabytes in a single drive, offering tremendous value for everyday computing needs, as well as mainstream gaming. Compared with the previous generation Intel® QLC 3D NAND SSD, the 670p offers improved performance, including 2X sequential read and a 20% endurance update. Tuned for low queue depth and mixed workloads to meet the demands of today’s most common computing needs, Intel’s newest client drive offers the right balance of performance, cost and power Available today, the Intel SSD 670p’s thin M.2 80mm form factor is an ideal fit for thin-and-light notebooks and desktop PCs. Why it Matters: Intel has been developing its QLC technology over the past decade to bring the performance and capacity needed to meet today’s PC storage needs, including top-of-the-line storage and the ability to efficiently manage high volumes of data." [...]

Samsung Breaks 5G Speed Record, Reaching 5.23Gbps

"Trial successfully combines 4G LTE and 5G mmWave on a commercial 5G device Samsung Electronics today announced it achieved a breakthrough in 5G data speeds using E-UTRAN New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) technology. EN-DC technology enables mobile operators to boost 5G speeds and coverage by leveraging a 4G network. In a demonstration carried out in Samsung’s lab in Korea, the company successfully combined 40MHz of 4G frequency and 800MHz of 5G frequency in mmWave, achieving 5.23Gbps in data speeds to a single device. For the demonstration, Samsung used its commercial end-to-end solutions comprised of devices and network products. This includes the Samsung Galaxy S20+ smartphone, 4G radios, 5G radios (Compact Macro Link), and 4G/5G common Core (Link). The demo used EN-DC technology, which enables operators to combine 4G and 5G to maximize the benefits of both networks, and deliver enhanced speeds, coverage and reliability." [...]

Microchip Releases the First IEEE 802.3bt Power over Ethernet to USB Type-C Power and Data Adapter

"There are many consumer, enterprise and industrial devices today that have a USB Type-C® port as the only input power option. While USB-C® technology can offer high power and high data rate, it limits the range of the installation to a maximum of three meters from an AC outlet. As Power over Ethernet (PoE) becomes more prevalent and a more convenient solution to provide power over a standard Ethernet cable, it is the most practical solution to provide both power and data up to 100 meters. While most adapters on the market provide only power, they provide only limited power up to 25W. Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) today announced a PoE to USB-C adapter with the highest power capability that converts both power and data while offering up to 60W USB output power via an Ethernet cable supported by PoE infrastructure. The adapter (part number PD-USB-DP60) can accept up to 90W of PoE and convert it to 60W output over USB-C that will power most cameras, laptops, tablets and other devices using USB-C for input power." [...]

Toshiba Launches Thin and Compact LDO Regulators that Help to Reduce Device Size and Stabilize Power Line Output

"Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation ("Toshiba") has launched the “TCR5RG series” of 45 LDO regulators, all housed in a thin, compact WCSP4F package. The industry-leading[1] high ripple rejection ratio[2] of the new LDO regulators bring enhanced power stabilization to DC power lines for mobile devices, such as wearables. Volume shipments start today. The TCR5RG series features an industry-leading[1] high ripple rejection ratio[2] of 100dB (typ. ), achieved by combining a wide-gap circuit, a low-pass filter that allows only extremely low frequencies to pass, and a low-noise, high-speed operational amplifier. They also feature low output voltage noise and high output voltage accuracy." [...]

Class-D Amplifier for High-Definition Automotive Audio from STMicroelectronics Adds Diagnostics for Safety Alerting

"The HFDA801A from STMicroelectronics is a high-resolution audio amplifier that is specifically designed for compact, cost-effective automotive applications. The HFDA801A is a 2MHz switching pulse-width modulation (PWM) Class-D amplifier with a quad-bridge configuration. An integrated high-performance digital-to-analog converter (DAC) ensures hi-fi quality sound under any load condition, with noiseless turn-on/turn-off and without creating any output artifacts. With a signal-to-noise ratio of 121dB, 120dB dynamic range, and only 10μV output noise, the HFDA801A delivers an extraordinary level of audio performance from an inexpensive small form-factor component. The feedback configuration with integrated L-C low-pass filter provides an ultra-wide flat frequency response up to 80kHz and minimizes dependence on external components. The wide bandwidth allows use in high-definition (HD) audio applications, letting designers rely on excellent linearity and low distortion that are independent of the inductor and capacitor quality." [...]

ISOCELL 2.0: Let there be light

"Our smartphones are incredible devices – compact, and capable of performing a wide variety of functions to a very high standard. Foremost among these incredible capabilities is an increasingly high standard of smartphone photography, which allows us to preserve our fondest memories conveniently and in remarkable quality. Of the foundational components that enable this high standard of smartphone photography, few are more important than the image sensor. The image sensor on a smartphone camera is responsible for taking the light that enters through the camera’s lens and producing an image from it, with the size of the sensor and the number of light capturing ‘pixels’ the sensor contains determining the quality of the digital image that is produced. However, as an increasing number of pixels are incorporated into smartphone image sensors that must, by their nature, be small, a phenomenon called color crosstalk that involves light bleed between neighboring pixels can occur. Samsung has set out to address this issue and others with its innovative ISOCELL technology." [...]

New AI tool can revolutionise microscopy

"An AI tool developed at the University of Gothenburg offers new opportunities for analysing images taken with microscopes. A study shows that the tool, which has already received international recognition, can fundamentally change microscopy and pave the way for new discoveries and areas of use within both research and industry. The focus of the study is deep learning, a type of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning that we all interact with daily, often without thinking about it. For example when a new song on Spotify pops up that is similar to songs we have previously listened to or when our mobile phone camera automatically finds the best settings and corrects colours in a photo. “Deep learning has taken the world by storm and has had a huge impact on many industries, sectors and scientific fields. We have now developed a tool that makes it possible to utilise the incredible potential of deep learning, with focus on images taken with microscopes,” says Benjamin Midtvedt, a doctoral student in physics and the main author of the study." [...]

Nuclear engineering researchers develop new resilient oxide dispersion strengthened alloy

"Texas A&M University researchers have recently shown superior performance of a new oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy they developed for use in both fission and fusion reactors. Dr. Lin Shao, professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, worked alongside research scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Hokkaido University to create the next generation of high-performance ODS alloys, and so far they are some of the strongest and best-developed metals in the field. ODS alloys consist of a combination of metals interspersed with small, nanometer-sized oxide particles and are known for their high creep resistance. This means that as temperatures rise, the materials keep their shape instead of deforming. Many ODS alloys can withstand temperatures up to 1,000 C and are typically used in power generation and engines within aerospace engineering, as well as cutlery. The nuclear community has a high need for reliable and durable materials to make up the core components of nuclear reactors." [...]

