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A maker designed a custom chip, had it manufactured, and the chip works. Zachary Tong described a processor based on TTA (transport triggered architecture), took it to a foundry through wafer.space and demonstrated the result on a breadboard with a Raspberry Pi Pico and a row of LEDs. Until recently an experiment like this was not economically within reach of an individual: today wafer.space’s 1 x 1 slot measures 3.93 x 5.12 mm and costs 8,000 dollars, while each die produced costs 7 dollars.

The starting point is describing the circuits with Spade, a hardware description language with modern features. From there you move on to physical design, a step comparable to the jump from a schematic to a PCB layout. At this stage packaging and the physics of electron flow matter a great deal, because the real behaviour of silicon does not match what you write in code.

From the GDS file to the die: how production works

The result of physical design is a GDS (graphic design system) file, which is used for the actual production. wafer.space collects the order together with those of other projects and sends it to the foundry: the dies come back after a few months. The process used is GF180MCU at 180 nm, so a mature, well-established technology, not an advanced node.

There is, however, a detail that anyone wanting to repeat the experience has to take into account. wafer.space does not verify the functionality of the project: whether the design works is a matter of luck. On top of that, the service can mount the dies in usable COB (chip-on-board) packages, so the chip can really be connected to something. In Tong’s case luck helped, because the custom chip worked on the first attempt.

The LEDs on the breadboard show the processor’s registers

The final demonstration sits on a breadboard, with a Raspberry Pi Pico alongside and a row of LEDs as the interface. The LEDs indicate the values in the processor’s registers and show their patterns: it is the most direct way to see that the die does what it was supposed to do. Instead of a screen or a serial port, Tong chose the light of the diodes, which makes the chip’s behaviour immediately visible.

• Spade, the hardware description language used to describe the circuits
• The GDS file, that is, the result of physical design ready for the foundry
• wafer.space, which collects the orders and sends them into production
• The GF180MCU process at 180 nm
• The COB package, with which wafer.space can mount the dies
• The Raspberry Pi Pico and the LEDs for the breadboard demonstration

Anyone who wants to follow the same path must be prepared for a long journey. First you learn to describe the hardware, then you tackle physical design, and finally you wait for the dies to come back from the foundry. Zachary Tong’s video tells this experience from start to finish, including the less visible steps such as packaging and the physics of electron flow. For anyone who wants to understand what it really takes to bring a project from code to silicon, Zachary Tong’s video is the right starting point.

For those who would rather start from something ready-made, the catalogue offers a few useful boards. The ESP12-based development board with USB, Wi-Fi and mikroBus and Grove slots is programmable with the Arduino IDE, Micropython or Javascript, so it lends itself to supporting a prototyping project. Anyone looking instead for a more powerful platform to drive the test logic can look at the fifth generation of the Raspberry Foundation board with a quad-core Broadcom BCM2712 processor at 2.4 GHz, which in Tong’s case is replaced by the Pico but remains a valid base for similar experiments.

Source: https://youtu.be/q6ytRHaTEXI?si=YCg0uiZVsvDys965

Related products

• GANIMEDE.E12 ESP12 Board with USB, Wi-Fi, mikroBus and Grove Sockets
• Raspberry Pi 5 – 2 GB memory version

The post A Custom Chip on a Breadboard: Zachary Tong’s TTA Processor appeared first on Open Electronics.

Visium of West Palm Beach, FL, USA has joined the Florida Semiconductor Institute (FSI) at the University of Florida as an Industry Affiliate, connecting the company with Florida’s growing network of semiconductor innovators, researchers, and industry leaders...

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The First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026–2030) and the chief executive’s 2026 Policy Address have reaffirmed the role of the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute (MRDI) as one of Hong Kong’s five key R&D institutions, and supported the accelerated establishment of Hong Kong’s first national manufacturing innovation center, to be led and operated by MRDI...

Voicebox FX is a gadget that records and plays back sounds, with a set of effects selected through physical inputs. It is not a toy: it is a reference project for I2S audio in CircuitPython, aimed at anyone who wants to understand how digital audio moves across a microcontroller. The board driving it is an RP2350, the Raspberry Pi chip that debuted with the Pico 2.

The flow is simple: an I2S microphone captures the sound, the RP2350 records and processes it, and an I2S amplifier plays it back. The effects, such as reverb or pitch shifts, are triggered from the physical controls on the case. Everything is enclosed in a 3D-printed box, so the project can be replicated with a printer and a soldering iron.

The circuit: microphone, amplifier and RP2350

The audio section relies on two I2S modules: a microphone for the input and an amplifier for the output. The I2S bus is the standard protocol for digital audio between chips, and here it handles both directions. The RP2350 acts as the brain: it reads the data from the microphone, stores it in memory, applies the effects and sends it to the amplifier.

Choosing CircuitPython simplifies the work: no compilers or complicated toolchains, just Python scripts to load onto the board. What is more, the CircuitPython audio library exposes the I2S functions in a straightforward way. Anyone who has already used MicroPython or CircuitPython on other boards will find the code familiar.

The CircuitPython firmware and the physical inputs

The firmware handles recording, playback and the sound effects. The physical inputs, probably buttons or potentiometers, change the parameters in real time. For example, one button can start recording, another can apply an effect, and a third can play back the result. The response is immediate, because the main CircuitPython loop reads the inputs on every cycle.

