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An ATmega2560 with 8 KB of RAM can support a multitasking desktop environment, complete with games, file management and video playback. That is what Vladimir demonstrated by building a DIY laptop around an Arduino-compatible board with an ATmega2560, the Mega 2560 Pro Mini. The device measures 12x11x3.4 cm and packs a QWERTY keyboard, a 128×64 monochrome display, audio, microSD, an RTC and an 18650 battery into a 3D-printed enclosure. The firmware runs on FreeRTOS and offers real multitasking, with task switching via Alt-Tab. So a video that has been started keeps playing its audio while you play Sokoban.

The architecture of independent tasks is the core of the project. Applications receive events and draw through the UI engine, while the shell handles registration, stacks, switching and events. As a result, adding a new application does not require touching the others. A new task is a class with setup and loop plus a couple of methods for its menu entry and icon.

The UI engine and the applications on FreeRTOS

The interface engine handles forms, buttons, checkboxes, lists, input fields and dialogs. It takes care of key presses, tabbing, redrawing and the events sent to the owning task. On top of it run the ready-made applications:

• file manager
• video player
• music player
• clock
• calculator
• Sokoban
• Snake
• Game of Life
• text editor

The ST7920 display is driven in parallel mode with a custom-written driver and a 1 KB video buffer in SRAM. The graphics functions range from a single pixel to text and XBM images. The AVR microcontroller runs at 16 MHz and everything runs on 8 KB of RAM, half of which is already taken up by global variables. That is why every byte of the buffer counts.

8×8 keyboard, debouncing and a 4-to-16 decoder

The keyboard has 64 keys in total, arranged in an 8×8 matrix that requires two 8-bit ports of the microcontroller. The keys were laid out in an 11×6 rectangle. Scanning happens column by column at hundreds of hertz, with software debouncing. In one revision a diode was added for each key and column selection moved to a 4-to-16 decoder. This way four pins are enough to select a column and the keyboard can expand to 16 columns.

The matrix rows are currently 6, but by reading a whole port of the microcontroller they can be brought to 8. The key labels were printed with a 0.25 mm nozzle. For the audio and memory side, the project relies on components that have a direct counterpart in the catalogue: an audio decoding shield for compressed formats, a microSD card reader with an SPI interface for the files, and a board that combines an ATmega2560 with Wi-Fi connectivity for anyone who would rather start from a different base.

24 fps video and XBM format plus MP3 in a single file

The video player uses a custom format with an XBM stream and MP3 in a single file. This way the player comfortably handles 24 fps video with audio, without keeping more in RAM than needed. The rest of the board is taken up by the RTC and the 18650 battery, which make the device self-contained. The enclosure was machined with a CNC3018 and 3D printed, while the schematics were drawn in EasyEDA.

Anyone who wants to rebuild the project will find the story of the work and the information to recreate it on the project page on Hackaday.io signed by Vladimir. Alternatively, an enclosure for an Arduino Mega can serve as a dimensional reference for the electronics, even though this laptop’s case is printed to measure.

Source: https://hackaday.io/project/206744-avr-laptop

Related products

• VS1053 MP3 Shield for Arduino
• MicroSD Card Reader module with SPI interface
• Board with ATMEGA2560 and ESP8266 Wi-Fi SoC Module

The post A DIY laptop built on the ATmega2560: real multitasking on 8 KB of RAM appeared first on Open Electronics.

With its new SOLO placement head, ASMPT SMT Solutions, the global market and technology leader in integrated hardware and software solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry, is expanding its portfolio of solutions for the production of complex circuit boards for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) applications. Developed especially for the reliable placement of particularly large and heavy processor BGAs, the new head can initially be used on the SIPLACE SX. It handles components measuring up to 240 × 240 millimetres (9.45 × 9.45 inches) and weighing over 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds), soon to be increased to up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds). 

The growing demand for AI applications and their associated computing power is driving the development of highly integrated multi-die modules. More transistors, higher memory bandwidths and thousands of power supply and signal connectors make processor BGAs increasingly complex, larger, and heavier. Whereas only one year ago large processor BGAs measured roughly 150 × 150 millimetres (9.45 × 9.45 inches) and weighed 500 grams (1.1 pounds), the next generation is already reaching 240 × 240 millimetres (8.45 × 9.45 inches) with weights of 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) – about two times the area and four times the weight. To meet the dynamic growth of the AI market, ASMPT has developed within six months its completely new SOLO placement head as the perfect solution for handling these ever larger and more expensive processors.

Specialist for large and heavy processor BGAs

The new SOLO head is specially designed for picking and placing processor BGAs of this size and weight class. It is based on a new single-segment architecture with a strengthened and stiffened axis. The connection between the placement head and the gantry as well as the interface between nozzle and segment were also designed to withstand the greater mechanical loads. The maximum placement force is 200 newtons. Construction-wise, the head is already designed for significantly heavier components weighing up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds).

Since the highly complex processors can cost more than 20,000 U.S. dollars, they must be handled with an appropriate level of safety and reliability. The nozzles are matched to the respective housing surfaces and take into account any areas that must not be touched during pickup. And since the mass inertia of the large BGAs can be taken into consideration in the movement profiles, acceleration and rotational movements can be customized for the respective component.

The SOLO placement head handles the final step

The processor is merely one of many components on an AI server board. Before it is placed, many ICs, condensers, connectors and super-small passive components must be processed. To accomplish this, various placement heads can be combined on SIPLACE placement machines in an SMT line: The CP20 handles the speedy placement of the smallest components, the CPP covers a broad component spectrum, and the TWIN VHF handles large, heavy and unusually shaped components. The expensive processor BGAs are installed at the very end of the placement process. The new SOLO head handles this particularly critical step and ensures that these large and heavy components are picked up and placed with reliability and precision.