Organic materials essential for life on Earth are found for the first time on the surface of an asteroid

"New research from Royal Holloway, has found water and organic matter on the surface of an asteroid sample returned from the inner Solar System. This is the first time that organic materials, which could have provided chemical precursors for the origin of life on Earth, have been found on an asteroid. The single grain sample was returned to Earth from asteroid ‘Itokawa’ by JAXA’s first Hayabusa mission in 2010. The sample shows that water and organic matter that originate from the asteroid itself have evolved chemically through time. The research paper suggests that Itokawa has been constantly evolving over billions of years by incorporating water and organic materials from foreign extra-terrestrial material, just like the Earth. In the past, the asteroid will have gone through extreme heating, dehydration and shattering due to catastrophic impact." [...]

A quantum internet is closer to reality, thanks to this switch

"When quantum computers become more powerful and widespread, they will need a robust quantum internet to communicate. Purdue University engineers have addressed an issue barring the development of quantum networks that are big enough to reliably support more than a handful of users. The method, demonstrated in a paper published in Optica, could help lay the groundwork for when a large number of quantum computers, quantum sensors and other quantum technology are ready to go online and communicate with each other. The team deployed a programmable switch to adjust how much data goes to each user by selecting and redirecting wavelengths of light carrying the different data channels, making it possible to increase the number of users without adding to photon loss as the network gets bigger. If photons are lost, quantum information is lost – a problem that tends to happen the farther photons have to travel through fiber optic networks. “We show a way to do wavelength routing with just one piece of equipment – a wavelength-selective switch – to, in principle, build a network of 12 to 20 users, maybe even more,” said Andrew Weiner, Purdue’s Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering." [...]

Graphene filter makes carbon capture more efficient and cheaper

"Chemical engineers at EPFL have developed a graphene filter for carbon capture that surpasses the efficiency of commercial capture technologies, and can reduce the cost carbon capture down to $30 per ton of carbon dioxide. One of the main culprits of global warming is the vast amount of carbon dioxide pumped out into the atmosphere mostly from burning fossil fuels and the production of steel and cement. In response, scientists have been trying out a process that can sequester waste carbon dioxide, transporting it into a storage site, and then depositing it at a place where it cannot enter the atmosphere. The problem is that capturing carbon from power plants and industrial emissions isn’t very cost-effective. The main reason is that waste carbon dioxide isn’t emitted pure, but is mixed with nitrogen and other gases, and extracting it from industrial emissions requires extra energy consumption – meaning a pricier bill. Scientists have been trying to develop an energy-efficient carbon dioxide-filter." [...]

NTU Singapore scientists develop laser system that generates random numbers at ultrafast speeds

"An international team of scientists has developed a system that can generate random numbers over a hundred times faster than current technologies, paving the way towards faster, cheaper, and more secure data encryption in today's digitally connected world. The random number generator system was jointly developed by researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), Yale University, and Trinity College Dublin, and made in NTU. Random numbers are used for a variety of purposes, such as generating data encryption keys and one-time passwords (OTPs) in everyday processes such online banking and e-commerce to shore up their security. The system uses a laser with a special hourglass-shaped cavity to generate random patterns, which are formed by light rays reflecting and interacting with each other within the cavity. By reading the patterns, the system generates many series of random numbers at the same time (see Image 1). The researchers found that like snowflakes, no two number sequences generated using the system were the same, due to the unpredictable nature of how the light rays reflect and interact with each other in the cavity." [...]

Silver and gold nanowires open the way to better electrochromic devices

"The team of Professor Dongling Ma from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) developed a new approach for foldable and solid devices. Solid and flexible electrochromic (EC) devices, such as smart windows, wearable electronics, foldable displays, and smartphones, are of great interest in research. This importance is due to their unique property: the colour or opacity of the material changes when a voltage is applied. Traditionally, electrochromic devices use indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. However, the inflexibility of metal oxide and the leakage issue of liquid electrolyte affect the performance and lifetime of EC devices. ITO is also brittle, which is incompatible with flexible substrates." [...]

Researchers introduce a new generation of tiny, agile drones

"The technology could boost aerial robots’ repertoire, allowing them to operate in cramped spaces and withstand collisions. If you’ve ever swatted a mosquito away from your face, only to have it return again (and again and again), you know that insects can be remarkably acrobatic and resilient in flight. Those traits help them navigate the aerial world, with all of its wind gusts, obstacles, and general uncertainty. Such traits are also hard to build into flying robots, but MIT Assistant Professor Kevin Yufeng Chen has built a system that approaches insects’ agility. Chen, a member of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Laboratory of Electronics, has developed insect-sized drones with unprecedented dexterity and resilience. The aerial robots are powered by a new class of soft actuator, which allows them to withstand the physical travails of real-world flight." [...]

Chemists at St Petersburg University develop a new technology to prevent lithium-ion batteries from catching fire

"Scientists at St Petersburg University have developed a new technology to prevent lithium-ion batteries from catching fire. What scientists propose is to use a ‘chemical fuse’ to cover the main conductor cable of the battery. It is a special protective covering made from conducting polymer. In case of abnormal situation, it breaks circuits and prevents the battery from catching fire. The research is supported by the grant from the Russian Science Foundation. The research findings are published in Journal of Power Sources." [...]

Photon-photon polaritons: the intriguing particles that emerge when two photons couple

"Researchers exploring the interactions between light particles, photons and matter find that optical microresonators host quasiparticles made by two photons. Scientists at the University of Bath have found a way to bind together two photons of different colours, paving the way for important advancements in quantum-electrodynamics – the field of science that describes how light and matter interact. In time, the team’s findings are likely to impact developments in optical and quantum communication, and precision measurements of frequency, time and distances. Apple and wave: they both have a mass An apple falling from a tree has velocity and mass, which together give it momentum. ‘Apple energy’ derived from motion depends on the fruit’s momentum and mass. Most people find the concept of momentum and energy (and therefore mass) an easy one to grasp when it’s associated with solid objects." [...]

Extinct atom reveals the long-kept secrets of the solar system

"Using the extinct niobium-​92 atom, ETH researchers have been able to date events in the early solar system with greater precision than before. The study concludes that supernova explosions must have taken place in the birth environment of our sun. If an atom of a chemical element has a surplus of protons or neutrons, it becomes unstable. It will shed these additional particles as gamma radiation until it becomes stable again. One such unstable isotope is niobium-​92 (92Nb), which experts also refer to as a radionuclide. Its half-​life of 37 million years is relatively brief, so it went extinct shortly after the formation of the solar system." [...]

