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Oxford Raspberry Jam: April 2013

09/05/2013
- Bluetooth
- Design Phase
- LED
- Microprocessors
- Raspberry Pi
- WiFi
Lots of cool projects shown at the April Raspberry Jam including a giant Video Wall, a Pi Controlled Car and a Kids Electronic Message Phone
Great British Audio Part 1: Calrec

22/05/2013
The first in a series of posts which take a look at great British audio engineering companies.
A Closer Look at Parallella

07/01/2013
As Parallella prototypes start to ship this post takes a look in more detail at what this potentially game changing single board computer provides and a few potential applications.
Sensors & Energy Harvesting on the Renesas/Eco Solar Breizh Solar Car

08/12/2012
- Automotive Applications
- Batteries
- Design Phase
- FLASH
- Microcontrollers
- Power
- R8C
- RENESAS
- RL78
- Sensors
The next World Solar Challenge car race takes place in October 2013. The race involves purpose-built vehicles being driven from the north to the south coast of Australia powered by energy which must come from the sun or be recovered from the kinetic energy of the vehicle itself. Here is the second post in a series charting the development of one entrant sponsored by Renesas Electronics.
Detecting Lightning with an Arduino

14/11/2012
This post takes a look at interfacing the novel AS3935 lightning sensor with an Arduino.
A Parallella Update

23/04/2013
As the first Parallella beta boards arrive this post takes a look at recent project developments.
HANDY-CAP: Final Blog

16/05/2013
The competition has reached his final stage and our group has finished the major part of our project which is the HW board.
Welcome to the new DesignSpark!

14/10/2012
- Design Phase
- Research Phase
Welcome to the new look DesignSpark!
An Ionisation Chamber Shield for OpenRelief

13/12/2012
- Analogue
- Arduino
- Design Phase
- Instrumentation
- Microcontrollers
- Power
- Test
Back in May I wrote about a low cost radiation detector I was prototyping for the OpenRelief project. Based on a simple ionisation chamber, initial testing used a bank of batteries for the bias power supply and this post details the construction of an inverter to replace these.
Arduino or Raspberry Pi?

19/10/2012
A comparison of the respective benefits of the low cost embedded development platforms that may help with making a decision as to which to use when.
PiGo Sneak Preview

22/03/2013
A first look at the upcoming modular expansion system for Raspberry Pi.
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
Dyson Ball Challenge 2012

30/11/2012
Look what you can do with a bunch of old Vacuum Cleaner parts and a little imagination!
Panasonic Power Device Simulator Introduction

23/05/2013
Power Device Simulator is the Web Simulator provided by Panasonic.
FORTHdsPIC gets its compiler & more ‘Bare-Metal’

03/05/2013
In a previous post I introduced my latest project which started out as an exercise in familiarisation of PIC24/dsPIC assembly language programming but morphed into the development of a FORTH interpreter/compiler. Version 0.1 saw a working interpreter with a limited number of FORTH ‘words’. The compiler and a fairly standard word set are now operational with Version 0.2.
Paul Clarke needs you! Help me with my massive Earth Rover project.

14/01/2013
I Need Your Help-! Yes that's right, you, why? Because this is the start of one of the most ambitious project I have ever done. For it to work I need engineers from around the world to pull together and help me design and build a Earth Rover. This could be the start of something very big.
Going FORTH - Some 'Bare-Metal' Bashing

14/03/2013
My posts last year on the old Jupiter Ace computer and the more recent FIGnition kit provoked some interesting reactions to their use of the Forth programming language. Some loved it, others hated it. I dug out a version I wrote many years ago for the 8085 microprocessor and overcome with nostalgia decided to port it to a more modern platform. This post covers the initial stage of this less-than-logical process involving processor selection and first attempts at programming. For that authentic 'vintage' feel note the Toshiba Tecra laptop running the terminal emulator under Windows 3.11.
Exploring mbed with the Application Board

28/01/2013
A first look at the mbed platform and the recently launched Application Board.
HKUST ROV Team shone in Asia Regional IET/MATE Underwater Robot Challenge 2013

26/04/2013
The ROV Team, a sub-team of HKUST Robotics Team, shone in the Asia Regional IET/MATE Underwater Robot Challenge 2013 held on 13-14 April 2013. 9 university and 24 high school teams from 8 countries around Asia competed in two categories, Ranger Class and Explorer Class, respectively. The HKUST ROV Team won the Champion Award in the Explorer Class, and they will represent Hong Kong to join the International MATE ROV Competition 2013 Explorer Class in USA in June 2013.
Renesas Electronics participate in WSC 2013

28/10/2012
The next World Solar Challenge car race takes place in October 2013. The race involves purpose-built vehicles being driven from the north to the south coast of Australia powered by energy which must come from the sun or be recovered from the kinetic energy of the vehicle itself. Here is the first post in a series charting the development of one entrant sponsored by Renesas Electronics.
Hacking the Wireless Frontiers

26/10/2012
Wireless communications is vital to modern life and our dependency upon it is only set to grow, and in this post we take a look at two exciting projects which seek to explore the opportunities, and threats, that this presents.
mbed 2.0

22/02/2013
Next week at Embedded World in Germany , mbed we will be officially announcing "mbed 2.0".
Engineering education is going CubeSat shaped....

08/04/2013
First it was the home computer, then the mobile phone: now it’s your own earth-orbiting satellite. Alright, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but about 5000GBP will buy you a kit of parts for the latest high-tech gadget, sorry, valuable research tool that no self-respecting technological university will want to be without...
Curiosity’s Brain

16/08/2012
In the early hours (UK time) of Monday August 6th, an astounding feat of engineering came to a heart-stopping climax. After travelling millions of miles through space the Mars Science Laboratory, AKA Curiosity rover entered the Martian atmosphere and began its descent.
Metamorphosis - Project Engineer to Product Designer

05/03/2013
Good Product Designers, are involved in the overall system design and interact with other team members to achieve intended product functionality. What happens if every team member has this kind of attitude?
Handy- Cap - The handy capturing device

05/02/2013
Hello, we are GREEN DESIGNERS from HKUST Environmental Management and Technology.