For anyone who wants to rebuild the project, the page on Hackaday.io collects the code and the assembly details. The fact sheet indicates that it is a well-documented reference, so developers working on similar projects can start from here instead of starting from scratch. The files for the 3D-printed case are included, and the component list is short: an I2S microphone, an I2S amplifier and a board with an RP2350.

For the audio input side, an I2S MEMS microphone INMP441 breakout is the same type of module used in the project to capture the sound sent to the RP2350. For now Voicebox FX works standalone, with no network.

The project shows that I2S audio in CircuitPython is mature and accessible. With a few components and a bit of code you get a working gadget, which can serve as a base for vocal effects, experimental instruments or simple recorders. The 3D-printed case also makes it an object worth keeping on your desk.

Source: https://hackaday.io/contests

Related products

• I2S MEMS Microphone Breakout – INMP441

The post Voicebox FX: I2S Audio with RP2350 and CircuitPython appeared first on Open Electronics.

TrendForce’s latest report ‘2027 Infrared Sensing and Optical Communication Market Trend’ shows that rapidly growing demand for data transmission in expanding data-center networks is increasing interest in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based near-packaged optics (NPO). This technology is favored for its low power usage, easier maintenance, and a mature supply chain. Major companies like Lumentum, Furukawa Electric, Coherent, Broadcom, ams OSRAM, and HiSilicon are investing heavily in R&D...

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Ветеранам клубу регбі "Політехнік" присвячено Інформація КП пн, 10/19/2026 - 10:00

Spin a heavy wheel or vibrate a piece of silicon, and you get a traditional gyroscope. Spin two beams of light inside a coil of fiber, however, and you get a masterclass in relativistic physics turning into precision navigation.

Figure 1 The VG2103S series rugged single-axis fiber optic gyroscope provides accurate motion sensing under severe shock and vibration. Source: MostaTech

From the whirring bearings of mechanical gyros to the silicon pivots of MEMS, navigation has long relied on moving parts. But in the fiber optic gyroscope (FOG), it’s light itself that spins—racing through coils of glass to sense the Earth’s rotation.

The fiber optic gyroscope remains a marvel of solid‑state engineering, bridging Einstein’s relativity with modern tactical guidance. By harnessing the Sagnac effect in a coil of optical fiber, it delivers precision without moving parts, an elegant fusion of physics and practicality that continues to define high‑end navigation systems.

Core physics: Re‑introducing the Sagnac effect

Counter‑propagating beams

At the heart of the fiber optic gyroscope lies a deceptively simple idea: send two light beams in opposite directions through a long coil of fiber. If the coil is stationary, the beams return in perfect synchrony. But when the coil rotates, one beam travels a slightly longer path while the other travels a shorter one, creating a measurable difference.

Rotation and phase shift

That difference is tied directly to the rotation rate, Ω. The result is a phase shift, ΔΦs, between the counter‑propagating beams. In essence, the gyroscope translates angular velocity into an optical interference pattern—a bridge between motion and light.

Engineering reality check

On paper, the equations look straightforward. In practice, the challenge is immense: engineers must detect phase shifts on the order of microradians. That’s where the true marvel begins—not in the physics itself, but in the precision engineering that makes such delicate measurements reliable in real‑world navigation systems.

Anatomy of a FOG: The key components

The light source

At the front end sits the superluminescent diode (SLED). Unlike a narrow‑line laser, the SLED provides broad spectral output that suppresses coherence noise. This choice minimizes Rayleigh scattering and back‑reflection artifacts, ensuring the gyroscope’s signal remains clean enough to resolve microradian phase shifts.

Figure 2 Superluminescent diodes provide the low coherence and high brightness required for high-performance fiber optic gyroscopes (FOGs). Source: AeroDiode

The fiber coil

The coil is the heart of the sensor. Engineers rely on polarization‑maintaining (PM) fiber to keep the light’s polarization stable as it races through kilometers of glass. Without PM fiber, environmental stress—temperature gradients, vibration, or bending—would scramble the polarization state and corrupt the phase data. The coil’s stability is what makes the Sagnac effect measurable in practice.

The phase modulator

To translate tiny phase differences into usable signals, the system employs integrated modulators, often lithium niobate (LiNbO3) devices driven by precision op‑amps. By biasing the interference pattern, the modulator shifts the signal into a measurable regime, allowing the electronics to lock onto rotation‑induced phase shifts with high fidelity.

From open‑loop to closed‑loop: The engineering polish

The limitation

An open‑loop fiber optic gyroscope is conceptually straightforward: measure the interference pattern directly and infer rotation from the phase shift. But this simplicity comes at a cost. Scale‑factor drift creeps in over time, and the dynamic range is limited; as a result, large rotations push the system out of its linear regime, degrading accuracy.

The solution

Closed‑loop architecture solves these shortcomings with elegance. Instead of letting the Sagnac phase accumulate unchecked, the system applies a digital phase ramp that continually cancels the shift. By driving the interferometer back to its null point, the feedback loop keeps the output linear, stable, and immune to drift. The measured rotation rate is then encoded in the feedback signal itself—a clever inversion that transforms fragility into robustness.

Yet even feedback isn’t the whole story; thermal and mechanical realities still test the limits of precision.

Thermal and mechanical dynamics: Shupe effect vs. mechanical dither

Beyond optical stability, real-world gyroscopes must withstand environmental and physical constraints that threaten measurement accuracy. In fiber optic gyroscopes, asymmetric temperature gradients across the coil cause localized thermal expansion and refractive index shifts—an error known as the Shupe Effect that generates false rotation signals.