LHCb observes four new tetraquarks

"The LHCb collaboration has added four new exotic particles to the growing list of hadrons discovered so far at the LHC. In a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server yesterday the collaboration reports the observation of two tetraquarks with a new quark content (cc̄us̄): a narrow one, Zcs(4000)+, and a broader one Zcs(4220)+. Two other new tetraquarks, X(4685) and X(4630), with a quark content cc̄ss̄, were also observed. The results, which emerged thanks to adding the statistical power from LHC Run 2 to previous datasets, follow four tetraquarks discovered by the collaboration in 2016 and provide grist for the mill of theorists seeking to explain the nature of tetraquark binding mechanisms. The new exotic states were observed in an almost pure sample of 24 thousand B+→J/ψφK+ decays, which, as a three-body decay, may be visualised using a Dalitz plot (see “Mountain ridges” figure). Horizontal and vertical bands indicate the temporary production of tetraquark resonances which subsequently decay to a J/ψ meson and a K+ meson or a J/ψ meson and a φ meson, respectively." [...]

“Egg carton” quantum dot array could lead to ultralow power devices

"By putting a twist on new “2D” semiconductors, researchers have demonstrated their potential for using single photons to transmit information.| Medium Read A new path toward sending and receiving information with single photons of light has been discovered by an international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan. Their experiment demonstrated the possibility of using an effect known as nonlinearity to modify and detect extremely weak light signals, taking advantage of distinct changes to a quantum system to advance next generation computing. Today, as silicon-electronics-based information technology becomes increasingly throttled by heating and energy consumption, nonlinear optics is under intense investigation as a potential solution. The quantum egg carton captures and releases photons, supporting “excited” quantum states while it possesses the extra energy. As the energy in the system rises, it takes a bigger jump in energy to get to that next excited state—that’s the nonlinearity. “Researchers have wondered whether detectable nonlinear effects can be sustained at extremely low power levels—down to individual photons." [...]

Hot electrons send CO2 back to the future

"Catalyst nanoparticles trap an unprecedented range of wavelengths of light to convert carbon dioxide into methane. Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major driver of global warming, but this gas could also serve as a valuable resource. Researchers at KAUST have developed an efficient catalyst that uses light energy to convert CO2 and hydrogen into methane (CH4). This counteracts the release of CO2 when methane is burned as a fuel. Many researchers worldwide are exploring ways to convert CO2 into useful carbon-based chemicals, but their efforts have been limited by low efficiencies that restrict the potential for large-scale application. “Our approach is based on the synergistic combination of light and heat, known as the photothermal effect,” says postdoc Diego Mateo." [...]

Chemists boost boron’s utility

"A strategy for preventing boron-containing compounds from breaking down could help medicinal chemists design new drugs. Boron, a metalloid element that sits next to carbon in the periodic table, has many traits that make it potentially useful as a drug component. Nonetheless, only five FDA-approved drugs contain boron, largely because molecules that contain boron are unstable in the presence of molecular oxygen. MIT chemists have now designed a boron-containing chemical group that is 10,000 times more stable than its predecessors. This could make it possible to incorporate boron into drugs and potentially improve the drugs’ ability to bind their targets, the researchers say. “It’s an entity that medicinal chemists can add to compounds they’re interested in, to provide desirable attributes that no other molecule will have,” says Ron Raines, the Firmenich Professor of Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the new study." [...]

Real-Time Monitoring Tool Speeds Up Advanced Nuclear Reactor Development

"Across the nation, environmentally minded scientists and engineers are leading a new generation of nuclear reactor designs. They see nuclear power as a clean, carbon-free energy source along with hydropower, wind, and solar. Several of the innovative, next-generation reactor designs are safer, smaller, modular, and more mobile. They may power space flights, run on recycled nuclear fuel, and even act as portable generators for disaster response. One design, molten salt reactors (MSRs), are gaining momentum in the nuclear community. But, before any of these new reactor designs become reality, they need to undergo many rounds of safety and operational testing." [...]

Snakeskin inspires new, friction-reducing material

"A research team led by CU Boulder has designed a new kind of synthetic “skin” as slippery as the scales of a snake. The research, published recently in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, addresses an underappreciated problem in engineering: Friction. Yifu Ding, senior author of the new paper, explained that every day, machines from robots to cars lose tremendous amounts of energy simply because their parts rub together. To try to reduce that loss, he and his colleagues took cues from nature—specifically, its most slithery members. “A snake’s body is soft enough that it can twist itself into all kinds of shapes,” said Ding, a professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. “It can also move really fast if it needs to, in part because its skin has such low friction.” In their latest study, the researchers developed a tool called solid-liquid interfacial polymerization (SLIP) that allows them to lay a thin layer of skin onto existing surfaces like rubber or stretchy materials called elastomers." [...]

Heat-free optical switch would enable optical quantum computing chips

"In a potential boost for quantum computing and communication, a European research collaboration reported a new method of controlling and manipulating single photons without generating heat. The solution makes it possible to integrate optical switches and single-photon detectors in a single chip. Publishing in Nature Communications, the team reported to have developed an optical switch that is reconfigured with microscopic mechanical movement rather than heat, making the switch compatible with heat-sensitive single-photon detectors. Optical switches in use today work by locally heating light guides inside a semiconductor chip. "This approach does not work for quantum optics," says co-author Samuel Gyger, a PhD student at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. "Because we want to detect every single photon, we use quantum detectors that work by measuring the heat a single photon generates when absorbed by a superconducting material," Gyger says." [...]

Robot “Hears” through the Ear of a Locust

"TAU researchers open the door to sensory integrations between robots and insects Tel Aviv University researchers have opened the door to sensory integrations between robots and insects: for the first time, the ear of a dead locust was connected to a robot that receives the ear’s electrical signals and responds accordingly. The result is extraordinary: When the researchers clap once, the locust's ear hears the sound and the robot moves forward; when the researchers clap twice, the robot moves backwards. In general, biological systems have a huge advantage over technological systems - both in terms of sensitivity and in terms of energy consumption. This initiative of Tel Aviv University researchers may in the future make much more cumbersome and expensive developments in the field of robotics redundant. An Interdisciplinary Effort The interdisciplinary study was led by Idan Fishel, a joint master student under the joint supervision of Dr. Ben M. Maoz of The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, Prof. Yossi Yovel and Prof. Amir Ayali, experts from the School of Zoology and the Sagol School of Neuroscience together with Dr. Anton Sheinin, Yoni Amit, and Neta Shavil. The results of the study were published in the prestigious journal Sensors." [...]