Process reliability along the entire line

The placement of large processor BGAs is only one part of the manufacturing process. Material feeding, circuit board handling and quality control must also be designed to meet the special requirements of AI server applications. The SIPLACE SX provides the necessary functions. Heavy-duty conveyors ensure the safe transport of large and heavy circuit boards while the SIPLACE Smart Pin Support provides the necessary support and prevents PCBs from bending and vibrating during the placement process. And before placing the processor, the machine can inspect critical board segments, especially those in the processor’s target area, for foreign matter and ensure the presence and correct position of spacers. After picking up the processor, it checks BGA connectors optically and can optionally measure the coplanarity of the solder balls via 3D laser triangulation. With the SOLO placement head, the SIPLACE SX is now keeping pace with the rapid developments in the size and weight of processor BGAs.

The post ASMPT Presents New SOLO Placement Head for AI Server Applications appeared first on ELE Times.

CyteSi, a Menlo Park–based innovator in digital microfluidics, today announced the successful validation of a next generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation workflow on CyteSi’s proprietary Turing Biosystem D1 platform using NGS library preparation kits from QIAGEN GmbH. The validation was conducted by Intelligent Biosystems in Hangzhou, China, applying its industrial-scale biological data-generation capabilities and integrated workflows to support automated NGS library-preparation performance on the D1 platform.

Compared with conventional manual library preparation, the Turing Biosystem D1 enables fully automated NGS library preparation for up to six samples per run with less than five minutes of hands-on time. By miniaturizing and digitizing key liquid-handling steps, the D1 system can reduce reagent consumption and lower reagent costs by more than 70%, dramatically reduce labour requirements, and help minimize batch-to-batch variance.

These advantages are especially important for clinical diagnostics markets in North America, Europe, and Japan, where cost control, workflow standardization, reproducibility, and operational efficiency are critical to broader adoption of NGS based testing. CyteSi and QIAGEN are positioned to support future NGS workflow adoption through validated kit compatibility and automated library preparation, while Intelligent Biosystems’ validation work demonstrates the D1 platform’s readiness for broader clinical-diagnostics applications.

The post CyteSi and QIAGEN Advance Automated NGS Library Preparation on the Turing Biosystem D1 appeared first on ELE Times.

DigiKey, the global distribution leader of electronic components and automation products, is the exclusive distributor of the newly available Coralboard, a developer-ready edge AI board powered by Coral NPU technology from Google Research and Synaptics Astra embedded processors. Manufactured by Grinn, the development board offers a practical starting point for rapid prototyping, product evaluation, and production-oriented edge AI development.

“DigiKey is excited to partner with Synaptics and Google Research to bring the Synaptics Coralboard to the global engineering community,” said Mike Slater, vice president of global business development for DigiKey. “By carrying the full stack, from development board to module to silicon, DigiKey can support edge AI developers at every stage from experimentation to production. Google Research, Synaptics and Grinn have delivered a game-changing dev board to the electronics industry, and we are excited to support them in getting the board into the hands of engineers, designers, makers and developers worldwide.”

What is Coralboard?

The Coralboard is a development platform for edge AI powered by Coral NPU from Google Research and Synaptics Astra embedded processors. Built for rapid prototyping, the board features an integrated Coral NPU for fast, efficient on device AI acceleration, giving you the power to create, test, and deploy smart experiences with ease. The kit is fully equipped with everything needed to bring development projects to life and offers seamless plug-and-play support for cameras, displays and audio. It also effortlessly keeps devices connected with versatile options like Ethernet-over-USB and optional support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules.

The Coralboard edge AI development board is available now from DigiKey worldwide. Designed for ultra-low-power, always-on applications using ambient sensing, the dev board enables fast, efficient on-device inference and supports all day AI experiences in battery-constrained form factors.

Typical Coralboard applications include smart cameras, industrial monitoring, predictive maintenance, voice-enabled devices and battery-powered edge AI systems.

The Coralboard is intended for embedded developers, AI and machine learning engineers, system architects, product teams, and device manufacturers building the next generation of intelligent edge products. Teams can begin with Coralboard for evaluation and rapid prototyping, move to product prototyping and integration, and scale to full production designs. This flexible path helps developers explore real-world AI workloads, validate product concepts, and move from experimentation to production using a common Edge AI technology foundation.

“We are excited that the Synaptics Coralboard is now available directly for developers through DigiKey,” said Billy Rutledge, director for Google Research. “With Coralboard, it is easier than ever to bring advanced AI to the edge, and this platform reflects our shared commitment to secure and accessible Edge AI for developers around the globe.”

“With Google’s Coral NPU technology, we are enabling a cutting-edge class of systems where power efficiency, performance and on-device intelligence characterize developer experience,” said Vikram Gupta, SVP & GM, edge compute & connectivity solutions division for Synaptics. “The Coralboard provides users and OEMs a faster path to building and deploying at-scale AI products for the edge.”

The post Synaptics Coralboard Edge AI Development Board, Powered by Coral NPU technology From Google Research, Now Available Exclusively From DigiKey appeared first on ELE Times.

This year again, Futura Elettronica, Elettronica In and Open Electronics are among the sponsors of Maker Faire Rome, the European fair for makers, inventors and technology enthusiasts. The 2026 edition is the 14th and runs from 23 to 25 October at the Gazometro Ostiense in Rome.

You can find us at stand M15 on all three days of the fair.

At stand M15 in Maker Faire Rome 2026

We bring as much electronics as we can carry: boards, kits, components, instruments, the magazine and books. At the stand you can also talk to us about your projects, ask for technical advice or simply see the products up close before choosing them.

Want to see a specific product?