To eliminate this without moving parts, engineers utilize quadrupolar winding patterns, placing symmetrical sections of fiber side-by-side, so counter-propagating light beams experience identical thermal fluctuations.

By contrast, ring laser gyroscopes (RLGs), another class of optical gyros, face a mechanical challenge called lock-in, where backscattering from internal mirrors causes counter-propagating laser beams to synchronize at low rotation rates, creating a dead zone.

To bypass lock-in, RLGs rely on piezo-driven motors to mechanically “dither” (vibrate) the gyro thousands of times per second. While effective, this mechanical movement introduces wear, acoustic noise, and complexity—highlighting the key advantage of the FOG’s purely solid-state design.

FOG vs. the world: MEMS and RLGs

Gyroscopes come in three dominant flavors, each tuned to a different mission profile. MEMS gyros are the cheapest and most compact, finding their way into smartphones, drones, and consumer gadgets. Their bias stability is modest, and while they’re perfect for short‑term orientation, they drift too quickly for long‑duration navigation.

Fiber optic gyros or FOGs occupy the middle ground. They cost more than MEMS but deliver far higher stability and an extraordinary lifespan, thanks to their solid‑state design with no moving parts or gas reservoirs to degrade. This makes them ideal for tactical missiles, subsea navigation, and autonomous vehicles where reliability and precision matter more than price.

At the high end sit ring laser gyros or RLGs. They achieve ultra‑high stability, rivaling the best FOGs, but at a steep cost. Their reliance on helium‑neon gas means eventual degradation, yet they remain the gold standard for submarines and commercial aircraft, where absolute precision justifies the expense.

Figure 3 Honeywell GG1320 ring laser gyro delivers precise rotation sensing, enabling navigation and stabilizing aerospace, marine, and defense platforms. Source: Honeywell Aerospace

Variants of the fiber optic gyroscope

From the classic interferometric FOG (IFOG) to newer digital FOGs (DFOGs) and integrated gyroscope systems (IGS), the architecture has steadily evolved while retaining the same Sagnac foundation.

The IFOG remains the workhorse, using long coils of polarization‑maintaining (PM) fiber to preserve phase integrity and deliver tactical‑grade accuracy. DFOGs build on this by embedding digital feedback and advanced signal processing, often with quadrupolar winding patterns of PM fiber to suppress thermal drift, extending dynamic range and robustness. Resonant and hybrid designs push sensitivity further, employing ultra‑low‑loss PM fiber loops or specialty coated fibers, though they demand complex stabilization.

Meanwhile, integrated gyroscope systems and chip‑scale photonic FOGs are beginning to replace kilometers of fiber with silicon photonic waveguides, aiming to replicate PM fiber performance in miniature. Across all these variants, the choice of fiber is decisive: single‑mode fiber may suffice for low‑cost experiments, but only polarization‑maintaining fiber—and its emerging photonic equivalents—ensures the stability needed for navigation‑grade gyroscopes.

Performance metrics and outputs

Fiber optic gyroscopes are defined by their precision metrics. Angular random walk (ARW) sets the short‑term noise floor, and FOGs achieve values far lower than MEMS, translating into smoother orientation data. Bias stability—the long‑term drift of the zero point—remains their hallmark, often holding steady for years without recalibration. Their solid‑state design makes them inherently shock‑ and vibration‑proof, with no moving parts to resonate or wear.

Input range spans from ultra‑low rotation rates to thousands of degrees per second, while bandwidth supports rapid maneuvers without lag. Magnetic response is negligible compared to MEMS, since light rather than moving charges carries the signal.

Start‑up time is typically short, with modern digital FOGs locking in within seconds. On the output side, legacy analog formats provide voltage‑scaled signals, while digital FOGs deliver direct digital outputs, ensuring seamless integration with navigation computers and minimizing conversion errors.

Output conventions

Beyond raw analog and digital rate formats, commercial FOGs often provide standardized outputs such as CLOCK OUT and DELTA OUT. CLOCK OUT serves as a timing reference, aligning the gyro’s data stream with system processors, while DELTA OUT delivers the incremental angle (Δθ) per sampling interval. These conventions simplify integration into inertial navigation systems, where synchronized timing and accumulated angle increments are essential for accurate position and attitude computation.

Commercial coil configurations

In commercial interferometric FOGs, the fiber coil is engineered with meticulous care, since its geometry directly governs thermal stability and bias drift. Wet coils embed the fiber in resin or epoxy, damping vibration and stabilizing temperature, while dry coils leave the fiber free‑wound with mechanical cushioning, allowing natural expansion but demanding tighter control of stress.

Winding patterns are equally decisive: the original quadrupole winding cancels first‑order thermal gradients by alternating coil segments, while the modified quadrupole refines this symmetry to suppress residual Shupe errors. More advanced schemes such as time‑delay fiber (TDF) winding distribute the optical path to average out environmental fluctuations, further reducing bias instability.

Octupolar and higher‑order windings extend these principles, trading complexity for incremental gains in stability. Together, the choice of wet vs. dry construction and the winding geometry transforms a simple fiber coil into a rugged, navigation‑grade sensor core.

Coil mounting styles

Beyond wet and dry construction, fiber coils are packaged in different mechanical styles. Flanged coils can be built wet or dry, clamped between rigid end plates for stability. Hubbed coils are wound around a central hub and are typically resin‑embedded (wet only) to lock the fiber in place.