Light-emitting tattoo engineered for the first time

"Scientists at UCL and the IIT –Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) have created a temporary tattoo with light-emitting technology used in TV and smartphone screens, paving the way for a new type of “smart tattoo” with a range of potential uses. The technology, which uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), is applied in the same way as water transfer tattoos. That is, the OLEDs are fabricated on to temporary tattoo paper and transferred to a new surface by being pressed on to it and dabbed with water. The researchers, who described the process in a new paper in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials, say it could be combined with other tattoo electronics to, for instance emit light when an athlete is dehydrated, or when we need to get out of the sun to avoid sunburn. OLEDs could be tattooed on packaging or fruit to signal when a product has passed its expiry date or will soon become inedible, or used for fashion in the form of glowing tattoos. Professor Franco Cacialli (UCL Physics & Astronomy and London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL), senior author of the paper, said: “The tattooable OLEDs that we have demonstrated for the first time can be made at scale and very cheaply." [...]

Bottling the world’s coldest plasma

"Laser-cooled plasma-in-a-bottle could answer questions about the sun, fusion power Rice University physicists have discovered a way to trap the world’s coldest plasma in a magnetic bottle, a technological achievement that could advance research into clean energy, space weather and astrophysics. “To understand how the solar wind interacts with the Earth, or to generate clean energy from nuclear fusion, one has to understand how plasma — a soup of electrons and ions — behaves in a magnetic field,” said Rice Dean of Natural Sciences Tom Killian, the corresponding author of a published study about the work in Physical Review Letters. Using laser-cooled strontium, Killian and graduate students Grant Gorman and MacKenzie Warrens made a plasma about 1 degree above absolute zero, or approximately -272 degrees Celsius, and trapped it briefly with forces from surrounding magnets. It is the first time an ultracold plasma has been magnetically confined, and Killian, who’s studied ultracold plasmas for more than two decades, said it opens the door for studying plasmas in many settings. “This provides a clean and controllable testbed for studying neutral plasmas in far more complex locations, like the sun’s atmosphere or white dwarf stars,” said Killian, a professor of physics and astronomy. “It’s really helpful to have the plasma so cold and to have these very clean laboratory systems." [...]

Engineering the boundary between 2D and 3D materials

"Cutting-edge microscope helps reveal ways to control the electronic properties of atomically thin materials. In recent years, engineers have found ways to modify the properties of some “two- dimensional” materials, which are just one or a few atoms thick, by stacking two layers together and rotating one slightly in relation to the other. This creates what are known as moiré patterns, where tiny shifts in the alignment of atoms between the two sheets create larger-scale patterns. It also changes the way electrons move through the material, in potentially useful ways. But for practical applications, such two-dimensional materials must at some point connect with the ordinary world of 3D materials. An international team led by MIT researchers has now come up with a way of imaging what goes on at these interfaces, down to the level of individual atoms, and of correlating the moiré patterns at the 2D-3D boundary with the resulting changes in the material’s properties." [...]

Random numbers: Faster, and from a laser

"Random numbers are increasingly important to our digitally connected world, with applications that include e-commerce, cryptography, and cloud computing. Producing a large amount of truly random numbers quickly, though, is a challenge. To speed things up, a team of researchers has developed a compact laser that can produce these random numbers 100 times quicker than the fastest current systems. The results are published February 26 in the journal Science. To foil would-be hackers, computer systems need to generate sequences of random numbers. Some systems use what’s known as pseudo-random numbers, which are actually complex patterns that begin with a particular number, or “seed.” They work fine for some applications, but if attackers know the seed or any part of the algorithm, they can get past the encryption." [...]

Pushing the Frontier of Extreme Light-Matter Interaction Research

"University of Maryland Physics Professor Howard Milchberg and the students and postdoctoral researchers in his lab explore the dramatic results of experiments that push light to extremes in the presence of matter. In Milchberg’s opinion, researching the intense interactions between light and matter—which are only possible thanks to the revolutionary technology of lasers—brings together the most interesting aspects of physics. “Once you considered the effect that an intense laser beam has on matter, the number of basic physics and application areas exploded,” said Milchberg, who also holds appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics. “And understanding the interaction between intense light and matter requires bringing in tools from all areas of physics. It flexes all your physics muscles, experimental and theoretical, and it overlaps with all of the major areas. You have to deal with atomic physics, plasma physics, condensed matter physics, high-pressure physics and quantum physics." [...]

ITMO Researchers Develop Method for Production of Hollow Nanoparticles From Liquid Metal

"Hollow nanocapsules are widely used for various purposes: from targeted drug delivery to catalytic reactions in petrochemistry. An article on the method was published in Chemistry of Materials. Hollow metal nanoparticles are commonplace in many fields of research. Chemists use them as catalysts in various reactions, including dehydrogenation (one of the most important processes in petrochemistry). They are also used for targeted drug delivery and controlled release. Moreover, hollow nanoparticles exhibit some unique optical properties." [...]

Researchers Detects Chiral Structures using Vortex Light

"Recently, the Laboratory of Micro and Nano Engineering, School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has made important progress in the field of structural chirality detection research using vortex light and found that photon orbital angular momentum can efficiently detect the optical chiral signal of structures. The achievement was published in an international well-known journal PNAS. Chiral structures are widely found in nature, such as DNA double helix structures, plant tendrils and shells. In addition to observing the geometry of objects, their chirality can also be distinguished by the interaction of light with matter. For example, the detection of circular dichroism spectra can be achieved by studying the different optical response of structures to left and right spin circularly polarized light through the interaction of photon spin angular momentum with matter. Similarly, can photon orbital angular momentum, which also has chiral characteristics, be used to detect chiral structures and how can the significant optical response signal be obtained?" [...]

newelectronics 23 Fevereiro 2021

"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. " [...]

Introduction to Scientific Programming with Python

"This book was originally written as a set of lecture notes to the book A Primer on Scientific Programming with Python by Hans Petter Langtangen1, and can be used either as a supplement to that book or on its own, as a compact introduction to scientific programming. Langtangen's book and these lecture notes, have formed the core of an introductory course on scientific programming at the University of Oslo (INF1100/IN1900, 10 ETCS credits). The course has been running since 2007 and is primarily taken by first-year students of mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry, and geosciences. The writing of these lecture notes, and their subsequent evolution into a book, were primarily motivated by two factors. The first was that many students found the nearly 1000 pages of Langtangen's book a bit overwhelming as a first introduction to programming. This effect could be mostly psychological, since the book is well structured and suited for selective study of chapters and sections, but the student feedback from students still indicated the need for a more compact and (literally) lightweight introduction." [...]

