My Element14 activity Log

I would like to introduce myself. I am a retired Senior Software Engineer with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Computer Science from Boston University. I Graduated from BU in 1980 and had been working as a Software Engineer since then until I retired in 2018. I have acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge in embedded systems, by participating in RoadTest and Design Challenges sponsored by various vendors, here on element14. I also have participated in challenges on Hackster.io.

This blog list all my activities on this community. Here, I've listed::

• The Roadtest I've completed
• The Design Challenges I've participated in
• The Webinars I've attended

I was awarded the inclusion into  The element14 Community's Rising Contributors of 2021;. It was such an honor to be selected., and be recognized for all my contributions to element14 in year 2021

I have been supplied with many development kits, from companies such as

• NXP
  • i.MX RT1170
  • LPC55S6-EVK
• Lattice
  • MACHXO3L Starter Kit
• Renesas
  • RA6M5 Cloud Kit
  • EK-RA2L1
  • EK-RA6M3
• Nordic
  • nRF5340 Audio DK
  • nRF9160 DK
  • Thingy53
• Infineon/Cypress
  • PSoC 6
    • PSoC62S2 Wi-Fi BT Pioneer Kit
    • PSoC62S4 Pioneer Kit
  • PSoC4100S Pioneer Kit
• AMD/Xilinx 
  • AMD Xilinx Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit
• Raspberry PI
  • PI model 3 and 4
  • PiCO
  • PI Zero 
  • PIM487 Automation HAT Mini
  • PIM486Enviro HAT
• Arduino
  • MKR Wan 1300
  • NANO 33 IoT UNO
  • Groove sensor starter kit with the Groove Shield
  • Seeed Studio
    • LoRaWAN Dev Kit (WIo Terminal + sensors)
    • LoRaWAN Sensor ()CO2, Temp and Humidity)

My interest in embedded systems spans many areas of embedded system. I have a great deal of interest in Firmware Development environments, and thru my various projects on element14 and Hackster.io, I have been fortunate to experience the setup, configuration, deployment, and debugging of many, including  the following IDE's and Toolchains::

• Microsoft VS Code on Windows10,Ubuntu, PetaLinux 
  • VSCode extensions:
    • PlatformIO
    • Nordic nRFConnect-SDK Extensions
• Raspberry Pi Buster
• ModusToolbox Tollchain and  Eclipse based IDE from Infineon 
• NXP’s MCUExpresso, on Eclipse IDE
• nRFConnect-SDK from Nordic semiconductor
• eStudio from Renesas
• Arduino IDE and the Arduino cloud.
• For operating systems, I have been developing on Windows10/11, Ubuntu, and a few flavors of the Raspberry Pi OS (Buster and Bullseye), and using  FreeRTOS and AzureRTOS on supported MCU’s.
• For languages on these MCU’s and SBC’s, I have used the following:
  • C/C++
  • Python
  • MicroPython
• I also have an interest and have used open source embedded development tools for development on the OrangeCrab Dev BD 
• I have used various communication protocols Wi-Fi, LTE, LoRaWAN for my projects.

I have participated in the following Roadtest offered in the RoadTests & Reviews group.

For evaluating products for a roadtest, I have been experimenting with example programs available for the kit to gain knowledge with the toolchains.
I evaluate the product by evaluating the Programming examples available for the product. The examples, help a beginner like myself evaluate the usage of the product. A well written example is worth it's weight in gold. In roadtest I have completed on Development kits, I have typically evaluated the Embedded Software environments of the Kits. I also have evaluated the community surrounding the kit by utilizing the Forums, and Support available for the kits. I also evaluate and scrutinize the documentation on accuracy and interpretation for beginners like myself. I have completed some reviews, that were not on Development kits and I used; the same test procedures mentioned for Development kits.;

The following list contains links to the landing page of the Roadtest that I participated in. It also contains a link to my review for each roadtest.

