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Hands on with a 144 core processor

16/07/2012
The GA144 from GreenArrays is a highly novel 144 core processor that combines high performance with low power consumption. This post covers initial experiences with breadboarding the GA144 and using t
HD Audio from ground up (Part 1)

18/05/2011
- Analogue
- ARM
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Communication
- Cortex-M
- DSP
- FLASH
- Functional Test
- Human Machine Interface
- Interconnect
- LCD
- Mbed
- Memory
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Research Phase
- Resistors
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
- Trial & Evaluation
There are different ways for a system to interact with the real world. Starting with the use of a simple LED that describes the state of a process and going all the way down to complicated graphic LCD
NetWorker - an advanced web server with a microcrontroller

13/04/2011
- Analogue
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Communication
- Display & Lighting
- DSP
- dsPIC
- EEPROM
- Ethernet
- FLASH
- Functional Test
- GAL
- Human Machine Interface
- Interconnect
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Memory
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- PIC24
- PIC32
- Power
- Programming
- Research Phase
- Resistors
- RS232
- RX
- SERIAL
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Solder
- Test
- Trial & Evaluation
An Internet connection would be a valuable addition to many projects, but often designers are put off by the complexities involved. The ‘NetWorker’, which consists of a small printed circuit board
Panasonic Power Device Simulator Introduction

23/05/2013
Power Device Simulator is the Web Simulator provided by Panasonic.
Interim Project Report by Team 6: Boost Converter for Solar Vehicle

29/03/2013
- Circuit Design
- Mbed
- PCB
- Power
- Test
Interim Project Report submitted by team 6: Boost Converter for Solar Vehicle
Learning how to be Smarter with Energy

08/12/2010
RS hosts Microchip seminars.
What is VHDL.?

06/12/2010
BLOG UPDATED-!VHDL or “very-high-speed integrated circuits hardware description language” must have one of the longest names going in the world or electronics, however as suggested it’s a langua
A simple recipe for a successful PCB Design

28/10/2011
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Interconnect
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Resistors
- Test
- Trial & Evaluation
An electronics or embedded engineer should not limit themselves to writing firmware. Having thorough knowledge on hardware empowers the designer to understand what is happening and take the right path
Old and New at Sci-Fi London 2012

10/05/2012
- Analogue
- Arduino
- ARM
- ARM11
- Development Kits - Electronics
- Display & Lighting
- FLASH
- H8
- Human Machine Interface
- Interconnect
- Manufacture
- Memory
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Sensors
- SERIAL
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
A major highlight of a week of activity at the Sci-Fi London festival was the Horizon Spectrum event at the BFI Southbank celebrating 30 years of the Sinclair Spectrum 'home' computer. I attended the
bladeRF: a low cost wideband SDR transceiver

13/02/2013
With a 300MHz to 3.8GHZ range, 40MHz bandwidth, USB 3.0 interface and priced at only $400, it's hardly surprising bladeRF reached its $100,000 Kickstarter goal in under 8 days.
Final blog post updated by Team 6: Boost Converter for Solar Vehicle

17/05/2013
Hardware test for DC DC interleaved boost converter Hardware test for Monolithic interleaved boost converter with MPPT: -Hardware model: ST microelectronics, ISV008V1, (complementary 3 X SPV 1020) -Use DC power supply and photovoltaic cell 2V to 28V input voltage -Value and waveform of V, I, P, I ripple will be recorded by CRO.
Gas Guzzlers and Green Chips

03/07/2012
- Analogue
- ARM
- Batteries
- Communication
- Cortex-M
- Development Kits - Electronics
- Display & Lighting
- Enclosures
- Mbed
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- RENESAS
- Research Phase
- RL78
- Robots
- Sensors
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
- Wireless
The socially responsible among us wishing to save the planet from a carbon dioxide doom should quickly move on to the next blog post now, as I have a confession to make: I own and occasionally get to
Embedded development with EDP

01/02/2011
The RS Embedded Development Platform offers an alternative path to the engineering prototype stage of a project allowing quick and easy changes of processor at the time of initial design or for upgrad
iSay - How to harness the potential of energy harvesting technology?