CO2 sensor and real-time plotter

"A practical Arduino-based air sensor unit, which can work alone or in combination with a PC. Introduction This is a simple and fairly inexpensively air quality sensor. It measures CO2 and total VOC (volatile organic content) levels in the air.An LCD display and two status LEDs indicate the CO2 level. If desired, the unit can be connected to a computer to display the evolution of CO2 and TVOC in real-time. Technical principle The air quality is measured with the popular CCS 811 sensor, connected to the Arduino via I2C. The communication with the LCD display is also done via I2C (other displays and/or communication modes are certainly possible)." [...]

OV7670 Camera Shield VerII FPGA Servo Controller

"An FPGA implemented smooth servo controller for Arduino Nano 33 OV7670 Camera Shield. These two servos is controlled by the servo controller using FPGA (Field programmable gate array). The video shows Panning operation and speed movement with deceleration stop. The part that is held down by hand is the usual servo control (FPGA servo controller function is OFF). This article introduces the FPGA servo controller. [Background] In my last report, I created an FPGA board for beginners." [...]

Project MODI

"A simple obstacle avoidance robot using an IR distance sensor with an IMU. Project MODI was made to primarily explore the usefulness of the MODI Shield IR distance sensor with an Arduino when paired with a robot chassis. One cool feature of the MODI Shield IR distance sensor is that is has an IMU, which can be used to help control some basic functions of the robot such as starting and stoping.. The project should be very straight forward as the robot chassis is already assembled. We must first install the Arduino Uno to the robot chassis using three M3 screws. " [...]

Outdoor Sensor Using Low-Code

"Use the Arduino-HomeDing low-code library for ESP8266 to build and configure a sensor device with DHT22 or other environment sensors. Building an sensor for environment data on the outside can be done easily by using the HomeDing Arduino library, Here many different sensors and other functional elements can be used without hardcore coding by defining elements and actions on the configuration. This walkthrough about using a simple DHT22 sensor to capture temperature and humidity and you can find other sensor configurations in the linked documentation. A ESP8266 based board is used that allows directly accessing the device by WiFi as there is a built-in Web Server. Some weather parameters are interesting to be measured by using an outside sensor like - Temperature - Humidity - Sun light - Air pressure - Rain There are many sensor elements supported by the library and it is easy to used a different sensor or add other sensors as this is just done by configuration. This project is a good starter project as well to explore the possibilities for building sensors gadgets yourself." [...]

Rfid Nfc Arduino Access Terminal

"RFID NFC 13,65Mhz ARDUINO ACCESS TERMINAL - TIMBRATURE I needed an access control system for my office, able to log an NFC tag into a mysql database and/or in a text file. This is a major revision of a previsious version I published some time ago. I had a spare Aduino Mega and a Ethernet shield at home, so, with a few more components I have been able to build an access control system for my office. The board uses two rfid modules, 1 used as log IN, 1 used as log OUT. Bonus! - All the main parameters are configurable via json config file (IP, subn, gat, DNS, Ntp server, operation etc.)" [...]

A Simple 3D Printed Frame for an RGB LED Panel

"Unlike our instructable on aluminum frames for RGB LED panels( https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Extruded-Alu...), which is scalable to almost any size display, this design is targeted at a display using one specific type of panel (191mm x 96mm). The link to the one we used is below. https://www.adafruit.com/product/2279 The advantages to this framing solution are: - It requires NO special hardware. It requires NO cutting metal. It requires NO measuring. It requires NO special bolts, nuts or wrenches." [...]

Cosio Air Quality Sensor (With Wifi & Mqtt)

"ABOUT COSIO This guide will teach you how to build your own CO sensor for air quality monitoring. The sensor indicates bad air quality and shows when ventialtion is recommended, thus lowering the risk of infections carried by aerosols (like COVID-19). Elevated CO concentrations (> 1500 ppm) also have a negative impact on concentration and can cause sleepiness and other unwanted effects. This sensor is monitoring the current CO concentration in ppm (particles per million) and indicates the level with RGB LEDs and an 0,96" OLED display in the front. The inbuild web interface allows remote CO monitoring over the network and provides a configuration interface for the sensor. The sensor has a measuring range of 0 - 5000 ppm and a tolerance of 50 ppm, which is sufficient enough for indicating bad air quality." [...]

3D Printed Arduino Based Analog Digital Clock

"This is a Digital Clock design that was built from 24 custom 3D printed analog clocks. It shows the digital time. Between time displays, it shows moving artwork. It is composed of 3D printed parts, 25 Arduino nanos and 48 stepper motors. Each clock face uses a custom Eagle designed PCB which can be ordered easily. The total price I paid to build this was about $500." [...]

Arduino Based Self Balancing Bot

"Hey everyone what's up! So here's my 3D Printed Self-balancing robot which is powered by an Arduino nano board and has an MPU6050 to get the accelerometer and gyro readings to balance itself using the PID function. This robot setup itself is almost 3D Printed except for its big nylon wheels, I bought the wheels from the local hardware store but you can purchase them from the internet. In this Instructables, I'm gonna show you guys how you can make your own Self-balancing bot in few easy steps with an Arduino board and MPU650. Supplies: 3D Printed Parts- Base x 1 Battery Holder x 1 Bottom x 1 Bush x 2 Upper-Level Part (Optional) Other stuff- Trolly Nylon wheels 7inch Dia x 2 Nuts and Bolts as per requirement DC Gear Motor x 2 12V Battery pack Arduino Nano Custom PCB MPU6050 L298N Motor Driver" [...]

Underground Cable Fault Detection

"How to make Underground Cable Fault Detection using Arduino | Cable Fault Detection" [...]

Intruder detection with ArduCam on Pico board

"Use the new RPi Pico along with TFLu so that it turns a RPi4 when a person is detected, then the RPi4 confirms if the person is a stranger. In this project, we are going to learn how to set up a person detection model using TFLu along with the ArduCAM drivers so that we can actuate other peripherals if a person is seen. All image processing takes place inside the Pico! We'll be using the Raspberry Pi 4 to program this demo as later on this will allow us to interface between the two devices and offload the more complex processing to the RPi4 (check the bottom of the tutorial for more info). " [...]

RGB Lamp WiFi

"An RGB Lamp that you can control from your smartphone. It is also battery powered and can be recharged using USB type C. Hello friends! My name is Nikolas and I am 15 years old. Today in this tutorial I'll show you how to make a Minimalistic RGB Lamp that you can control through WiFi from your smartphone or computer. The Lamp will also be battery powered and will feature USB Type-C charging! I hope you'll have as much fun making this as I did!" [...]

