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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
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.
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.
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,
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…
Panasonic Power Device Simulator Introduction

23/05/2013
Power Device Simulator is the Web Simulator provided by Panasonic.
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
Pi Perspectives: Miles Berry (Naace)

13/04/2012
- Mbed
- Memory
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Test
Miles Berry is Chair of the National Association of Advisers for Computers in Education, Subject Leader for ICT Education at the University of Roehampton, and a consultant and frequent speaker and aut
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
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
Turning an £8 child's toy into a spectrum analyser

13/07/2012
- Batteries
- Display & Lighting
- DSP
- FLASH
- GSM
- Human Machine Interface
- LCD
- Microcontrollers
- MSP430
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Solder
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
- Wired
- Wireless
This posts looks at how a child's toy can be reprogrammed to provide a simple spectrum analyser that may be useful when working with licence-free wireless technologies.Like so many great open source h
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
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
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
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.
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
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
An Open Internet of Things

18/06/2012
- Assembly
- FRAM
- GAL
- Mbed
- OLED
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Sensors
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to herald an age in which physical objects create and consume data without human intervention, and this will have an enormous impact on our everyday lives. In recog
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
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
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.
Raspberry Pi first experiences

10/04/2012
- ARM
- Bluetooth
- Ethernet
- LCD
- PIC
- Power
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Test
Raspberry Pi running Debian/LXDE and displaying the DesignSpark homepageExcitement surrounding the Raspberry Pi has reached fever pitch as enthusiasts, engineers, and software developers and hardware
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...
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
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
Searching for Aliens with a Raspberry Pi and the Sun

08/08/2012
- ARM
- Batteries
- GAL
- PIC
- Power
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Test
A fun project to see if a solar powered Raspberry Pi could be used to help in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.SETI@home allows individuals to donate idle computer time to analysing radio
Learning how to be Smarter with Energy

08/12/2010
RS hosts Microchip seminars.
Like it or not, Batteries rule our lives

12/10/2011
- Batteries
- Circuit Design
- Designspark PCB
- Enclosures
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Test
- Wireless
Christmas morning 1979 Santa delivered Bigtrak under the Christmas Tree, unfortunately he forgot the batteries… I was just 1 x 9V and 4x 1.5V D Cells away from Christmas morning heaven!.
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
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
Curiosity is looking good

06/07/2011
- ARM
- Batteries
- LASER
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Serial Peripheral Interface
- Test
The next Mars exploration rover is nearly ready for launch towards the end of the year.This beast is very different from its incredibly successful 2003 predecessors Spirit and Opportunity, the latter
The future of user interface

17/11/2010
Watching us, watching them
Pi Perspectives: Dr Sue Black (The goto Foundation)

27/03/2012
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Test
Dr Sue Black is an award-winning computer scientist, researcher, consultant and advocate of women in computing, that is perhaps best known for her untiring campaigning to save Bletchley Park. Mor
Adventures with the 'Pi - Initial Thoughts

15/04/2012
- Arduino
- Communication
- Display & Lighting
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Memory
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- SERIAL
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
- WiFi
I was fortunate enough to receive a Raspberry Pi board for review (Thanks, DesignSpark!) a couple of days ago and I have been playing with it pretty much non-stop ever since. (More photos availab
You talkin' to me?

01/06/2011
- Arduino
- ARM
- Capacitors
- Display & Lighting
- Enclosures
- Ethernet
- Interconnect
- Manufacture
- Microcontrollers
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- RS232
- RX
- SERIAL
- Test
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)
So, connectivity... Where would we be without it? Well, obviously some place else. But as luck would have it, we are able to communicate and we can communicate with our ICs. In fact we're having loa
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
Simulating Electromagnetic Interference for the Real World

23/03/2012
There is a dark, even destructive, force within electronics. You can't see it, you can't touch it, but every electronics engineer needs to worry about it. This nemesis is electromagnetic i
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
ePurchasing innovations for switched-on supply chain management

27/01/2011
- Communication
- Manufacture
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Test
While bringing tremendous opportunities, Internet shopping also poses a threat to financial control. Many householders have already discovered this fact. Businesses, also, need help to make best use o
Use your Cortex in the ARM jungle

15/12/2011
- ARM
- Batteries
- Communication
- Cortex-A
- Cortex-M
- Cortex-R
- Development Kits - Electronics
- DSP
- Enclosures
- FLASH
- Freescale
- Manufacture
- Mbed
- Memory
- Microcontrollers
- Microprocessors
- MIPS
- PIC
- PIC32
- Power
- Reliability Testing
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Test
There was a time when deciding which microprocessor to use for a new project was pretty easy: there weren’t that many to choose from. Who remembers the Intel 8080, Motorola 6800 or the CBM 6502? The
Space after the Shuttle

12/08/2011
- Display & Lighting
- GAL
- PIC
- Power
- Research Phase
- Test
The Space Shuttle may have retired, but space exploration is still alive and well. Last week NASA launched Juno, a new probe that will orbit Jupiter to investigate this, the largest body in the
Rescue robots needed!

04/04/2011
If ever there was a place that needs autonomous search and rescue equipment it's that damaged nuclear power plant in Japan.
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
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
OpenRelief: Clearing the Fog of Disaster

25/04/2012
- Arduino
- Batteries
- Beagle
- Communication
- DSP
- FRAM
- Functional Test
- GPS
- Manufacture
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Sensors
- Test
- Wireless
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology is becoming increasingly affordable, and when combined with low cost wireless sensor networks and computer vision opens up exciting possibilities for use in di
Raspberry Pi in the wild

21/05/2012
- Enclosures
- PIC
- Power
- Programming
- Raspberry Pi
- Research Phase
- Robots
- Test
With the first Raspberry Pi beginning to fall through letterboxes all around the world a whole new group of computer users are coming together to explore this fascinating new computer.
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
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
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.
More resources for RS EDP

18/01/2011
I've just added some more programs and drivers to the EDP Design Centre. To start with, there is a zip folder featuring simple test programs for the LPC1768 module.Other processors will follow soon...