Freestanding coils dispense with rigid supports, relying on resin encapsulation (wet only) to maintain geometry. These mounting choices balance mechanical ruggedness, thermal expansion control, and ease of integration into navigation‑grade assemblies.

Figure 4 Standard freestanding fiber gyro coils showcase the physical construction and reel structure used in closed-loop FOG systems. Source: Yoec

Axis configurations and INS integration

Commercial FOGs are offered in single‑axis modules for specialized sensing, or multi‑axis assemblies—typically three orthogonal coils—to deliver full 3D rotation data. These triads form the angular‑rate backbone of an inertial navigation system (INS), where FOGs are paired with accelerometers to compute position and altitude without GPS.

Single‑axis FOGs find use in stabilization platforms and precision pointing, while double‑ and triple‑axis units dominate navigation, guidance, and autonomous vehicle control. The modularity of coil design allows vendors to scale from compact one‑axis sensors to rugged INS‑grade packages, ensuring that the same interferometric principle can serve both niche instrumentation and mission‑critical navigation.

Non‑ITAR FOGs

Vendors often distinguish between ITAR‑restricted gyroscopes and non‑ITAR models. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) governs military‑grade hardware and technical data, limiting export and use.

By contrast, non‑ITAR FOGs are commercial versions cleared for civilian applications—aviation, marine navigation, robotics, and autonomous vehicles—without the licensing hurdles. They still deliver navigation‑grade performance, but are designed for open markets where accessibility and integration matter more than classified specifications.

Deployment and future directions

Fiber optic gyroscopes have already proven themselves in submarines, tactical missiles, aircraft, and autonomous vehicles—anywhere long‑term stability and ruggedness matter more than cost. Their mean time between failures often exceeds decades, a testament to solid‑state reliability.

While FOGs occupy the mid‑tier between low‑cost MEMS and high‑end RLGs, research is pushing further: silicon photonics promises chip‑scale integration, and quantum gyroscopes based on cold atoms may one day bypass optical fibers altogether. Together, these paths suggest that navigation without GPS will only grow more precise and more accessible.

The elegance of the fiber optic gyroscope lies not only in the Sagnac physics but in the way engineers tame optical noise, stabilized polarization, and perfected feedback loops to build a sensor with zero moving parts. What results is a navigation instrument immune to wear, capable of microradian precision trusted in the harshest tactical environments.

Looking forward, the same principles are migrating into silicon photonics. Chip‑scale integrated optics promise to deliver FOG‑like precision in miniature packages, opening the door to navigation systems that are lighter, cheaper, and more ubiquitous. The journey from spinning bearings to spinning light may soon culminate in spinning photons on a chip—bringing Einstein’s relativity into everyday devices.

For makers, engineers, and serious tinkerers, the challenge is clear: don’t just admire the elegance—experiment with it. Build your own interferometer, wrestle with coherence noise, and see how far you can push solid‑state precision. The fiber optic gyroscope is more than a marvel; it’s an open invitation to innovate.

T. K. Hareendran is a self-taught electronics enthusiast with a strong passion for innovative circuit design and hands-on technology. He develops both experimental and practical electronic projects, documenting and sharing his work to support fellow tinkerers and learners. Beyond the workbench, he dedicates time to technical writing and hardware evaluations to contribute meaningfully to the maker community.

Related Content

• Modeling the MEMS gyroscope
• Gyroscope Accuracy Beats MEMS
• InvenSense spins first pitch-and-yaw MEMS gyro
• CEA-Leti’s NEMS-Based Gyroscope Operates at 50 kHz
• BAW gyroscope sensors transform inertial MEMS apps

The post Fiber optic gyroscopes: Elegant engineering of modern inertial navigation appeared first on EDN.

An ESP32 can do far more than handle sensors and Wi-Fi. This project by M Mohammed Shaheen K S turns it into a complete video player: it reads a Motion JPEG file from a microSD card and plays it back on a 2.4-inch TFT display. The result is a compact device that shows custom animations or dynamic UI elements, pushing the board’s performance to its limit.

The heart of the system is the MJPEG format, a sequence of individual JPEG images. The microSD card stores the video as an .mjpeg file. The ESP32 reads the raw file stream over the SPI bus, with no need for complex codecs or extra hardware.

Reading data and buffering in RAM

The file is read in 4 KB blocks into RAM. This choice avoids delays caused by continuous access to the card. The system looks for the JPEG frame start and end markers, so it can assemble the complete images in memory ready for decoding.

The frame buffer is 80 KB, a size that balances available memory against playback smoothness. The JPEGDEC library decompresses each JPEG image directly in memory, converting the data into 16-bit RGB565 pixels. This is the display’s native format, so no further processing is needed.

TFT display and frame rate

The 2.4-inch TFT display with 240×320 resolution uses the ILI9341 controller. Pixel data arrives over a high-speed SPI bus. The display’s SPI frequency is 27 MHz, while the maximum supported speed reaches 40 MHz. This difference ensures stable transmission without errors.

Playback targets 15 FPS. The interval between one frame and the next is 1000/15 milliseconds, about 66 ms. Small delays between updates keep the stream steady, avoiding tearing or freezes. Video quality is average, suitable for simple content and animated interfaces.