• Review ModusToolbox with the Infineon PSoC 62S2 EVK (JUL - AUG 2023)
  • My Review    Exploring the Power of Infinion’s ModusToolbox and the PSoC 62S2 Evaluation Kit: A RoadTest Review
  • Roadtest       Enroll to Review ModusToolbox Software with the Infineon PSoC 62S2 Evaluation Kit - element14 Community 
    • The review describes my experience using ModusToolbox Software (MTB) with the Infineon PSoC 62S2 Evaluation Kit.(CY8CEVAL-062S
    • This was my 4th usage of a PSOC Evaluation Kit.
    • With my previous experience using MTB with the PSoC6 Wi-Fi BT Pioneer Kit, PSoC 62S4 Pioneer Kit, CY8CPROTO-062S4-4343W , and the CY8CEVAL-062S2 supplied for the RoadTest, I was able to gain more experience with MTB.
    • The 3 goals of this review are:
      • Test the getting started experience of ModusToolbox:
      • Explore the flexibility of ModusToolbox
      • Working with the PSoC 62S2 Evaluation Kit and ModusToolbox
• Nordic Bluetooth LE Audio DK (May 2023)
  • Roadtest:      Nordic Bluetooth LE Audio Development Kit nRF5340 DK
  • My Review:   Roadtest: Nordic Bluetooth LE Audio Development Kit nRF5340 DK by Steve K;
    • This was my 3rd evaluation of the Nordic Evaluation kits.
    • the kit; is an impressive platform for experimenting with Bluetooth LE Audio.
    • I was supplied with 2 DK's to experiment with.
    • Most of the Review, evaluates the Nordic document page  nRF5340 Audio — nRF Connect SDK 2.3.99 documentation
      • This page contains an application that offers a way to experiment with the kit.
      • I describe my experience using this document page, to Build, Program and Run the Example Application that is supplied in the Nordic ;nRFConnect SDK version v2.4.0.
    • I also gained some Knowledge using the Nordic command line Toolchain..
• Xilinx Kira KV260 (March 2023)
  • Roadtest:    AMD Xilinx Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit
  • My Review: RoadTest Product Review of the AMD Xilinx Kria KV260 - AI Vision Starter Kit -- by Steve K
    • This Kit is a platform for developing advanced vision applications,
    • This is my first experience with a Xilinx product, and I must say I'm very impressed with this generation of there Evaluation kits. It was so easy to use. I have been following the evolution of the Xilinx product line and it always seemed to be wicked hard to develop on. They hit it out of the park with this Kria line. They have managed to open up there SOC technology to hobbyist like myself..
    • My out-of-box experience of the product was very rewarding. I found it very easy to get the kit up and running and perform some interesting Vision AI examples.
• Renesas RA6M5; (December 2022)
  • Roadtest:;Renesas CAT-M1 Cloud Kit CK-RA6M5 - element14 Community
  • My review :Renesas Cloud Kit CK-RA6M5 Roadtest Review
    • I was able to build on my LTE-M experience.;
    • This Cloud kit offers multiple network connectivity options – Ethernet and LTE CAT-M1 with RYZ014A Pmod.
    • The kit has 7 On-board sensors that can be used to gather telemetry data that can be sent to a cloud service.
• Nordic nRF9160 Development Kit (September 2022)
  • Roadtest:;Nordic nRF9160 Development Kit - element14 Community
  • My review:;Nordic nRF9160 DK -- A development kit for evaluation and development on the nRF9160 for LTE-M
    • The board contains support for LTE-M, NB-IoT and GNSS. It also includes an nRF52840 board controller that can be used to build a Bluetooth Low Energy gateway..
    • I had great success, experimenting with LTE-M using the iBasic SIM card and connecting and sending telemetry data to the Nordic nRF Cloud service.
    • This was my first Nordic EVK evaluation and I describe a very positive experience in my review.
• InnoSwitch 3-Pro GaN Controllable USB Power Supply - element14 Community
  • Check out my review; Experiments with USB PD 3.0 Power Supply
  • This review covers the evaluation of a;USB PD 3.0 Power Supply supplied;by Power Integrations (power.com)
  • The Reference Design Kit RDK;contains a InnoSwitch 3-Pro GaN-based INN3379CH302 and a Weltrend WT6635P USB Controller.
  • The part number for the board is RDK-802.