If you already know what you are looking for, tell us before the fair. We cannot bring the whole catalog, but we will do our best to have your product at the stand, so you can see it in person.

Useful information

• When: Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October 2026
• Where: Gazometro Ostiense, Rome
• Our stand: M15
• Tickets and programme: on the official website, makerfairerome.eu

See you at the Gazometro!

The post Maker Faire Rome 2026: We Are Sponsors Again, See You at Stand M15 appeared first on Open Electronics.

ROHM has developed the SDR01 series) of anti-surge chip resistors, which offers a class-leading* rated power of 0.33 W in the 0402 (1005 metric) package. Designed for electronic equipment with ever-increasing mounting density, this series is particularly well suited to applications in the automotive, industrial, consumer electronics and AI server sectors.

Key features and benefits

The new products save board space and reduce component count, thanks to the ability to replace larger resistors and to group resistors together, while still maintaining the reliability required of anti-surge chip resistors.

Market trends and application requirements

As electronic equipment becomes increasingly sophisticated and demands more power, the automotive, industrial and consumer goods markets are seeing growing demand for electronic components that combine compact size with high power handling capability. These trends are also driving demand for smaller, highly reliable chip resistors, including anti-surge products. In power supply circuits and near interfaces, resistance to overvoltage and electrostatic discharge (ESD) is required, along with the ability to handle high power.

Optimised design and performance

To meet these requirements, ROHM has optimised the resistive element and electrode design of the SDR01 series, thereby ensuring a high rated power in the 0402 package while also guaranteeing the reliability expected of high-performance anti-surge chip resistors. The new products deliver 0.33 W up to a terminal rated temperature of Tk = 125 °C. This makes them easier to use in environments with challenging thermal conditions, such as high-density mounting and the areas surrounding heat-generating components, helping to reduce thermal design complexity. In addition, these products achieve a TCR of ±100 ppm/°C for 10 Ω ≤ R ≤ 2.2 MΩ. By eliminating resistance value fluctuations caused by temperature changes, these products ensure stable circuit operation and make it easier to build more compact and reliable power supply and peripheral interface circuits.

Availability and sales channels

Mass production of the new products and online sales have also begun: the products are available for purchase through ROHM’s online store and via online distributors such as DigiKey and Farnell.

Future outlook

ROHM will continue to expand its line-up of high-reliability chip resistors, contributing to greater miniaturisation and power handling capability, as well as higher reliability of electronic equipment.

Application examples

Power supply and control circuits in the automotive, industrial and consumer electronics sectors that require compact size, as well as high power handling capability and reliability.

*ROHM research dated 10 September 2026

The post ROHM SDR01: 0.33 W anti-surge resistors in an 0402 package appeared first on Open Electronics.

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. announces the development of the world’s smallest 008004-inch size (0.25mm × 0.125mm) NTC thermistor, the NCU01 series. Compared with Murata’s previous smallest 01005-inch size (0.4mm × 0.2mm) product, the new series reduces mounting area by approximately 60% while achieving equivalent temperature sensing performance, with resistance tolerance of ±1% and B-constant tolerance of ±1%. Its ultra-compact size enables temperature sensing to be positioned in increasingly restricted spaces and closer to heat-generating components, supporting more accurate and responsive thermal monitoring in smartphones, wearable devices, and other densely integrated electronic devices.

Murata plans to begin sample shipments in October 2026 and mass production during 2027. The line-up will be expanded progressively, beginning with 100kΩ and 10kΩ resistance values.

Bringing Temperature Sensing Closer to the Heat Source

As electronic devices continue to become smaller and more sophisticated, component density on circuit boards and inside modules continues to increase. As a result, mounting space for electronic components is limited, making it difficult to place NTC thermistors close to heat-generating components. If a thermistor must be placed farther from the heat source, the measured temperature can differ from the actual component temperature, while rapid temperature changes may also take longer to detect.

This creates a demand for smaller NTC thermistors that can be positioned closer to critical components without consuming valuable board space. However, continued miniaturization makes high-precision processing and manufacturing more difficult, making it more challenging to maintain consistent sensing characteristics. For NTC thermistors, tight resistance and B-constant tolerances are critical to enable stable temperature sensing.

High-Precision Performance at 008004-inch Size

Murata addressed these challenges through its proprietary ceramic materials technology, high-precision processing, and optimization of the component structure and manufacturing process to develop the world’s smallest 008004-inch size NTC thermistor. Despite its significantly smaller footprint, the new NCU01 series maintains the ±1% resistance and B constant tolerances achieved by Murata’s previous 01005-inch size product.

By reducing the mounting area by approximately 60%, the NCU01 can be placed in locations that are difficult to accommodate with larger thermistors, including closer to heat-generating components. This can help reduce the temperature difference and detection delay associated with more distant measurement points while contributing to the stable operation of electronic devices with high-density component layouts.

Primary applications include temperature monitoring on circuit boards in smartphones and wearable devices, as well as in integrated circuit (IC) packages and system-in-package (SiP) modules.

Murata will continue to expand its NTC thermistor line-up and contribute to further miniaturization and improved reliability of electronic devices. For product inquiries, please contact us here.

The post Murata Develops World’s Smallest 008004-inch Size (0.25mm × 0.125mm) NTC Thermistor for Space-Constrained Temperature Sensing appeared first on ELE Times.

Guerrilla RF Inc (GRF) of Greensboro, NC, USA — which provides radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for wireless applications — says that new nonlinear simulation models for its GRF0005 and GRF0012 gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors are now available in the Modelithics COMPLETE Library...

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA – which designs and makes lightweight, flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels that can be integrated into consumer products, off-grid applications and aerospace applications – has announced a new partnership with Darley Defense (a global provider of defense, fire and emergency services equipment) to expand access to Ascent’s thin-film PV products throughout defense, federal, space and public sector markets...