Rebuilding the project takes only a few components: an ESP32 Dev Module, a 2.4-inch SPI TFT display (model TJCTM24024-SPI) and a microSD card. The wiring uses the SPI bus for both the SD card and the display. The source code, available in the project repository, includes all the necessary libraries: SPI.h, SD.h, Adafruit_GFX.h, Adafruit_ILI9341.h and JPEGDEC.h.

Before loading the video onto the microSD card, it must be converted into the right format. The resolution must be 320×240 pixels and the file must be saved as .mjpeg. M Mohammed Shaheen K S’s repository contains the complete code and the instructions for the conversion, so you end up with a file that is ready to use.

The project shows how an ESP32 can handle lightweight video streams with few external components. Possible uses range from custom animations to information panels, and even small retro games.

Source: https://circuitdigest.com/articles/esp32-video-player-tutorial

The post MJPEG Video Player on ESP32 with a TFT Display appeared first on Open Electronics.

The 0.96-inch 128×64 OLED display is a compact module widely used in electronics projects. It uses the SSD1306 driver and communicates over I2C, so it connects to Arduino, ESP8266 and ESP32 with just a few wires. It shows text, sensor data, symbols and graphics. AdriRobot tested it with an Arduino UNO and with an ESP32-C3 SuperMini.

128×64 OLED display: technology and colours

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Each pixel emits its own light, so contrast is high and no backlight is needed. Power consumption is lower than that of a backlit LCD, and readability stays good both in the dark and in bright light. The module comes with white, blue or yellow pixels, or in a two-colour version with a yellow top strip and the rest in blue.

• 0.96-inch size, 128 × 64 pixel resolution, SSD1306 driver;
• supply from 3.3 to 5 V, 0.06 W consumption in normal display mode;
• viewing angle greater than 160°;
• operating temperature from -30 to +70 °C;
• glass screen, lifetime of at least 16,000 hours;
• module dimensions: 29.28 × 27.1 mm.

Pins, I2C address and power supply

The connector has four pins: VCC (3.3-5 V), GND, SCL and SDA. The reset circuit is on board, so no extra pin is needed. On the Arduino UNO the I2C pins are A5 for SCL and A4 for SDA, on the Mega they are 21 and 20.

Watch out for the two power pins, because on some modules their order is reversed. Displays marked JMDO.96C.1 let you choose: two pads on the PCB, shorted with 0 Ω SMD resistors or with a blob of solder, swap the two pins. Before connecting, it is therefore worth checking the silkscreen.

The I2C address is 0x3C, the same as other SSD1306 displays, and it cannot be changed. If other peripherals with that address are on the bus, another solution is needed.

Test with Arduino UNO

For the test, the display is mounted on a small breadboard and connected to an Arduino UNO. First you read the address with the i2c_scanner sketch (File, Examples, Wire): if nothing shows up, try swapping the SDA and SCL wires. Then install the Adafruit SSD1306 library from the Library Manager, accepting the Adafruit GFX dependency as well with Install all.

The test sketch then fills the screen, draws a pixel in each corner and writes a few lines of text. On the two-colour model, in fact, the first line comes out yellow because it sits in the top strip.

Test with ESP32-C3 SuperMini

With the ESP32-C3 SuperMini the display uses 3.3 V, GND, GPIO9 as SCL and GPIO8 as SDA. In the IDE you select ESP32C3 Dev Module and enable USB CDC On Boot and Erase All Flash Before Sketch Upload, as in the other tests. Finally the sketch initialises I2C on pins 8 and 9, starts the display at address 0x3C and writes a few lines of text.

AdriRobot also used it on a board with an ESP8266 12F, to show temperature and humidity from a DHT11, and on a shield with a DFPlayer Mini, to print messages. The white-pixel model is available as a 0.96-inch I2C OLED display.

Source: AdriRobot’s original article includes the circuit diagram, the downloadable sketches and the test video.

Related products

• Mini ESP32-C3 module
• OLED Display I2C 0.96” – VCC/GND/SCL/SDA

The post 0.96-inch 128×64 OLED Display: SSD1306 and I2C appeared first on Open Electronics.

A frame hanging on the wall draws the birds that are singing outside the window at that very moment. The Fugleramme project by arnegiacomo brings together artificial intelligence and natural history: a Raspberry Pi 5 listens to the surroundings through a USB microphone, and the BirdNET-Go classifier identifies the species. Each identification is paired with a public-domain illustration, and the e-ink display updates in real time. The result is a living work of art that changes as birds come and go.

At the heart of the system is BirdNET-Go, a service that analyses birdsong and returns the species it detects. Fugleramme queries its API and looks for a matching illustration for each species. The images are packed onto a page, and the display is redrawn only when the birds change. That way the frame does not waste energy on pointless refreshes, a valuable trait for an electronic ink panel.

The 13.3-inch Inky Impression display

The chosen panel is a 13.3-inch Inky Impression, in the Spectra 6 version. It is a colour e-ink display, suited to showing illustrations without a backlight. It looks like a sheet of paper, with practically zero consumption at rest. The project is at an early stage of development, so the configuration may change, but the logic stays the same: draw only when needed.

The development service runs on port 8080, while the fake BirdNET-Go detector used for testing listens on port 8090. This separation makes it possible to test the frame without any real birds nearby. What is more, if you already use BirdNET-Go for other purposes, you can point the frame at that installation, on the same machine or on another one reachable over the network.