• Infineon Trust Platform Module + Raspberry Pi 3 B
  • Check out my Review:;Infineon OPTIGA TPM SLM 8670 Iridium Add-on Board for the Raspberry PI
  • This Roadtest review will evaluate the Infineon OPTIGA TPM SLM 8670 Iridium Add-on Board for the Raspberry PI
  • The board is fully compliant with the Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
    standards issued by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG)

• :RA2L1 EVK(Ultra-Low Power 48MHz Arm® Cortex®-M23)

• • Check out my Roadtest Review:RA2L1 EVK(Ultra-Low Power 48MHz Arm® Cortex®-M23) - Review
    • The EK-RA2L1, is an evaluation kit for the Renesas RA2L1 MCU Group.
    • The kit enables users to evaluate the features of the Renesas R7FA2L1AB2DFP MCU

• Summer of FPGAs -- Lattice MACHXO3LF Starter Kit

  Check out my Roadtest Review: Summer of FPGAs -- Lattice MACHXO3LF Starter Kit
  • The MachXO3LF starter kit is a basic breakout board to allow simple evaluation and development of MachXO3LF based designs.
  • My focus for this review, is on the Lattice toolchains available to conduct experiments using demo designs available on the Lattice Website.
  • I also evaluate the resource material, customer support portal and the developer community on the Lattice Website.

• Summer of FPGAs -- OrangeCrab Dev Bd

  • Check out my Roadtest Review:;Summer of FPGAs -- OrangeCrab Dev Bd - Review
    • In this review, I evaluated the embedded software development capabilities of the Orange Crab, an FPGA based Development Board.
    • My focus for the review, is on the open hardware toolchains available and conducting experiments using them.
• Microchip PoE to USB-C® Power and Data Adapter
  • Check out my Roadtest Review:;Microchip PoE to USB-C® Power and Data Adapter - Review
    • This Roadtest was a little different from my other 2 Reviews, in that it was not a Evaluation Kit I was able to get the adapter tested and reviewed, after a little struggle testing the Power capabilities to my EV kits. I had to purchase a PoE injector and some USB adapter cables to complete the testing.
• ;NXP i.MX RT1170 High End Processor Evaluation Kit
  • Check out my Roadtest Review:;NXP i.MX RT1170 High End Processor Evaluation Kit - Review
  • I was able to learn quit a bit more about embedded software development on the i.MXRT1170-EVK;. I am familiar with the MCU expresso IDE used on other NXP products(NXP LPC55S69-EVK MCU). from my 1st roadtest review.
  • • For this roadtest, I was supplied with an NXP TFT Display, that I think will work with this kit. I'd be interested in checking it out, since no display is supplied with the kit .
    • I;conducted;3 experiments with this display.
• Mar 2021 AVNET Monarch LTE-M Development Kit -- EU  (Mar 2021)   
  • Check out my Roadtest Review:;AVNET Monarch LTE-M Development Kit - Review
  • I was able to learn quit a bit about LTE tech and embedded software development on the;NXP LPC55S69-EVK MCU. I am familiar with the MCU expresso IDE used for NXP products. I should be able to review this board with this experience, Since the board can be programed using this IDE

I have participated in the following Design Challenges offered by the  Design Challenges Group

My approach to these challenges, is to learn how to utilize the Kit offered in the challenge to implement an idea. My idea will include an idea specification, kit experimentation, design phase, test phase, implementation phase and a conclusion to what I've learned and possible enhancements to my design to learn even more. The following list links to the landing page of the challenge and a link to the blogs that I created for the challenge. Each challenge involved created from 5 to 10 blogs describing a project implemented to a challenge Project Theme. I was awarded with the Finisher Prize for every challenge. The 1st and 2nd prize winners were amazing projects.