Vector has released Chiisai, a fully open and royalty-free specification that radically simplifies the development of hardware abstraction layers (HALs) on small microcontrollers. Chiisai aims to keep HAL implementations deliberately lean: the specification focuses on the essential basic functions, thereby reducing the software footprint and supporting efficient use of microcontrollers with limited resources. The name Chiisai, which means “small” in Japanese, reflects the specification’s focus on resource-constrained microcontrollers, commonly used in sensors, actuators and other compact embedded systems.

Standardised interfaces and separation between drivers and middleware

The Chiisai specification defines standardised interfaces for the relevant basic and communication functions and clearly separates drivers from middleware. This makes it easier to reuse software components across different hardware platforms.

Developed in collaboration with the semiconductor industry

Chiisai was developed in close collaboration with Infineon Technologies, the world market leader in microcontrollers (Omdia, 2025). Infineon Technologies contributed its extensive experience in microcontrollers and hardware to the development of the Chiisai specification, helping to ensure that it was specifically tailored to small microcontrollers. The goal is to standardise HAL development on small microcontrollers in a practical, efficient and vendor-neutral way. Besides Infineon, other semiconductor manufacturers, such as Microchip Technology, are already actively supporting the Chiisai standard and are jointly driving the creation of an open, vendor-neutral software ecosystem.

An open standard for a growing software ecosystem

The Chiisai HAL specification provides an open standard that simplifies the development of vendor-independent HALs. The specification significantly lowers the barriers to entry, enabling the rapid development of custom HALs and their use by a wide range of middleware solutions, regardless of the microcontroller or hardware manufacturer. This creates a growing, cross-vendor ecosystem that promotes interoperability, reduces integration effort and facilitates collaboration between OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers and semiconductor manufacturers. As a result, companies throughout the value chain benefit from easier access to modern embedded software stacks and SDVs.

Full compatibility with MICROSAR IO

The interfaces of Vector’s new base-layer software, MICROSAR IO, are fully compatible with the Chiisai specification. Once a Chiisai-compliant HAL is available for a microcontroller, MICROSAR IO can be deployed on that hardware platform without any additional customisation effort. At the same time, MICROSAR IO is just one of many middleware solutions that can be built on top of a Chiisai-based HAL.

Availability

Chiisai is available at the following repository: https://github.com/vectorgrp/chiisai-hal-specification

More information about Chiisai on the Vector website: www.vector.com/en/industries/automotive/application-areas/chiisai-specification/

The post Chiisai: an open standard for HAL on microcontrollers appeared first on Open Electronics.

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA (a dual-use defense & security integrated platform company) has received a public warning letter from NYSE Regulation on behalf of NYSE American LLC...

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — says that its EPC2361 100V eGaN FETs have been used in a high-performance buck-boost converter reference design from Analog Devices Inc (ADI)...

Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden (which supplies RF beam-former ICs and lasers for AI data-center, SATCOM, defense and telecom applications) says that its strategic LiDAR customer has initiated production orders for its automotive and industrial sensing customers...

A programmable WiFi camera costing just a few euros that, paired with a P.I.R. motion sensor, becomes a security tool able to communicate with our smartphones through Telegram.

ESP32-Cam: the cheap camera for video surveillance

The topic of security and video surveillance is increasingly discussed and current, and it is a field of great importance, subject to continuous development thanks to the technological evolution we are witnessing, especially in recent years. It is precisely the refinement and development of technology that have made it possible to apply video surveillance in many sectors and contexts, down to the simplest everyday situations. In fact, today more than ever, technology aims to reduce the cost and size of the installation, so as to broaden its modes as well as its fields of use; not to mention the fact that solutions based on local networks and the Internet have been born, which have greatly extended the application possibilities.

What can we expect, then, from the new systems? Certainly a lot, since the new solutions let us use greater, simplified and extremely innovative functionality. An example of all this could be a cheap camera, lightweight, small in size, already equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth; this is exactly what AI-Thinker offers with the ESP32-Cam which, with its 40.5x27x4.5 dimensions, could be considered the “Swiss army knife” for every maker ( Fig. 1 ).

Technical characteristics of the module

The latter, following the now well-known and indispensable board based on the ESP8266, features an ESP32 module equipped with a connector to host a separate camera module and a slot for an SD card up to a maximum of 4GB. In detail, we can note that the ESP32-Cam module is based on the ESP32, a programmable microcontroller with integrated WiFi and Bluetooth and an additional external RAM of no less than 4MB.

Not only that, the new camera connector can host an OV2640 or OV7670 module: the first comes with the module itself and has a resolution of 2 Megapixels.

On the board there is also a high-brightness LED, which can be used as a flash or as an illuminator for the scene to be captured. Naturally, the many GPIOs present on the board let us mount an external one if lighting is poor. For small applications this chip proves very robust and with great processing power, being based on two 32-bit processing cores running with a clock at 120 MHz. This last characteristic allows it to have a fairly high frame rate, obviously depending on the format and dimensions: indicatively you can reach a throughput of up to 8 JPEGs in SVGA (800×600) per second.

An access control system

Let us now see how to exploit every peculiarity of this interesting device. In particular its dimensions, so small that you can build an access control system even inside a single room or a garage. All this by capturing frames for every entry.

But from a practical point of view you might ask yourself: what to do with these photos? When to check them? Examining the different levels of difficulty, in first place we find the need to capture a correct and precise image.

To do this we will build a peripheral able to share and report these accesses in real time directly on our smartphones or by populating our own private cloud.

Operating principle

The ESP32-Cam will take care of detecting, through the PIR motion sensor ( Fig. 3 ), the entry into the surveilled space and the movement within it.