An Introduction to RP2040 PIO with CircuitPython

"Inspired by COVID-19 prevention, we have developed a system which measures the temperature of persons before they enter a building. A feature that sets the Raspberry Pi Foundation RP2040 microcontroller apart from other microcontrollers is "PIO". The RP2040 datasheet says that the "programmable input/output block (PIO) is a versatile hardware interface. It can support a variety of IO standards… PIO is programmable in the same sense as a processor." In this guide, you'll learn how to write and use PIO programs from CircuitPython. The official datasheet (chapter 3), the book "Get Started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico" and pico-examples (pio folder) are helpful resources too, but CircuitPython sometimes deviates from the way that PIO is used in other environments like C or MicroPython." [...]

OLED Oscilloscope

_"Low frequency oscilloscope using OLED display OLED low frequency oscilloscope, bandwidth is DC to 1000Hz. Max sampling rate is 16000 samples per second. An oscilloscope with these specifications has limited use, but it is a good exercise in using OLED display. <100Hz switch is on for frequency below 100Hz Arduino Uno or Nano can be used. Oled is 0.96" I2C SSD1306 driver. The screen is constructed from 64 dots."_ [[...]](https://www.hackster.io/e-d-u-a-r-d-o/oled-oscilloscope-b5b45e)

Handwriting Recognition with Wio Terminal & Edge Impulse

"Using just a single ToF sensor, use machine learning to train and implement a handwriting gesture recognition device on the Wio Terminal. In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you how you can build a machine learning based handwriting recognition device with the Wio Terminal and Edge Impulse. Follow this detailed guide to learn how a single time of flight sensor can allow you to recognise handwriting gestures and translate them to text! In this comprehensive tutorial, we will cover: - Key Concepts: Time-of-Flight Sensors, Machine Learning & TinyML - Setting up the development environment - How to Perform Data Collection with Edge Impulse - Designing, Training, Evaluating & Deploying the Machine Learning model with Edge Impulse - Implementing Live Inferences on the Wio Terminal with Arduino - Potential Improvements to this Project Project Overview: Handwriting Recognition Handwriting recognition has consistently been a popular field of development since digitalisation began to occur on a global scale. One common use case that you might be familiar with is the conversion of handwritten text into computer readable formats through optical character recognition, or OCR. In addition to camera based systems, there are many other ways to achieve handwriting recognition, such as with the touchscreens on our mobile phones and tablets, or movement based tracking with inertial measurement units (IMUs)." [...]

PicoPythonHub75

"Hub75 LED panels are an affordable way of adding lots of colourful lights to a build. This project shows you how to control a 32x32 RGB LED panel using MicroPython. Pico’s PIO lets you output data fast enough for smooth animations. PIO handles both the addressing and the outputting of data. At the moment, this works on 32x32 LED screens. In principle, it should work on other sizes, but you'll need to sort out the addressing." [...]

Build Your Own Plant Monitor Using Meadow

"Make this plant monitor using a capacitive soil moisture sensor, temperature sensor and display its health on a screen in .NET with Meadow. In this project we're making a plant monitor to keep a plant nice and healthy using a capacitive soil moisture sensor, an analog temperature sensor and a ST7789 display to show the status of the plant. We can drive all these peripherals using Meadow.Foundation, and we'll see how easy is to use all their APIs and write the logic in C#. Meadow.Foundationa platform for quickly and easily building connected things using.NET on Meadow. Created by Wilderness Labs, it's completely open source and maintained by the Wilderness Labs community. If you're new working with Meadow, I suggest you go to the Getting Started w/ Meadow by Controlling the Onboard RGB LEDproject to properly set up your development environment." [...]

Interactive Ping Pong Pixel Board

"This is a Simple interactive display using WS2812B RGB 5050 LED (also known as Neopixels) and ping pong balls. The Ping Pong Balls are used as a diffuser to make the display bigger and a little retro. Please read the whole ible before starting. It will help make the whole project run smoother I hope. For laser cutting - Laser cut files are in PDF. Black lines are cuts." [...]

F1 - Rider

"F1(Formula One) Rider is a low-budget car. Aspiring people with inspiring speeds. The Rush of excitement is pressing accelerate. A fast Requires a sharp mind. Some cars are meant to fuel our passion. Better Ride is an outcome of a better ride." [...]

Customizable Arduino Nano LED Candle (2 - 6 LEDs)

"A simple Arduino Nano LED candle for 2 to 6 LEDs. You will need Tools A computer with Arduino IDE installed and a mini USB cable. Soldering iron, solder and flux. Hot glue gun and glue. Wire cutters/strippers. Materials 9v battery." [...]

LED Fader - With or Without Arduino

"Have an awesome project in mind using some LEDs. In that project I will be using some LED Fading Effect and few LED Chaser Circuits. But before jumping onto that, I thought I should create a short tutorial and show you guys how to fade a LED with or without an Arduino automatically or manually using a potentiometer. Components Required For the Non-Arduino bit we need: 1 x LM358 IC 1 x BC547 Transistor 1 x 0.47µF Capacitor 2 x 4.7KΩ Resistors 1 x 22KΩ Resistor 1 x 10KΩ Resistor 1 x 4.7MΩ Resistor 1 x 220Ω Resistor 1 x LED and a 9V Battery To get the fading effect we need to generate a series of triangular waves. Because of the triangular waves, the LED starts glowing slowly and then slowly dims off and the cycle continues. This setup is done using the LM358 IC." [...]

Nano Piano

"A simple, small piano that is not only small as the name implies, but it runs off of the Arduino Nano Every. Nano Piano is a four key piano that runs off of an Arduino Nano Every. This project is beginner friendly, and it is great if you are looking to get into Arduino or electronics as a whole. I will be going over everything you need to know to create this project. You get to decide how its assembled but I will be showing you all the electronics and things you need to make it work. Step One: Choose your Construction Base A construction base is essentially how you connect all the componenets." [...]

10kHz to 225MHz VFO/RF Generator with Si5351 - Version 2

"For use in DIY homebrew radio equipment such superheterodyne receivers, SDR, HAM QRP transceivers or RF generator. This is a project of a VFO (variable frequency oscillator) for use in DIY homebrew radio equipement such as Superheterodyne Receivers, DCR, SDR or Ham QRP Transceivers. It has a Bargraph indicator for Signal Strenght (S-Meter) and 20 Band presets. Can be used as RF/Clock generator too. This is the new version (V.2), I updated the previous project and it includes new features. Features: - Operation range from 10kHz to 225MHz." [...]

LEDCircleClock

"A clock with 241 RGB LEDs. Description The clock shows the hands in diferent colors on the grid of LEDs. To make it more beautiful hands are antialiased. The brightness of the LED is calculated from the distance to the virtual pixel. I also use the milliseconds clock of the Arduino combined with the NTP clock to have a seconds hand that rotates fluently instead of ticking the seconds. Introduction As a sucker for clocks I'm always looking for cool projects surrounding clocks." [...]