20/01/2011
Over ten years ago Energy harvesting was known only to a small group of research engineers. but if you google it today you will find nearly two million hits and there is now a diverse range of energy-
How do we know? We sample! (Ecocar part 2)

05/03/2011
- Analogue
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Sensors
- Test
- Trial & Evaluation
In order to optimize the working of the ecocar (Prototype class) a huge amount of data is acquired. Learn how it is done. Lessons learned during the past week:1. Time does not stand still, just b
My First mbed

13/10/2010
A few weeks back I a received the mbed dev kit from RS (Part No.703-9238), but it was only today that I got a gap in my work schedule to play with it.
The Changing Role of the Development kit

04/05/2012
Roughly ten years ago, the embedded world was a simpler place (or at least it seemed to be), and the development kit off ered an excellent starting point for an embedded design project. Like the prove
Final blog post updated by Team 6: Boost Converter for Solar Vehicle

17/05/2013
Hardware test for DC DC interleaved boost converter Hardware test for Monolithic interleaved boost converter with MPPT: -Hardware model: ST microelectronics, ISV008V1, (complementary 3 X SPV 1020) -Use DC power supply and photovoltaic cell 2V to 28V input voltage -Value and waveform of V, I, P, I ripple will be recorded by CRO.
Why reinvent the wheel?

16/02/2012
From the release of the first PC by IBM back in 1981, engineers have found more and more creative ways of using this system architecture. True, many things have changed over the years, but execu
A step back in time to the 1980's with a Raspberry Pi...

12/03/2012
- Analogue
- Capacitors
- Ethernet
- Memory
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Standards
- Test
Over the weekend I took home one of the Raspberry Pi prototypes. From the moment I took the first byte of the Pi, memories came flooding back...
You can build your own isolated USB Cable

19/12/2011
- Analogue
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Mbed
- PIC
- Power
- Resistors
- Switches
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
Have you ever wondered how to build an isolated USB cable? This requires both isolated D+ and D‐ lines as well as an isolated dc‐dc converter to supply power to the downstream port and cable.
Battle of the Engineers - Hardware vs. Software

24/02/2012
For the hardware engineer, software is regarded as a necessary evil; totally unintelligible and the root cause of most system crashes. The software engineer on the other hand, views the hardware as a
Will FRAM’s ultra low power, faster speed and better data Integrity see the demise of flash?

27/07/2011
What’s the difference between, FRAM, F-RAM and FeRAM?, Well it’s the same thing!, it's Ferroelectic RAM. Texas Instruments (TI) are among the first to offer a family of Microcontrollers with
Pi Perspectives: Jeremy Ruston (Federatial)

28/03/2012
Image © Nick J. Webb (CC BY 2.0)Jeremy Ruston is the inventor of TiddlyWiki and founder of software consultancy, Federatial Ltd, and gained his introduction to computing during those heady
STM8S-Discovery Kit Review

23/01/2011
“The STM8S-DISCOVERY helps you to discover the STM8S features and to develop and share your own application. Even though the STM8S-DISCOVERY is built around an STM8S105C6T6, it allows evaluation of
MBED Workshops!