Configuration and admin page

An admin page lets you configure what to show and how often to update. You can choose which species to display, how to arrange the illustrations, and whether to enable automatic updates. Everything is handled by a simple web interface, accessible from a browser. For those who just want to watch, the web-only mode removes the need for a display altogether: the illustrations appear on the page.

The software is written with uv, the Python project manager, and relies on BirdNET-Go for recognition. The code is organised so that the detection logic is kept separate from the display logic. Anyone who wants to dig deeper can look at arnegiacomo’s repository on GitHub, where the project is documented and still evolving.

• Raspberry Pi 5
• 13.3-inch Inky Impression Spectra 6
• USB microphone
• BirdNET-Go installed and configured
• uv for Python project management

The trickiest part is mounting the display on the Raspberry Pi. The e-ink panel connects to the GPIO pins and needs stable support so the flat cable does not get bent. Once assembled, calibration is minimal: just start the service and point the browser at the right port. The project is meant to be replicated, but it takes some familiarity with Linux and network services.

The end result is a frame that tells the story of your garden’s biodiversity. Every bird that sings becomes an illustration, and whoever looks at the frame learns to recognise the species living around the house. A concrete way to use AI in a slow, quiet project that is beautiful to look at.

Source: https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme

The post The E-Ink Frame That Draws the Birds Outside Your Window appeared first on Open Electronics.

🕔 Дайджест актуальних подій та конкурсів від Відділу академічної мобільності kpi нд, 10/18/2026 - 10:30

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Robert Fletcher’s project builds a two-channel analog stereo amplifier around the classic Toshiba TA8211AH integrated circuit. An ESP32 board acts as the audio test signal generator. The goal is to understand how a traditional integrated audio amplifier is connected, powered, tested and integrated.

The ESP32 generates a low-level sine tone. The signal is AC-coupled to the two inputs of the TA8211AH through capacitors. The IC amplifies the stereo signal and drives two 8 Ω speakers. A 10 kΩ potentiometer can be used as a master volume control.

Separate supplies for amplifier and ESP32

The amplifier is powered from a regulated 20 V DC supply, while the ESP32 uses its own 5 V USB supply. Keeping the supplies separate prevents the digital noise of the development board from contaminating the analog stage. The TA8211AH operating voltage ranges from about 10 V to 30 V.

The current required is at least 2 A. The typical output power of the TA8211AH is 6 W per channel, with a 20 V supply, an 8 Ω load, a 1 kHz signal and 10% THD. A power of 6 W into an 8 Ω load corresponds to about 6.93 Vrms across the load.

The maximum power dissipation of the TA8211AH is 25 W at 25 °C, with derating above that temperature. Thermal management is therefore a crucial aspect: the project shows the importance of a good PCB and an adequate heatsink.

The ESP32 firmware and the stabilization network

The ESP32 code generates a 1 kHz sine wave using a phase accumulator and a lookup table. The tone generator’s sampling frequency is 8000 Hz. The sketch is written with the Arduino IDE and the ESP32 core for Arduino. The Serial Monitor lets you check the state of the system.

The output network, made up of a resistor and a capacitor, helps keep the amplifier stable with the reactive load of the speakers. The typical closed-loop voltage gain of the TA8211AH is about 34 dB. The project was designed with EasyEDA and tested with a software oscilloscope.

• Main components: TA8211AH, ESP32 development board, two 8 Ω speakers, 10 kΩ potentiometer, coupling capacitors.
• Amplifier supply: 20 V DC, at least 2 A.
• ESP32 supply: 5 V via USB.
• Test signal: 1 kHz, generated at 8000 Hz sampling.

The educational value of the project lies in the comparison with modern modules, which hide the analog design. Here everything is visible: the output network, the separation of grounds and the need for a robust power supply. Robert Fletcher’s project page on Hackster.io gathers the details of the circuit and the firmware.

Source: https://www.hackster.io/robertfletcher1582/build-retro-stereo-amplifier-with-toshiba-ta8211ah-and-esp32-151597

The post Stereo Amplifier with TA8211AH Driven by an ESP32 appeared first on Open Electronics.

The BME280 sensor from Bosch Sensortec measures temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure in a 2.5 x 2.5 mm chip. It was born as an evolution of the BMP180, whose pressure and temperature measurements it takes over, and adds humidity. AdriRobot examined it in detail, from the module schematic to a test with an ESP32-C3 SuperMini and an OLED display.

What the BME280 sensor measures

The BME280 is a digital MEMS sensor. It integrates the elements that convert physical quantities into digital values. So the microcontroller only has to configure it and read the data on the bus. There are two interfaces. I²C is the most convenient with Arduino and ESP32. SPI is useful when the I²C bus is not available or more performance is needed.

Pressure is also used to estimate altitude. The sensor, however, only measures pressure. The altitude is calculated by the microcontroller, with a formula that uses a reference pressure. As a result, the result depends on that reference, which the weather makes vary.

• module supply: 1.8 to 5 V;
• temperature: -40 to +85 °C, resolution 0.01 °C, accuracy ±1 °C;
• humidity: 0 to 100% RH, resolution 0.008%, accuracy ±3%;
• pressure: 300 to 1100 hPa, resolution 0.18 Pa, typical accuracy ±1 hPa;
• I²C address: 0x76 with SDO low, 0x77 with SDO high;
• dimensions: about 13.3 x 10.6 x 3.5 mm, weight 0.5 g.