IR Calculator without any calculator bugs

"A simple calculator that you can control with your remote with no bugs. So I recently joined this Arduino community and I wanted to make something that was simple yet useful. So I thought about making a calculator, now of course many people have already made a calculator however there's just so many bugs in them that a real life standard calculator doesn't have. Some features like: - Simultaneous calculations - Using decimal points - Erasing the previous number - Being able to switch from Multiply to Divide to Sum or Substract These features were missing and in addition to that, it wasn't remote controlled XD. So I decided what if we could add all the above features, get rid of the bugs and also be able to use our calculator from a distance (just in case) then it would be a great thing to make as one of my first Arduino projects and hence I ended up making this. This calculator does not have any bugs and the software behaves like a real calculator." [...]

HeadLamp

"Need a new night light? Friend? Lover? Deity? Why not all four? Introducing HeadLamp." [...]

Cheap USB to UART Converter Using Microchip MCP2200

"Cheap USB to UART (RS232/Serial) Converter Using Microchip MCP2200 Nowadays USB port is used widely for data transactions between electronic devices and computers. In many scenarios, there is no need to communicate with the USB port directly, therefore electronic designers use USB to UART (RS232-Serial) converter chips, so the USB port is converted to a virtual COM port on the computer. The initial thought of many designers is to use FTDI chips to do the USB to UART conversion. There is nothing wrong with FTDI chips, however, they are expensive. In this article/video, I introduced a cheap USB to UART converter module that uses the MCP2200 chip from Microchip. The converter supports both 3.3V and 5V serial logic levels and uses three LED indicators for power connection, data transmission, and data reception." [...]

zine machine is a compact 3d-printed block printing press

"Convert images into blocks, try friends' blocks, or use the supplied type to set a page. All files and instructions necessary to print and use a zine machine are open to the public and available on this website. " [...]

CSS555 EEPROM Programmer: Celebrate 50 years of 555 IC's!

"Create amazingly long delays using this super low power 555 timer This year the world famous 555 timer IC celebrates its 50th anniversary! A lot of things have happened with IC's since then but the 555 timer IC still has its following. Most designers know that today you can buy CMOS versions of the classic 555 timer if you need a timer for projects that have to save on power. However, not many seem to know about the CSS555 timer. This IC is very special in many ways. First of all, it is only uses 1/10th of the power that the otherwise low power CMOS 555 IC's use (e.g." [...]

How to Make a Circuit Sculpture

"Circuit sculptures are pieces of art made from old or new circuits. They can glow, beep, or just sit there and look good. A couple of great examples can be found at this Hackaday contest. This Instructable will guide you through making your very own circuit sculpture. It's simple to create your own, as long as you have an idea of what circuit you are making and what you want it to look like in the end. As an example, I am making a glowing stegosaurus with a potentiometer to control the speed of the LEDs." [...]

Smart Bed Side Lamp for Patients

"Measuring things are easy but keep track on them are hard. When we sick doctor ask us to measure the body temperature and record it but we are very reluctant do so. It is not just temperature but blood pressure, SPO2, heart beat, blood sugar level, LDL and HDL all of them are need to be recorded for future use. The solution is pretty much easy thanks to Microchip AVR IoT GW board. The AVR IoT GW board is the heart and the brain of the solution. Here I hooked up 3 sensors to the system." [...]

Laziness Monitor

"Build an affordable monitoring setup!This project will help you easily get indications on how much time your are sitting in the couch watching TV. This project will have time intervals in which you will get light indications from the board after X time has passed, sound indications, phone notifications and eventually when time has arrived it will mute your TV and turn it OFF.I will show you how to setup the basic scenarios I think are useful and from there feel free to play around with the stages and time intervals as everything is easily configurable to your needs. Supplies: Adafruit Circuit Playground Express - roughly 25$ TV (In my project I used a Samsung TV)" [...]

Play Hunt the Wumpus, Raspberry Pi Pico style

"Here’s something a little different: a basic C project that you can follow to build a fun handheld game with a Raspberry Pi Pico. Your mission: to enter a dark cave, and then locate and destroy the monstrous Wumpus. The trouble is, the cave is dark and you have no torch. All you have is your sense of smell to tell you when the beast is near. And as if that wasn’t enough, the cave contains many lethally deep pits. The local population of giant bats are out to bamboozle you too… Hunt the Wumpus is easy to build." [...]

Accurate clock just using an Arduino

"An accurate clock with date displayed on a 16x2 LCD using just the Arduino, the display and few buttons. No RTC module required. I started this as an academic exercise, but ended up with a very accurate clock. After running for 5 days, it had not lost or gained any time. The main issue with using just an Arduino is that its internal clock speed is not 100% accurate. Hence if you just rely on this then the count of the milliseconds elapsed will be out by a small percentage and the clock you are creating will either loose or gain time." [...]

Arduino Magnetic Field Strength Meter

"Magnetic field is a region around a magnetic material or a moving electric charge within which the force of magnetism acts. Device is extremly simple and consist only few components: - Arduino nano microcontroller - small Oled display - Led and resistor - and Hall effect sensor, in my case UGN 3503U. It is important to use a ratiometric linear sensor that gives a voltage at its output that is proportional to the strength of the magnetic field. This sensor picks up field strength in the units of ‘GAUSS’, and its range is from 0 to +/- 900 Gauss. By using ADC feature we will convert output voltage to a number. " [...]

Multiple IoT device communication on ESP32

"Goal The goal behind the project is to set a baseline example of how to setup communication between multiple IoT devices using MQTT protocol Introduction Internet of Things (IoT) has seen unprecedented change over the past few years changing the way people live and work. IoT encourages companies to rethink the ways they approach their businesses and gives them the tools to improve their business strategies. There are numerous real-world applications of the internet of things, ranging from consumer IoT and enterprise IoT to manufacturing and industrial IoT (IIoT). IoT applications span numerous verticals, including automotive, telecom and energy. One area that will be crucial going forward is the ability to understand how IoT and IIoT will eventually merge. In the below example we try demonstrating one such example where we try to put together the world of IoT and IIoT." [...]

Inspire 3D Printer

"The Inspire 3D Printer Kit is being developed by Accessible3D to be the cheapest 3D printer kit ever. Our current developer kit is being delivered for $30, and I am hoping to keep the price-point as close as possible to that in the final kit, once developed. I was inspired when I saw similar products and felt I could do it cheaper. My hope is that if I can bring the price-point down, it will lower the barrier to entry for 3D Printing, and make this empowering tool more accessible. The Inspire 3D Printer is a small LCD Resin 3D Printer that cures UV-sensitive resin (designed to work with standard 405 nm resin) layer by layer to build a solid 3D object. On this page, you will find information about the Developer Kit, how the printer works, and my progress in developing it." [...]

