2017 was a busy year, I had a lot of personal stuff to do, but there was lots of engineering related stuff going on too, and I enjoyed seeing what everyone was working on. This blog post lists the activities I worked on.
| Project/Activity | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make your own Test Leads; Assembling 4mm Banana Plugs | I started off the year making some banana test leads! |  |
| 2 | Raspberry Pi 3 Block Diagram | It was followed by an attempt to build a block diagram of the Raspberry Pi 3 since I couldn't find one online. |  |
| 3 | Low Cost PCBs - What Can They Look Like? | Exploring printed circuit boards under a microscope |  |
| 4 | Cisco Live 2017 in Berlin | Some photos from the Cisco Live event in Berlin |  |
| 5 | Embedded World 2017 – Getting Ready! Embedded World 2017 - (part of) Day 1 | A trip to Embedded World in Nuremberg, thanks to element14 |  |
| 6 | A New Ruggedized Raspberry Pi 3 – netPI! | A report on the netPI at Embedded World |  |
| 7 | Robots - Science Museum London Exhibition | The Robots exhibition that was running at the Science Museum, London |  |
| 8 | Get Started Coding with Raspberry Pi Library | An ongoing series of articles on Coding with the Pi for complete beginners |  |
| 9 | Building a Software Defined Radio (SDR) with LimeSDR | Work on turning a software defined radio circuit board (called LimeSDR) into a usable product |  |
| 10 | Building a USB Keypad: A Mini-Project | A USB keypad for computers; it can be used for keyboard shortcuts, or as a numeric keypad or games keypad for a PC or Pi for instance |  |
| 11 | Google's Alexa-like Pi AIY Kit, mini teardown | A teardown/reverse-engineering exercise on the Google AIY kit |  |
| 12 | Fake and Re-used Electronic Parts and Components | A brief discussion about peoples experiences with fake/used components |  |
| 13 | Cyclops-1000: An Electronic Eye for Rotational Speed Measurement | A handheld RPM meter/tachometer style project, suitable for beginners; part of a fun series called Project14 |  |
| 14 | Home Automation in the UK Simplified, Part 1: Energenie MiHome Home Automation in the UK Simplified, Part 2: Raspberry Pi and Touch Display | A couple of reports on home automation and how to control and monitor it all from a Pi |  |
| 15 | Build your own Torch/Flashlight! | A Project14 torch/flashlight project. It is ongoing, I have received the printed circuit boards from the factory now. |  |
| 16 | Five scenarios where TI Power Supply circuits came to the rescue | A discussion about five power supply circuits including an iPhone/iPod charger and a LiPo cell charger |  |
| 17 | Building a Solar Charger | A Project14 solar charger project. This is a work-in-progress, PCB still to be laid out |  |
| 18 | Building a Linear Power Supply Module | A dual (or triple) rail power supply project intended for op-amp/headphone audio projects |  |
| 19 | Soldering Surface Mount Exposed Die Pads with an Iron | How to solder parts with an exposed pad on the underside, using a normal soldering iron |  |
| 20 | Building a Low Cost Solder Fume Extractor – Part 1 | DIY solder fume extractor based on an array of PC fans and some filters |  |
| 21 | DMX Explained; DMX512 and RS-485 Protocol Detail for Lighting Applications | A lighting protocol (DMX512) was examined |  |
| 22 | Working with FRDM Boards and ARM mbed | A step-by-step guide to working with an online microcontroller development environment called ARM mbed and a range of Arduino-like boards from NXP |  |
| 23 | Building a Fluxgate Magnetometer based Current Probe | This project was a lot of fun - building a current sensor with a very interesting sensor. It was also useful for seeing the seconds ticking from a wristwatch! |  |
| 24 | Building a Three Phase Mains Power System Simulator | A project that simulates a three-phase industrial supply; this is useful for examining the electrical relationship per phase and between phases, using an oscilloscope or multimeter |  |
| 25 | Proxxon Rotary Tools Review: Micromot 50/EF, FBS 12/EF and NG 2/E | There are a bunch of high-speed rotary tools from Proxxon; I examined a couple of them, and the power transformer. Also an investigation into speeds/feeds for drilling and milling with small diameter tools |  |
| 26 | Panasonic Grid-EYE RoadTest - Review | The Grid-EYE is an interesting sensor; it can perform thermal imaging and is ideal for people/occupancy detection purposes. This was a review of the Grid-EYE evaluation board |  |
| 27 | MAXREFDES143#: DeepCover Embedded Security in IoT - Review | An examination of a security chip that can be used for creating 'authentic' hardware peripherals |  |
| 28 | Programmable DC Electronic Loads with the BK8600 - Review | A review of a DC Electronic Load. It was used to examine solar panels, supercapacitors and it was used to investigate high power LEDs using a voltage source |  |
| 29 | Texas Instruments FDC2214 Capacitance to Digital - Review | An examination of a very unique integrated circuit from Texas Instruments. It can measure capacitance with a high level of stability. It was used to build a prototype dust sensor |  |
| 30 | RoadTest the Keysight U1282A Digital Multimeter - Review | A review of the best handheld multimeters I've ever used. It has an extraordinary set of functionality, and is on balance perhaps the most accurate multimeter too, across most ranges, across the important part of the ranges. I used it for a lot of experiments - the remote Bluetooth capability is excellent. |  |
| 31 | SILICON LABS USB-TO-UART Bridge Controller EVM - Review | The Silicon Labs CP2102N USB-to-UART integrated circuit was reviewed; it was used to explore USB chargers, and to construct a MIDI interface for musical instruments |  |
| 32 | Megger Insulation Tester - Review | I got to explore a technology that was new to me; insulation resistance measurement. It is used to diagnose various electrical problems with machines. I used it to examine a very old ringer from a telephone |  |
| 33 | Wireless Power Design Kit - Medium Power - Review | Wireless power was another new technology for me; the Wurth/Rohm design kit supports up to 15W of power which makes it a lot more compelling for products that could take ages to charge with the earlier 5W wireless power standard. |  |
| 34 | Experimenting with E-Paper Displays: Building a Clock! | A really simple project to build a clock; mainly to explore e-paper displays! |  |
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