BME280, BMP180, BMP280 and BME680

Bosch makes a whole family of barometric sensors. The BMP180 and BMP280 measure pressure and temperature. The BME280 adds humidity, which is why it is widely used in weather stations, and at 1 Hz it draws about 3.6 µA. The BME680 reaches four pieces of information. Besides temperature, pressure and humidity, it detects a measurement related to volatile organic compounds. It is used to assess air quality.

The module schematic

The module does not contain only the Bosch sensor. The schematic is divided into three parts: power supply, I²C logic level shifting and the sensor circuit. A 662K LDO regulator derives the 3.3 V for the sensor, with three filter capacitors. Two level converters with BSS138 transistors, integrated in a 2N7002DW chip, adapt the SDA and SCL lines. Each side has its own 10 kΩ pull-up resistors.

Thanks to this circuitry the module can also be connected to microcontrollers with higher voltages. The sensor, in fact, never receives that voltage on its pins. In addition, the SDO pin selects the address: to ground it is 0x76, at 3.3 V it is 0x77. On the module the choice is made through three pads, onto which a drop of solder must be placed. By default the connection is to ground. Therefore two BME280s on the same bus require different addresses.

Test with ESP32-C3 SuperMini and OLED display

In the test the BME280 and a 0.96 inch OLED display SSD1306 share the I²C bus of the ESP32-C3 SuperMini. They have different addresses, so they coexist without problems. The connections use GPIO 8 as SDA and GPIO 9 as SCL.

Then you need the Adafruit BME280 libraries (version 2.3.0 in the project) and Adafruit SSD1306 (version 2.5.17). The Library Manager also installs the dependencies: Adafruit BusIO, Unified Sensor and GFX. In the Arduino IDE you select the ESP32C3 Dev Module board. AdriRobot also recommends enabling USB CDC On Boot and Erase All Flash Before Sketch Upload.

The sketch checks that the display and the sensor respond. Then, every two seconds, it reads temperature, humidity and pressure. It also calculates altitude, with 1013.25 hPa as reference, and shows everything on the display and on the serial monitor. The BME280 does not require calibration, because the calibration coefficients are stored by the manufacturer and the library uses them. For a more accurate altitude, however, it is better to set the local sea level pressure.

The module is available as a BME280 pressure, humidity and temperature sensor. For a complete project with more sensors and a web dashboard, there is the ESP32 weather station with live web dashboard.

Source: the original article by AdriRobot includes the full comparison between the Bosch sensors, the electrical schematic and the sketch.

Related products

• OLED Display I2C 0.96” – VCC/GND/SCL/SDA
• Mini ESP32-C3 module
• BME280 – Pressure, humidity and temperature sensor

The post BME280 Sensor: Temperature, Humidity and Pressure with ESP32 appeared first on Open Electronics.

DockFrame is a modular USB Type-C hub that gives Framework Expansion Cards a second life. Instead of leaving them in a drawer, you slot them into the hub and turn them into a bench tool. The project comes from HW Media Lab and is launched through a Crowd Supply campaign.

The DockFrame hub is a USB 3.2 hub with USB Type-C ports, DisplayPort and PD pass-through up to 100 W on the downstream ports. Framework Expansion Cards fit into the hub’s slots, which link them to a Framework host or any USB Type-C host. The proprietary cards, on the other hand, turn it into a complete workbench.

Multimeter Card and Power Supply Card

The Multimeter Card reads voltage, current and resistance. It measures DC voltage up to 60 V with ±0.5% accuracy and current up to 3.2 A with ±1% accuracy. It has 5 kV isolation between the measurement circuit and the USB connection, so you can work on circuits that do not share a ground with the PC.

The Power Supply Card provides a programmable buck-boost output from 0.8 to 22 V at up to 8 A. The voltage is set over I²C. The USB PD input supports up to 100 W, so you can power demanding loads without an external supply.

• Multimeter Card: DC voltage up to 60 V (±0.5%), current up to 3.2 A (±1%), 5 kV isolation
• Power Supply Card: 0.8-22 V output at up to 8 A, 100 W USB PD input
• Mini Hub Card: four USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports at 5 Gbps
• BreadBoard Card: carrier for the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C5 with built-in breadboard

BreadBoard Card, Mini Hub Card and software

The BreadBoard Card acts as a carrier for the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C5 board and includes a breadboard. The Mini Hub Card adds four USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports at 5 Gbps. Each card measures 60 x 30 mm, with a height of about 7 mm, so the footprint stays small.

The Tool Cards communicate with custom web apps, with no installation required. The apps show live graphs and allow CSV export. The firmware is open source and the FreeCAD design files will be released after the crowdfunding campaign.

If you have spare Framework Expansion Cards, DockFrame makes them useful again. What’s more, the modular system lets you add instruments without using up more ports on your PC. For anyone developing with ESP32 development boards, the BreadBoard Card offers a prototyping environment integrated with the hub.

The DockFrame project is open source: the design files, firmware and apps will be released after the crowdfunding campaign. Anyone who wants to build their own hub or design compatible cards will have all the material they need. The Crowd Supply campaign is the starting point to follow the development and receive the cards.

Source: https://www.crowdsupply.com/hw-media-lab/dockframe

Related products

• ESP32 – Development board with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB Type-C connector

The post DockFrame: a modular hub that gives Framework Expansion Cards a second life appeared first on Open Electronics.