Shadow Box Internet Clock with NeoPixel Visualization

"Make a custom shadow box with multiple paper layers, stacked within a frame lined with NeoPixels LED lights. The light shining between the layers creates a gorgeous colorful depth to your artwork. This tutorial takes this art form a step further with the addition of a WiFi-enabled MagTag E-Ink display. The CircuitPython code connects to the internet over WiFi and receives a real time clock / calendar feed for your location and automatically sets the clock on the MagTag display. The real magic happens with the NeoPixel visualization code. At sunrise each day your pixels will light up with a beautiful sunrise color palette." [...]

Hoverboard Power Monitor

"I wanted to gain a better understanding of the power consumption of my hoverboard during different riding situations. For that reason, I built a hoverboard power monitor, which is a power meter and data logger. The device measures Amperes and Voltage and calculates the current power consumption in Watts. The measurements are shown as numbers and as oscillograms on a little TFT display. They can also be logged on a SD-card with a temporal resolution of about 10Hz. A built-in real-time clock makes it easy to match the data with a video clip of the ride." [...]

DIY Pico Mechanical Keyboard with Fritzing and CircuitPython

"Build your own custom mechanical keyboard that runs CircuitPython on the RaspberryPi Pico RP2040! With lots of pins, the RaspberryPi RP2040 Pico makes for a great brain of a mechanical keyboard/macro pad -- no scan matrix required. Up to 26 keys can be used with direct GPIO pins. You'll learn how to make your own PCB design in Fritzing to send off for fabrication. A 3D printed or laser cut case finishes it off in style. Once you've built your own custom keyboard from scratch, run over to Reddit r/mechanicalkeyboards and show it off!" [...]

Daft Punk LIVES ON! My Guy Manuel Helmet

"WHAAAAT??? DAFT PUNK CALLED IT QUITS ??? Daft Punk may have retired but that doesn't have to mean that you have to stop having fun with their inspiration! Here is my second dedicated project to that musical duo. This project was pretty tough to pull ALL of the information together in a one stop oasis to get this project done, but most importantly, to get a close replica to the real thing without spending thousands of dollars to get there. The helmet design is a very close replica (if not perfect) to the Grammy helmet and the multiple sequences on the arduino give it the intrigue of wondering "what else can it do?"" [...]

Tiny Wooden Lamp

"A tiny wooden lamp which looks pleasant and can create an individual lighting mood. It can be built in various sizes and wood species. To make it unobtrusive, it is completely controlled via touch sensors inside the base and has no additional switches. You just need to connect it with a usb cable. The main idea was to see if I can use molten hot glue to create a diffusor for the LEDs. It worked out extremely well on the prototype, so I built this lamp." [...]

How to Build Your Own DigiDice | Electronic LED Dice

"Here is an Instructable on how to build a digital dice that uses LEDs as well as an Arduino Nano to generate random numbers and display them in vibrant colours. The housing is fully 3D printed and some circuits have to be custom made. To use the dice, a button is simply pressed and after a quick animation a number will be displayed. Supplies:Tools: >3D Printer > Soldering iron and solder wire > Screw drivers > Wire stripper and side cutter > Scroll saw (Or anything that can cut proto board) > Rotary tool with cutting disc (Optional) Off-the-shelf parts: > 1x Arduino Nano > 1x Pushbutton > 7x 5mm LEDs (Choose your favourite colour!) > Resistors: 7x 220 Ohm; 1x 10 kOhm > Self-tapping screws: 5x M3x8mm; 3x M3x5mm (Alternatively, use 8x longer M3 screws and cut them to length) > Machine screws: 6x M2x6mm > 9V Battery & battery snap > Small slide switch, mounting holes 20mm center-to-center Other materials: > 3D Printer filament (PLA works just fine) > Strip grid proto board (We will use this to make custom circuits)" [...]

Optical Fibers and LEDs - Three Projects

"In this article I want to share with you three projects I made with the help of optical fibers and WS2812 LEDs. I know that I have already presented two other projects "Fiber Optic and LEDs - a Wall Decoration" and "Fiber Optic LED Lamp" so... I will put on hold the rest of the ideas that I might present in the future. This time too, I wanted everything to be as simple, flexible and easy to implement as possible for everyone, but it is necessary to either have a 3D printer or use a 3D printing service. The basis of these three projects is a 3-piece modules as in the photo below. You can see that the important part of this module is a ring in which a piece of tape with 6 LEDs can be mounted, and it has 12 holes in which the 3mm diameter PMMA optical fiber can be inserted." [...]

Pocket Weather Station | Your Self-Care Weather Assistant on the Go

"Hi, in this instructable, you will learn to build a pocket weather station using an Arduino Nano board. It will be a compact device that you can carry anywhere around, right in your pocket and will be capable of displaying the live temperature and humidity on the OLED display present on it. This is a great self-care device as you will always know when to take an umbrella out with you, both for the rain and the scorching heat! You can carry it around as it has an inbuilt rechargeable 160mAh lipo battery. It is a really great project for learning and is also really fun to make. It might come out really handy sometimes." [...]

Arduino Audio Spectrum Shield WS2812 LED Display

"This is a really simple build made up of essentially 3 components and some fun coding with nested loops to translate audio amplitude data into colorful displays; An Arduino (I used an Uno but any Arduino with at least 2 analog inputs should work) Arduino Audio Spectrum Shield, 2x MSGEQ7, 3.5mm Jacks + 3-pin In Some number of WS2812 individually addressable LED strips. I used 7 strips, 1 meter long each, 30 LEDs each The Audio Spectrum shield has a 3.5mm jack for stereo input and another to pass the audio through to the output. It has 2 chips (one for each channel) that split the audio signal into 7 frequency bands. Code in the Arduino "strobes" a digital pin to cycle through the 7 channels and reads the left and right analog value using 2 analog inputs on the Arduino and stores them in a "left" and "right" array. There's a good tutorial at SparkFun on the board with some good example code which doesn't need the LED strips; https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/spectrum-shield-hookup-guide-v2 Within the Arduino "loop" you call the function to read those values and do some interesting processing to put values into an "leds" array and then use the FastLED library to "show" the LEDs. This happens about 100 times per second unless you insert some delay." [...]

Building a 1.4kW Induction Heater

DIY Soldering Station

How to use the two Cores of the Pi Pico? And how fast are Interrupts?

CHAIN - The Secret Life of Components, A series of guides for designers and makers. Episode 1