03/11/2010
Rapid Prototyping with 32-bit MicrocontrollersThese workshops brought to you by the ESP KTN Electronics Knowledge Centre in partnership with RS Components and ARM/NXP, are aimed at demonst
FRAM Dev Kit MSP-EXP430FR5739 Review

04/10/2011
There has been a lot of buzz and stories going around about the first micro to have FRAM (Ferroelectric memory). FRAM has been talk about it not only here on DesignSpark but on element14 and was comme
Make your own walking, talking, living….robot

29/02/2012
- Accelerometers
- ARM
- Beagle
- Coldfire
- Communication
- Cortex-M
- Development Kits - Electronics
- DSP
- dsPIC
- Freescale
- Interconnect
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Memory
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- PIC32
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Sensors
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
As I wrote this blog Raspberry Pi exploded on the scene taking everyone by surprise with the sheer volume of people wanting to buy it. Many readers will have to wait a while to get their hands on one so why not use the time to investigate rather more interesting projects than just writing games? How about giving a humanoid walking robot some Artificial Intelligence…
WEBENCH® LED Designer

22/06/2010
- Analogue
- Circuit Design
- Display & Lighting
- Power
- SERIAL
- Test
National Semiconductor have updated Webench LED Designer With National’s WEBENCH LED Designer suite of tools, you can configure a system with up to 60 LEDs in serial or parallel strings. With
Software-defined Radio (SDR)

13/11/2010
- Analogue
- Communication
- FPGA
- GSM
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Research Phase
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
- Wireless
John Melton holding a HPSDR Mercury Digital Down-conversion board at OSHUG #5Last month the Open Source Hardware User Group were treated to a presentation on the High Performance Software Defined Radi
Connecting electronics design to Google SketchUp

14/07/2011
RS’ free of charge IDf-to-Collada converter allows EDA tools to connect with the popular Google SketchUp 3D Modelling package. Ever had a design that did not quite fit the mould? You have laid out t
So when will we get the Star Trek Tricorder then?

19/01/2012
- ARM
- ARM11
- Communication
- Cortex-M
- Development Kits - Electronics
- Enclosures
- Ethernet
- Human Machine Interface
- Interconnect
- Mbed
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Sensors
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Switches
- Test
A competition has been announced with a $10m prize for the first working medical tricorder. If you claim to be an engineer and don't know what I'm talking about, then may I suggest locking yourself in
DesignSpark PCB workshop with Renesas Analog and Power Device Product team

03/07/2012
In June, RS components had conducted two DesignSpark PCB workshops to the engineers of Renesas's Analog and Power Device Product team in Shanghai and ShenZhen, China.During these two workshops, we sha
Leaflabs Maple Dev Kit Review

31/10/2011
Sometimes you can get excited about a Dev Kit before you even switch it on, but can the Leaflabs Maple Board live up to my exportation's or will this just be another STM32 fail? So this last few weeks
TI LaunchPad

28/10/2010
Welcome to the new blog theme on the TI Launchpad.I just received mine today and am looking forward to getting it fired up. I would like to invite all who get their hands on one of these boards to sha
The Arduino Effect

09/11/2011
- Arduino
- ARM
- AVR
- Beagle
- Chipkit
- Cortex-A
- Cortex-M
- Development Kits - Electronics
- DSP
- FRAM
- Freescale
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Microcontrollers
- MSP430
- PIC
- PIC32
- Power
- Programming
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
I’ve noticed an interesting trend recently. Forgive my lack of awareness if this has all been said before, but here it is: microcontroller chip manufacturers are making/supporting some very cheap development kits nowadays.
DE0-NANO FPGA Development Kit Review - Terasic

31/07/2011
- 740
- Accelerometers
- Circuit Design
- Development Kits - Electronics
- Display & Lighting
- DRAM
- EEPROM
- Enclosures
- FLASH
- FPGA
- Human Machine Interface
- Mbed
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Switches
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
- VHDL
When it come to most Dev Kits people can normally find one that fits their needs. However when entering the world for FPGA’s people are always asking which kit to buy. Why? Well they have always
Open Source Energy-efficient and Renewable Technologies

08/11/2011
- Capacitors
- GAL
- Manufacture
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Test
Open source techniques are being employed in the development and provision of access to an increasingly diverse range of technologies. In this article we’ll take a look at two comprehensive open sou
Does in-vehicle technology reduce driver safety?