When the latter is crossed, the PIR detects the heat radiation from the moving body and is triggered; its output, which at rest is at logic zero, will then go to a high level, activating the camera, which will store the bytes in a pointer that was previously NULL. If this structure is not populated correctly, the emergency procedure will step in and reset our device.

Notifying the intrusion: HTTP or MQTT

It only remains to understand how to notify the intrusion to the outside world and what timing to use to be able to shoot again. As for the notification we have several solutions we can exploit: for example the http/https APIs or the MQTT protocol. Both solutions open up different scenarios and can even coexist. Let us proceed in order and examine them case by case.

• 1) http/https APIs: these are the classic http calls (or in the secure https version) POST or GET to a server that will take charge of the request in question; the services and APIs of Telegram or third-party services for interacting with our smartphones are of this type. This solution involves a first connect phase towards the remote server; if this succeeds, the client, in our case the device, starts sending the bytes of the photo.
• 2) MQTT protocol: this recently published protocol is the basis of many home automation objects we have at home and involves sending simple text messages, often encapsulated in JSON, which inform other smart devices.

In our example we will use the http APIs to communicate with the Telegram server to which we will send our photo. Finally we will set a final delay so we can capture a new photo.

This can also be zero if you want to obtain a high-intensity sequence of photos. This delay, as will be seen in the code, will be very important to avoid taking photos in bursts. Naturally, if instead you are interested in shooting in rapid sequence you can omit this delay.

Using a button instead of the PIR

If a PIR motion sensor (passive infrared radar) is not available, it can be replaced with a button ( Fig. 4 ) and thus provide the trigger manually; perhaps the button contact can be replaced with a mat contact, to shoot whenever a person sets foot in a certain area, such as in front of a door.

As for the passive infrared sensor, the circuit expects that at “rest” the signal provided is at a low logic level and that it goes high in case of detection.

By connecting, instead, the button of Fig. 4 directly to the line reserved for the PIR, the behaviour will be inverted if the same is closed towards ground.

Connections

Let us now move on to putting the module into operation. Naturally, first we will create the connection for programming the firmware of the ESP32-Cam through Arduino. This step can also be done through an FTDI adapter, making the wiring, at least during the programming phase, extremely easier.

As a first step let us identify the TX and RX pins on our Esp32-Cam, called respectively U0TXD and U0RXD, and we will connect them with the TX and RX pins of the Arduino. In the camera module these pins also represent the GPIO1 and GPIO3 pins.

We will connect the GND and GPIO0 pins of the latter to ground, together with the GND and RESET pins of the Arduino, and the two 5V pins to each other. For the connection we can help ourselves with a breadboard like the one in the photo. Summarising in table form what was expressed previously, we have the situation proposed in Table 1 .

The wiring diagram of the programming circuit is proposed in Fig. 5 .

Let us now add the connection with the PIR sensor: besides the power supply, that is the 3V3 and GND contacts to be brought to the respective VCC and GND of the sensor, we will bring the cable for the actuation signal, starting from pin GPIO13 ( Fig. 6 ), making the following connections:

• Esp32->PIR
• 3V3->VCC
• GND->GND
• GPIO13->OUT

Once the ESP32-Cam module is programmed, it is necessary to remove the connection between GPIO0 and GND. The whole circuit is powered through the Arduino Uno, that is by supplying the latter with a voltage between 8 and 12V using a stabilised power supply with a DC plug suitable for the Arduino one; the current required is in the order of 500 milliamperes.

Firmware

Before proceeding with programming we should set up ArduinoIDE, that is our development environment, so we can write correctly to the module. Let us therefore open the Arduino IDE and go to File->Preferences and add in the Additional Boards Manager URLs this link https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json and click OK ( Fig. 7 ).

If you already have one or more URLs, use a comma to concatenate them, exactly as in the example. Now let’s download the board manager correctly: go to Tools -> Board: XXXX -> Boards Manager…, search for “esp32” and install the only result of the search (Fig. 8).

On exiting, select Tools -> Board: XXXX again and you will notice a new entry, ESP32 Arduino, which contains several other choices. Select ESP32 Wrover Module, after which a new line will appear in that same menu: Partition scheme, in which we will choose Huge APP (Fig. 9).

Now we have everything we need to upload the firmware to the device, so let’s connect the USB and select the correct port (that is, the one the system tells us the board is connected to) and then click Upload.

At this point we have completed the installation and configuration of the IDE, so we can upload the firmware, which we describe below.

The sketch

Let’s now look at the code for the project firmware, which for the sake of brevity we will not reproduce in full here, bearing in mind that it is available for download together with the files for this issue.

We present a few excerpts of the firmware, showing in Listing 1 the most substantial part, which is the routine that handles sending the image captured by the on-board camera via Telegram.