• At The Core Design Challenge (May 2023)
  • Challenge Page: At The Core Design Challenge Announcement
  • The Challenge: Get to the Core of the PSoC 6 microcontroller with multi-core project workflows found in ModusToolbox 3.0
  • To met the challenge, I submitted a 5 blog series ,using the PSoC-62S4 Pioneer kit along with ModusToolbox version 3.0 with new improved dual-core programming support. the blogs demonstrate the use of both the Cortex-M0+ and Cortex-M4 cores in a design and implementation project, .that I call "Get to the Cores".
  • The 5 Blog Series:
    • Blog#1--Introduction
    • Blog#2--Design 
    • Blog#3- Migrating an example MTB 2.x to version 3.x
    • Blog#4- Testing
    • Blog#5- Implementation and Challenge Conclusion
• Summer of Sensors Design Challenge (October 2022)
  • Challenge Page:  Summer of Sensors Design Challenge
    • For this Summer challenge, there were 4 separate challenges with 4 different Sensory Kits 
    • The Challenge category that I participated in was "Under Pressure: Best use of Bio Sensors
      sponsored by MikroElektronika"
    • I participated in the challenge by entering a 5 blog series using the supplied kit of components  The kit consisted of 3 Mikroe click boards, along with an Arduino UNO SMD and a  Mikroe Arduino Uno Shield
    • The 5 Blog Series:
      • Under Pressure - BLOG# 1 - BPM Uno – INTRODUCTION
      • Under Pressure - BLOG# 2 - BPM Uno – Research & Experimentation
      • Under Pressure - BLOG# 3 - BPM Uno – System Design
      • Under Pressure - BLOG# 4 - BPM Uno – System Implementation and Testing
      • Under Pressure - BLOG# 5 - BPM Uno – Conclusions and Future Enhancements
      • Under Pressure - BLOG# 6 - BPM Uno -- Experimenting with the LSM6DSL CLICK
• Pi-Fest Design Challenge - Pi-Fest (July 2022)
  • Challenge Page:;  Pi-Fest Design Challenge
  • This Design Challenge will put the Raspberry Pi Pico center stage.in this 5 blog design challenge
  • The 5 Blog Series:
    • Blog#1 My Idea
      • This blog ,contains an introduction to my Idea.
    • Blog#2 Design 
      • This blog will include the Design of my Idea.
      • I describe describe the code used to test each individual component
    • Blog#4 Testing
      • This blog will include the implementation of my design.
      • I demonstrate my metronome in action.
      • All the individual components will be connected.and tested
    • Blog#5 Completion 
      • This is the final blog in the series.
      • I give some conclusions as to what I have gained from this Design Challenge and list some possible enhancements that can be added to make the system more useful.
• N-gaged Design Challenge.
  • A 5 blog series for the N-gaged Design Challenge. The sponsor of the challenge OMEGA, has supplied me with there Layer N Ecosystem Bundle that is used to implement my idea.
  • The blog series chronicles my design and implement of a Weather Remote Monitoring System, using the kit supplied to me for this challenge.
  • My 1st blog Blog# 1 My Idea ;contains an introduction to my Idea.
    • Blog#2 Design
      
      • This blog will include the Design of my Idea.
    • Blog#3 Implementation
      
      • This blog will include the implementation of the Basic Design described in the previous blog in this Series.
    • Blog#4 Testing
      
      • This blog will do testing, on the implementation of the design
    • Blog#5 Conclusion
      
      • This is the final blog in the series. I demonstrate the remote weather station running. I give some conclusions as to what I have gained from this Design Challengeand;;list some possible enhancements that can be added to make the system more useful.