The increased sophistication and performance expectation of the automotive drive train, especially in electric vehicles (EVs) and to a lesser extent in hybrid and even internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, is accelerating the usual push/pull improvement effect between advanced components and their end products.

I recently saw a press release from Texas Instruments for the RES80A-Q1, a 50-MΩ precision-resistive divider for use at extremely high voltages up to 2,000 V DC (Figure 1). These simple matched-resistor dividers are used to ratiometrically divide a high voltage down to a much lower voltage, so it can be measured with conventional electronic circuitry to give the vehicle battery management system (BMS) the data it requires.

My initial thought was that this part must be targeted toward the traditional uses of these components such as X-ray machines or high-voltage physics projects and their electric fields. But then I saw the part was qualified to AEC-Q200—the automotive-grade rating for passive components—and the primary use for this resistive divider is in high-voltage EV battery packs.

Figure 1 The RES80A-Q1 50-MΩ resistive divider has two precisely ratioed resistors in series with a center tap. It’s used for dividing an input voltage down to a more-manageable value (below). Source: Texas Instruments

While it’s conceptually a simple component, its actual fabrication is sophisticated, and its specifications are very tight. It’s built on high-performance analog-wafer process with an insulative silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer that encapsulates the resistors and enables sustained use at up to 2,000 V DC. The tiny 8-pin SOIC package has a nominal body size 7.5 mm × 5.85 mm; but it also features creepage and clearance distances of at least 8.5 mm between its high-voltage and low-voltage pins, as required by various safety mandates.

It features high ratio-matching precision, with the measured ratio of each divider within ±0.1% (maximum) of the nominal. Figure 2 shows the standard high-voltage to low-voltage (RHV:RLV) ratios offered.

Figure 2 The AEC-200 qualified passive component is available with different pre-set ratios to match the specifics of voltage division of the source. Source: Texas Instruments

This precision is maintained over the specified temperature range and aging with a cumulative drift of only ±0.2% (max). Therefore, the lifetime tolerance of an uncalibrated RES80A-Q1 remains within a ±0.3% (max) envelope.

In short, the performance of this apparently simple ratiometric device is impressive, and beyond what I thought a mass-market application such as automotive-voltage measurement would require. As a standard catalog item, it’s available to automobile subsystem OEMs, but also to the broader market.

We’ve seen this spillover scenario many times, especially with technology advances that occur as component vendors introduce new products which are useful to other, unrelated applications. As standard catalog parts, they can be “picked up” by non-automotive designs to simplify their sourcing challenges while avoiding the need for a low-volume part that may need to be custom fabricated and evaluated at considerable cost in time and money.

But what about the automotive end user?

While the off-the-shelf availability of specialized components such as this resistive divider is a good thing, there’s also downside to the increased sophistication of cars that does concern me. On one side, modern feature-laden cars are generally more reliable than cars of a few decades ago. According to the Kelly Blue Book, the average U.S. car is now over 12 years old. Though I am usually skeptical of such statistics as they are often based on extrapolations and “guesstimates”, the data on cars is very robust and accurate.

Industry “watchers” attribute this longevity to two factors. First, cars are better built and generally more reliable. Second, new cars are so expensive that in many cases, it pays to keep fixing them for more years.

However, their increased complexity and enhancement features, and the advanced components and circuitry these require, make it much harder to diagnose problems and more costly to fix them. Now, many replacement parts are highly specific to a specific vehicle’s make, model, and year.

It wasn’t always this way. Decades ago, an auto vendor used many parts in common across individual models; sometimes they were common even across brands (think fuses). For example, the car headlights were limited by regulations to just a few sizes and types; you could get a replacement at any auto-supply store and replace it in a few minutes. Now they are integrated into the car body and are unique to each make, model, and year, but do offer improved illumination along with greatly reduced drag (Figure 3).

 

Figure 3 Those were the days: Until the later 1900s, automobile headlights were standardized with just a few available sizes and form factors. Things have changed now, as the headlight assembly is an integral, structural part of the car. Sources: Pinterest and Etsy

Today’s repair-related supply chain is more extended and fragile: my low-mileage 2019 car was off the road for two months while I waited for a replacement electronic door-lock module. There were also hard-to-find issues related to module vampire/parasitic drain, killing the battery.

In the case of these high-performance passive components for cars, do their performance benefits outweigh the long-term owner-centric challenges they also bring? That’s an unresolved question and is different for different car owners and their specific circumstances.

Have you ever used a specialized passive AEC-Q200 part in a non-automotive design? Why did you choose that route? Was the choice worthwhile in the end, or did unexpected surprises with respect to performance, availability, cost, or support make you reconsider that decision?

Bill Schweber is a degreed senior EE who has written three textbooks, hundreds of technical articles, opinion columns, and product features. Prior to becoming an author and editor, he spent his entire hands-on career on the analog side by working on power supplies, sensors, signal conditioning, and wired and wireless communication links. His work experience includes many years at Analog Devices in applications and marketing.

Related Content

• The Final Knock-Down for Auto AM Radio?
• A short primer on using resistors in circuit design
• What if passive components followed Moore’s law?
• Innovation tackles the automobile’s “antenna-farm” dilemma

The post Automotive demands driving passive components to extreme performance appeared first on EDN.

Power Integrations Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which provides high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion) and Ideal Power Inc (developer and provider of the B-TRAN bidirectional semiconductor power switch) are collaborating to deliver a solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) solution providing fast, efficient, always-on protection that scales with the 800VDC transition in AI data centers...