Listing 1

String alerts2Telegram(String token, String chat_id) { const char* myDomain = “api.telegram.org”; String getAll=””, getBody = “”; camera_fb_t * fb = NULL; fb = esp_camera_fb_get(); if(!fb) { Serial.println(“Camera capture failed”); delay(1000); ESP.restart(); return “Camera capture failed”; } WiFiClientSecure client_tcp; if (client_tcp.connect(myDomain, 443)) { Serial.println(“Connected to ” + String(myDomain)); String head = “–India\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\”chat_id\”; \r\n\r\n” + chat_id + “\r\n–India\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\”photo\”; filename=\”esp32-cam.jpg\”\r\nContent-Type: image/jpeg\r\n\r\n”; String tail = “\r\n–India–\r\n”; uint16_t imageLen = fb->len; uint16_t extraLen = head.length() + tail.length(); uint16_t totalLen = imageLen + extraLen; client_tcp.println(“POST /bot”+token+”/sendPhoto HTTP/1.1”); client_tcp.println(“Host: ” + String(myDomain)); client_tcp.println(“Content-Length: ” + String(totalLen)); client_tcp.println(“Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=India”); client_tcp.println(); client_tcp.print(head); uint8_t *fbBuf = fb->buf; size_t fbLen = fb->len; for (size_t n=0;n<fbLen;n=n+1024) { if (n+1024<fbLen) { client_tcp.write(fbBuf, 1024); fbBuf += 1024; } else if (fbLen%1024>0) { size_t remainder = fbLen%1024; client_tcp.write(fbBuf, remainder); } } client_tcp.print(tail); esp_camera_fb_return(fb); int waitTime = 10000; // timeout 10 seconds long startTime = millis(); boolean state = false; while ((startTime + waitTime) > millis()) { Serial.print(“.”); delay(100); while (client_tcp.available()) { char c = client_tcp.read(); if (c == ‘\n’) { if (getAll.length()==0) state=true; getAll = “”; } else if (c != ‘\r’) getAll += String(c); if (state==true) getBody += String(c); startTime = millis(); } if (getBody.length()>0) break; } client_tcp.stop(); Serial.println(getBody); } else { getBody = “Connection to telegram failed.”; Serial.println(“Connection to telegram failed.”); } return getBody; }

Below we show the first portion of code, which defines the pins used to drive the camera: note that all the pins are connected “internally” on the board except for pin 13, which is external and to which the PIR motion sensor is connected. This definition is handled by these lines of code:

#define PWDN_GPIO_NUM 32 #define RESET_GPIO_NUM -1 #define XCLK_GPIO_NUM 0 #define SIOD_GPIO_NUM 26 #define SIOC_GPIO_NUM 27 #define Y9_GPIO_NUM 35 #define Y8_GPIO_NUM 34 #define Y7_GPIO_NUM 39 #define Y6_GPIO_NUM 36 #define Y5_GPIO_NUM 21 #define Y4_GPIO_NUM 19 #define Y3_GPIO_NUM 18 #define Y2_GPIO_NUM 5 #define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM 25 #define HREF_GPIO_NUM 23 #define PCLK_GPIO_NUM 22 int gpioPIR = 13; //PIR Motion Sensor

In the loop cycle the state of the PIR is checked; when the sensor output goes high (1) the routine “alerts2Telegram” is called:

void loop() { pinMode(gpioPIR, INPUT_PULLUP); int v = digitalRead(gpioPIR); if (v==1){ alerts2Telegram(token, chat_id); delay(5000); } delay(500); }

As you can see from the comments in the code, the first four constants must be changed respectively to your own WiFi credentials and two other parameters provided instead by Telegram.

Configuring the Telegram bot with BotFather

So let’s retrieve those last two values. Open the Telegram app on your smartphone and tap the magnifying glass to search for BotFather (Fig. 10).

Through this chat we can create our first bot, that is, a non-human user capable of performing actions of varying complexity; if you prefer, a robot… So let’s open the BotFather chat, type /newbot and follow the on-screen instructions.

At the end of the procedure we will be issued the token to substitute in our third constant, namely token (Fig. 11).

Let’s now get the last constant, so tap the magnifying glass again and search for the bot we just created: once found, just open it and press Start. It would also be a good idea to write something in this chat and send it. In our case we just write “Hello” and send the message.

Now open a browser session and paste the following link:

https://api.telegram.org/bot<BOTToken>/getUpdates where BOTToken is exactly the token extracted in the previous step. In response to this action, the browser will show a json, that is, a data structure formatted in a certain way, similar to the following:

{ “ok”:true, “result”:[ { “update_id”:YYYYYY, “message”:{ “message_id”:18, “from”:{ “id”:XXXXXXXX, “is_bot”:false, “first_name”:”YOUR FULL TELEGRAM NAME”, “username”:”YOUR TELEGRAM USERNAME”, “language_code”:”it” }, “chat”:{ “id”: XXXXXXXX, “first_name”:”YOUR FULL TELEGRAM NAME”, “username”:”YOUR TELEGRAM USERNAME”, “type”:”private” }, “date”:1600324371, “text”:”Hello” } } ] }

This structure is the interactions with the bot by users. We are interested in the id of the chat where we just sent “Hello”, that is, the one in bold in the example. This ID is exactly the last piece we needed to substitute for chat_id in the code.

Alternative alarm control

Now that we have managed to get a basic solution for access control, it would be appropriate to have remote control of it, not just a mere visualization. It would be useful to be able to operate this control without needing to be physically there to turn the device on and off.

To do this, having a web server is essential. It can be a space rented through services such as Aruba, Register or other similar services, or simply a Raspberry Pi connected to the network with a LAMP base, that is, a solution featuring a Unix/Linux base, an http server engine and a PHP language for writing the scripts.

Actually LAMP is the acronym of its components and would include the Linux operating system, Apache (http server engine), MySql (database engine) and finally the PHP/Python language. In our case the database is superfluous but it could be a more correct and advanced solution.

Inside our server we will put three files: lock.php, lock.txt and finally read.php. The first is the “writer” service, that is, the one that will set the state of our device. Here is the code:

<?php echo getcwd(); $myfile = fopen(“lock.txt”, “w”) or die(“Unable to open file!”); $txt = $_GET[‘status’]; fwrite($myfile, $txt); fclose($myfile); ?>

The second is the file we will use as a database, which contains the state of our device: it is simply a text file in which to put the state “on” or “off”. By default we will set it to “on”.

And finally we have the “reader” service, that is, the one that, inserted into the code of our ESP32, will read the remote state and trigger the notifications or not. Below is the code for the latter:

<?php $myfile = fopen(“lock.txt”, “r”) or die(“Unable to open file!”); echo fread($myfile,filesize(“lock.txt”)); fclose($myfile); ?>

Updating the sketch for remote control

So one might wonder how the code of our ESP32Cam will change; well, very little, because in fact we will simply have to add a new check in addition to the existing one for the Telegram connection.