16/03/2012
- Bluetooth
- Communication
- Display & Lighting
- Enclosures
- Functional Test
- GPS
- Human Machine Interface
- LCD
- Mbed
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Safety Testing
- Test
- Trial & Evaluation
- Wireless
There is a lot of focus these days on safety in vehicles, particularly associated with distracting electronic gadgets, installed in the drivers view. It could easily be argued that adding a computer s
Raspberry Pi Waveforms

31/05/2012
- Analogue
- Ethernet
- FRAM
- Memory
- Oscilloscopes
- PIC
- Power
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
So, a few people in the office have started to receive their Raspberry Pi's. Normally when we see new gadgets around the office we take it apart but there's no case on the Pi so we thought we'd 'scope
A Treacle Tin Radiation Detector

28/05/2012
- Arduino
- ARM
- Assembly
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Enclosures
- Ethernet
- GSM
- Manufacture
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Reliability Testing
- Resistors
- Sensors
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
- Wireless
The OpenRelief project is building “open, modular information solutions for disaster relief”, and as part of which they're developing a range of network-enabled sensors. I offered to help out by p
Xbee and mbed streaming live data

11/06/2012
I seen a few reviews now of devices like the Xbee and they never seem very exciting. So this is the first of a number of posts I'll be writing were you see me using the product. So let get started and
The Birth of the Engineering Renaissance

15/07/2011
- Analogue
- Arduino
- Communication
- Designspark PCB
- Display & Lighting
- FLASH
- GAL
- LASER
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Safety Testing
- Solder
- Standards
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
Developments in recent years suggest that we may be on the cusp of an engineering renaissance. Significant advances are being made in key areas such as tools, technology, principles and methodologies,
Open Source: how low can you go?

26/07/2012
- Batteries
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- FPGA
- LASER
- Manufacture
- PCB Etching
- PIC
- Research Phase
- Resistors
- Test
A 600 um long “Nyan Cat” etched into 200nm thick copper film (HomeCMOS project, New BSD License)First we had software where the source code is made freely available to all. Then came open source h
mbed Multipurpose Display Board (Part 1)

24/06/2011
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Communication
- Display & Lighting
- Ethernet
- Functional Test
- Human Machine Interface
- Interconnect
- LCD
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Resistors
- Test
As the title suggests, this post is all about the creation of a multipurpose display board, powered by an mbed. The display board has exposes many of the GPIO functions of mbed and so can be used for
Microchip Motor Control Starter Kit Review - DM330015

16/01/2012
At ebm-papst are well known as a fan manufacture so I was keen to see the latest development kit from Microchip, the Motor Control Starter kit. So I was interested to see how easy it is to setup and u
LeoStick Dev Kit Review - The Tiny Arduino Clone

07/05/2012
- 740
- Analogue
- Arduino
- Development Kits - Electronics
- Interconnect
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- RX
- Solder
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
So there are lots of development boards out now. And since the introduction of the Arduino there are lots of clones around too which is good in my view. So this is what I have to say is the smallest d
Trust your life to a computer?

22/09/2011
- ARM
- Circuit Design
- Communication
- Functional Test
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Memory
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Safety Testing
- Test
Texas Instruments have recently launched a new range of ARM-core microcontrollers called Hercules. They contain redundant circuits to detect and deal with faults when used in safety-critical applications. Specifically, two Cortex R4F cores run a common program in lockstep and a comparator unit makes sure they produce the same outputs.
What is CFD .. Science or Black Magic?

25/03/2011
Introduction As a leading thermal management company ebm-papst UK Ltd has recently invested in state of the art CFD analysis software. This is to support both our own design work and as a service we
How do you approach a design problem?

03/02/2011
- Assembly
- Capacitors
- Circuit Design
- Manufacture
- PCB
- PIC
- Test
- Trial & Evaluation
An interesting thought occured to me recently whilst working my way through a particularly tough mechanical design problem on our CFD software in the design office of ebm-papst UK Ltd . Part of my rem