• Just Encase
  • A 6 blog challenge utilizing;the provided Arduino MKR WAN 1300, and; two of Hammond's enclosures
  • the Just Encase Design Challenge, is in partnership with Hammond Manufacturing.
  • The challenge is to test the reliability of the case enclosures supplied by Hammond for this challenge
  • also supplied are: 2 Arduino MKRWAN 1300 LoRa boards, a grove sensor starter kit, a temp sensor and a servo motor.
    • Blog#1 My Idea (Case Enclosure Reliability Monitor)
    • Blog#2 Design (Case Enclosure Reliability Monitor)
    • Blog#3 Implementation (Case Enclosure Reliability Monitor)
    • Blog#4 Testing (Case Enclosure Reliability Monitor)
    • Blog#5 Testing Part 2 TEST#2
    • Blog#6 Conclusion (Case Enclosure Reliability Monitor)

•  Low Power IoT Design Challenge

  • A 5 Blog design challenge utilizing the Infineon/Cypress PSoC® 62S2 Wi-Fi BT Pioneer Kit (CY8CKIT-062S2-43012)
  • My first blog entry:Blog#1 - BPM Display - Introduction contains an introduction and will contain a list of links to the other blogs.
    • Blog#2 - BPM Display - Research & Experimentation
    • Blog#3 - BPM Display - System Design
    • Blog#4 - BPM Display - System Implementation and Testing
    • Blog#5 - BPM Display - Conclusion and Future Enhancements;

• Design For A Cause 2021

• • A 5 blog Design challenge using the Arduino Nano 33 IoT Board
  • My first blog entry:;BLOG# 1 - Beats Per Minute Nano - INTRODUCTION,;contains an introduction and a list of links to the other blogs. I've listed them as follows for you convenience.

• • Blog#2 Beats Per Minute Nano - Research & Experimentation
  • Blog#3 Beats Per Minute Nano - System Design
  • Blog#4 Beats Per Minute Nano - System Implementation and Testing
  • Blog#5 Beats Per Minute Nano - Conclusions and Future Enhancements

• 1 Meter of Pi 

• • The Challenge:   The element14 Community are pleased to introduce the “1 Meter Of Pi” Design Challenge, with Raspberry Pi. As your rocket ship blasts into space, speeding to Mars, you have 1m3 of space to grow your food and nutrients for the journey. Resources are limited, and you need to make it work!. Provided with a Raspberry Pi 4 2GB, a Pimoroni PIM487 Automation HAT, PIM486 Enviro HAT, and a PICO HAT Hacker PCB to help prepare a 1m3 builds. 

  • This was my entry project I call "Edible Algae System (EAS)"
  • A 13 blog series using the Raspberry PI 4 to Grow Edible Algae
    • INTRODUCTION BLOG -Edible Algae System
    • Blog# 1 EAS - Steps to Growing Spirulina Algae
    • Blog# 2 EAS - System Concepts
    • Blog# 3 EAS - Research Instrumentation
    • Blog# 4 EAS - Research and Unboxing
    • Blog# 5 EAS - Research Temperature Sensor - DS1
    • Blog# 6 EAS - System Designs -- Block diagram
    • Blog# 7 EAS -  System Designs -- Software Design
    • Blog# 8.1 (Part 1 of 2) EAS - System Build
    • Blog# 8.2 (Part 2 of 2) EAS - DATA REPOSITORY
    • Blog# 9 EAS - Electrical and Class Unit Testing
    • Blog# 10 Application Implementation and Tests
    • Blog# 11  EAS - Conclusions and Enhancements

I have attended the Following Webinars.

• Summer of FPGA: Intro to Smart Embedded Vision (SEV) Using a PolarFire® FPGA
• Summer of FPGA: Software and FPGA: How to Get the Bits to Flip?
• Summer of FPGA: Building Processor Based Systems on Lattice FPGAs Using Propel
• Getting Started with FPGAs: an Expert Panel Discussion
• PSoC6 Webinar

In 2019 I entered the following contests for the Advent Azure Sphere development kit

• Sensing the World Challenge:;here
  • My Entry for Sensing the World Challenge --;The Light is ON!
• Home Is Where the Hack Is
  • My entry:;Beats Per Minute -- Home Is Where the Hack Is Challenge