Your next issue of Circuit Cellar is coming next week! Here’s a sneak look at what’s coming up in March Circuit Cellar. Embedded solutions for the energy market, plumbing valve control, Robot Operating System (ROS), Quick turn PCBs, Rubik’s cube project, Panel PCs product roundup and more. This 84-page issue will charge up your interest with embedded technology articles for your reading empowerment!
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Here’s a sneak preview of March 2020 Circuit Cellar:
APPLICATION-SPECIFIC PROTOCOLS AND SOLUTIONS
Embedded Systems for the Energy Market
By Jeff Child
Seemingly ever-changing, the energy market is now poised to kick into high gear when it comes to embedded electronics. To help system developers keep pace, chip vendors are rolling out advanced solutions for solar, smart metering, vehicle charging and more. Circuit Cellar’s Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Child, looks at the key technology and product trends associated with these embedded designs.
Using ESP-NOW Protocol (Part 1)
By Brian Millier
ESP32-Now protocol enables low-overhead peer-to-peer wireless data transfers between members of the Espressif’s ESP MCU family. In Part 1 of this series, Brian discusses the benefits of the protocol, and shares how it improved battery life in his ESP-based leak detector modules.
Intro to Robot Operating System (ROS) (Part 1)
By Raul Alvarez-Torrico
Robot Operating System (ROS) is an open-source operating system tailored specifically for robotics. In Part 1, Raul discusses basic concepts about the ROS framework and how it’s used. This is an introductory-level discussion based on the more established ROS version 1.
Understanding LIN Bus: Car TPMS Tinkering
By Scott Weber
Taking apart his car’s Tire Pressure Management System (TPMS) led Scott to gaining hands-on knowledge of LIN bus. LIN bus is a communication scheme used in automobiles when CAN bus is to too large an option. In this article, Scott explains what LIN bus is and how understanding it helped him discover what was wrong with his car’s TPMS.
RESOURCES FOR EMBEDDED ENGINEERS
Quick Turn PCB Prototyping Services
By Jeff Child
For embedded systems engineers, there is a rich variety of PCB quick turn prototyping resources to get their designs up and running. Today’s PCB production and assembly vendors offer lots of powerful online quoting tools, sophisticated PCB manufacturing expertise and world-class support services. This roundup summarizes the quick turn PCB prototyping service capabilities available today and who’s providing them.
Compiling Old Kernels Under Today’s GNU/Linux
By Kris Bahnsen, Technologic Systems
When it comes to embedded computing software, the old and the new are sometimes at odds. Getting legacy software to work properly with modern operating systems can be challenging. In this article, Kris explains how to use Docker virtualization to enable older kernels to operate under modern GNU/Linux distributions.
Voltage Fault Injection on a Modern Raspberry Pi
By Colin O’Flynn
Can you easily perform voltage fault injection on complex embedded targets like a stock Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+? In this article, Colin demonstrates how we can use the same techniques shown in previous articles by applying them to an application built on a stock Linux install on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+.
Datasheet: Panel PCs
By Jeff Child
Panel PCs are a category of display systems that are meant to be mounted on a factory wall or on the side of an industrial machine. And rather than simply being a display, panel PCs embed complete single board computing functionality, providing a complete embedded solution. This Datasheet section updates readers on these technology trends and provides a product gallery of representative panel PCs.
PROJECT ARTICLES WITH ALL THE DETAILS
Control and Monitor Valves Remotely: High-Tech Plumbing with 8-bit MCU
By Jeff Bachiochi
Plumbing and electronics seem like quite separate disciplines, but not in this era of technology. Jeff needed to control multiple valves from a distance, so he created a circuit that could be powered and controlled locally, while allowing an external controller to control and monitor it from afar. In this project article, he uses a tiny 8-bit Microchip PIC16 MCU and a latching relay.
Build a Rubik’s Cube Solving Robot
By James Connelly and Shivansh Gupta
Can a PIC32 MCU solve a Rubik’s cube faster than a human? To find out, these two Cornell students built a self-contained Rubik’s cube solving robot. The Microchip PIC32-based system uses image processing python script and specialized algorithms to solve the puzzle.
Build an Urban Air Quality Monitoring System
By Dhairya A. Parikh
Metropolitan cities face their own unique challenges when it comes to air pollution. In this project article, Dhairya details his design of a fully-equipped, low-cost urban air quality monitoring system for cities in developing countries, powered by Soracom and AWS IoT Service. It also supports mail and email alerts.