Here, in fact, we need to insert a call to the reading service so that we can work out which state we are in and whether the photo that has just been taken is of interest to us or not.

Let’s see how to modify it: in the upper part of the code, where the various includes are, we need to add this line:

#include <HTTPClient.h>

Which gives us:

#include <WiFi.h> #include <WiFiClientSecure.h> #include <HTTPClient.h> #include “soc/soc.h” #include “soc/rtc_cntl_reg.h” #include “esp_camera.h”

Now let’s add the check alongside the Telegram connection. Inside the alerts2Telegram function we will in fact add this instruction:

&& control()

Which gives us:

String alerts2Telegram(String token, String chat_id) { const char* myDomain = “api.telegram.org”; String getAll=””, getBody = “”; camera_fb_t * fb = NULL; fb = esp_camera_fb_get(); if(!fb) { Serial.println(“Camera capture failed”); delay(1000); ESP.restart(); return “Camera capture failed”; } WiFiClientSecure client_tcp; if (client_tcp.connect(myDomain, 443) && control()) { Serial.println(“Connected to “+String(myDomain));

Finally, let’s create the control function mentioned in the previous step and add it at the end of the whole code:

boolean control(){ HTTPClient http; boolean ret = false; String serverPath = “http://SERVER_ADDRESS/read.php”; http.begin(serverPath.c_str()); int httpResponseCode = http.GET(); if (httpResponseCode>0) { Serial.print(“HTTP Response code: “); Serial.println(httpResponseCode); String payload = http.getString(); Serial.println(payload); if(payload==”on”){ ret = true; } } else { Serial.print(“Error code: “); Serial.println(httpResponseCode); } http.end(); return ret; }

As you can see, with just a few extra lines we have made the control of the device remote.

Now all we have to do is call the following URL from an ordinary browser:

http:// SERVER_ADDRESS /lock.php?status=on

to activate it, while to deactivate it we change the status value from on to off.

Conclusions

Well, let’s end the description of this project dedicated to Telegram-assisted video surveillance here; what we have given you are development ideas that can be customised to your needs, starting from the firmware and the basic hardware, which as you have seen is very simple, being reduced practically to the ESP32-Cam module and a presence sensor.

Related products

• D203S motion sensor module
• ESP32-CAM Development Board: ESP32 with camera

The post ESP32-CAM: video surveillance with a PIR sensor on Telegram appeared first on Open Electronics.

In the huge number of industrial applications built on the latest technologies, nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries remain a reliable solution. Their spread depends not only on performance but also on characteristics that are becoming more and more important. Designers, manufacturers and distributors look at requirements such as safety, stability and resistance to environmental conditions, but also at how simple the battery is to manage along the global supply chain.

It is precisely on this combination of key factors that the experience of Cebon Group comes into play, both for the industrial sector and for the consumer side. Both markets share a common denominator: the need for a tangible answer to the concrete demands of contemporary industry. For this reason, Cebon Industrial and GP Batteries work constantly not only to increase battery capacity or life, but to develop “lean” solutions. Innovation that directly affects what happens inside the battery during operation also involves other elements, such as environmental impact, safety in handling and the ability to move the product with far greater efficiency.

The safest, most stable chemistry

One of the distinctive elements of the new GP NiMH batteries is the use of a water-based electrolyte. This feature helps reduce the environmental impact of the solution and, at the same time, strengthens the stability of the battery compared with traditional technologies.

NiMH chemistry is intrinsically more “tolerant” of use and abuse and has no thermal runaway mechanism, that is, the uncontrolled propagation of rising temperature that can affect other chemistries. This does not mean, however, that a battery can be handled without precautions: design, assembly, protection and operating conditions must still meet many criteria. Even so, having greater chemical stability translates into a significant advantage in industrial applications, where reliability and safety must be guaranteed even in environments considered difficult.

Next-generation NiMH batteries can operate over a particularly wide temperature range, roughly from -35 °C up to +85 °C. This makes them suitable for all those devices and systems meant to work in harsh environments, where thermal swings, intense cold or high temperatures can put components to the test.

On top of the thermal requirements comes an operating life of 500-1,000 full cycles, with performance that stays stable and predictable. For OEMs and designers, predictability is an essential value, because it allows them to develop more reliable products, plan maintenance better and reduce the risk of operational interruptions.

Environmental impact as a design standard

In the mainstream, the topic of battery sustainability is mainly associated with the final stage of their life cycle, that is, collection, recycling and the extraction of materials that can still be used. Today, however, environmental impact is also assessed across the entire life cycle, which includes factors such as the choice of materials, production models, packaging and distribution.

From this point of view, the use of a water-based electrolyte signals, on the part of GP Batteries, a research approach that considers not only performance but also the nature of the materials and the safety of the solution. A more stable and longer-lasting battery helps reduce how often it has to be replaced, with positive effects on the use of resources, on spare-part management and on the waste generated over the life of the product.

Sustainability, obviously, cannot be attributed to a single element without considering the overall context: battery design, production processes, the actual life of the component, as well as the type of application and the end-of-life recovery methods. It is significant, though, that R&D on industrial batteries is increasingly moving towards solutions able to merge performance and environmental responsibility.

The supply chain as a strength

A battery is indeed a technical component, but it is also a product that is bought, packed, transported, stored and delivered. Cebon Industrial deals every day with globalised trade, characterised by international supply chains and factors such as frequent shipments and increasingly fragmented delivery times, putting at the centre logistics aspects that directly affect the competitiveness of a product.

In recent years, supply chains have had to endure geopolitical crises, diversions of maritime routes, rising transport costs, shortages of raw materials and new regulations. In this context, reducing constraints along the logistics chain is no small thing, because it means gaining flexibility and increasing the ability to react to the unexpected.

If a battery is designed to be managed in a less complex way, when regulatory conditions allow it, it simplifies the handling stages. How? Through less paperwork, fewer restrictions due to the type of carrier and less time needed to prepare the shipment, since there will be fewer risks of delay caused by additional procedures. As a result, the advantage does not only affect transport cost, but the whole predictability of the logistics process.

With the just-in-time model calling the shots, even a small delay propagates along the entire chain: a postponed delivery affects assembly schedules and the distribution of the finished product (thus also increasing management costs). A battery that is “simpler” to ship, on the other hand, helps keep more shipping options open, whether by sea, air or road, depending on the urgency and the characteristics of the orders.

Transport regulations

For private consumers, at the time of purchase, many batteries cannot be delivered via locker or hub but only to a direct destination. This is because the rules for handling batteries do not provide for final storage at pick-up points, precisely because of the possible instability of the product in relation to environmental conditions.

As for the actual shipment of the material (for example from manufacturer to distributor), the packaging of batteries refers to various regulations depending on the type of shipment, whether by land, sea or air. UN 3496 identifies nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries, which are classified as Class 9 dangerous goods. This regulation applies exclusively to international maritime transport, so, as mentioned, the battery is not subject to the same constraints in every mode of transport. For example, in air transport NiMH batteries can be considered not subject to the restrictions laid down for dangerous goods, provided they are correctly prepared (for instance to prevent short circuits and unintentional activation). In this case the reference regulation is Special Provision A199 – IATA.

Regulations also exist for road transport, as for example for lithium batteries (UN 3480 – UN 3481, with Class 9 classification, the same as for Ni-MH), although the treatment logically varies from type to type, with application depending on the packaging, the quantity, the shipping configuration, and so on.

A more stable NiMH battery is therefore not a way to “bypass” the rules; rather, it makes operating procedures easier within a regulatory framework that is potentially simpler than that of other chemistries, without ever departing from safety standards. The correct classification of the product must always be verified against the technical documentation, the product safety data sheet, and with the carrier and the person responsible for the shipment.

Innovation beyond the battery

The evolution of industrial batteries shows that it is no longer enough to focus only on increasing performance, because the product must be safe during use, stable in difficult environmental conditions, designed with attention to the impact of its materials and simpler to manage in logistics processes.

GP Batteries’ research into NiMH chemistry has touched all these aspects: from composition to life, from thermal resistance to safety, right through to simplifying handling. This approach is particularly relevant for mission-critical applications, where the battery must guarantee operational continuity but also slot into supply and distribution flows without friction.

In a context where global supply chains continue to be put under severe strain, flexibility and less dependence on unforeseen events help make the system more resilient.

The post Next-Generation NiMH Batteries: Performance, Safety and a Lean Supply Chain appeared first on Open Electronics.

DigiKey, a global leader in the distribution of electronic components and automation products, will present new innovative products and successful projects at its booth N.01 during Maker Faire Rome, from 23 to 25 October 2026. DigiKey is a Gold partner of the event, which brings together hundreds of makers from around the world to share their projects with the public.

“DigiKey’s presence at Maker Faire Rome 2026 reflects our commitment to providing makers, students, teachers and professional engineers with accessible technologies, technical training and hands-on innovation,” said Kevin Walseth, Senior Manager, Technical Marketing for DigiKey. “The event lets us connect directly with attendees, showcase supplier technologies in real applications and strengthen relationships within the maker community.”

Demos and more at the DigiKey booth

DigiKey experts will present new and successful products and projects, such as:

• Sparkfun’s XRP, an experiential robotics platform designed to make learning robotics accessible to everyone
• An XRP robot controlled through a home automation assistant
• AgXRP, a modular kit for agricultural automation designed to combine robotics, sensors and real farming technologies
• Adafruit’s NeoTrellis, a PCB with an elastomer button kit and full-color NeoPixel support
• Arduino’s UNO Q, a microcontroller and single-board computer development board, and VENTUNO Q, an edge AI computer
• Synaptics’ Coralboard, an edge AI board based on Synaptics’ Astra compute technology and Google’s Coral NPU
• DFRobot’s LattePanda and UNIHIKER single-board computers, and HUSKYLENS 2, an AI vision sensor
• A virtual sand demo using an LED matrix and Adafruit’s Matrix Portal
• A self-balancing robot from M5Stack
• Kitronik will have its Mai-Z robots on display, along with a soccer pitch where attendees can face off playing robot soccer

Visitors who stop by the DigiKey booth will also have the chance to take home a DigiKey bag and other DigiKey-branded gadgets.

Now in its fourteenth edition, Maker Faire Rome is an event that facilitates and tells the story of technological innovation in a simple and accessible way, connecting companies, universities, people and ideas. Over the past 13 years, the event has attracted almost 900,000 visitors and has showcased more than 8,000 projects.

For more information about the DigiKey maker community, visit the Maker.io page on the DigiKey website.

The post DigiKey at Maker Faire Rome 2026: robotics, edge AI and makers appeared first on Open Electronics.

Літній відпочинок з Профкомом КПІ 2026 Інформація КП вт, 10/20/2026 - 10:00

Інна Трус. Як зберегти воду, обладнання і довкілля Інформація КП вт, 10/20/2026 - 00:00

У кампусі КПІ — зелене поповнення KPI4U-2 пн, 10/19/2026 - 22:48

I’ve been splice soldering for years but this is my very first attempt at PCB soldering. Everything works as it should so that’s good. submitted by /u/jcass86 [link] [comments]