Bench Talk

When a new product needs a DC motor, the tendency is to think brushless, right? Probably so! But could this be a short-sighted approach?

Most engineers cringe when they see an Arduino in my toolbox. What they don't realize is the powerful “shape shifting” tool that this low-cost development board is. Let's look at three commonly overlooked uses for an Arduino: Digital logic analyzer, AVR programmer, and UART to USB interface.

Hardware Pioneers founder Fabiano Bellisario explains, “From the feedback we have had tonight it is clear that the Hardware Pioneers concept is continuing to gain ever greater momentum. There is a thriving, vibrant electronic engineering community out there and organising these events gives everyone a unique opportunity to learn about what other people are doing, discuss their own ideas and hopefully find new inspiration. The next stage for us,” he continues, “is to encourage more of the larger semiconductor companies to get involved and engage with the various starts-ups we are showcasing at these gatherings.”

Open source developers are rethinking the traditional mechanical keyboard. New releases, such as the Keyboardio Model 01, display an aesthetically pleasing, ergonomic, programmable, customizable, and quiet mechanical keyboard as an alternative to high-end proprietary keyboards.

Recently, I was given a project that required transition from MCU to FPGA development. In this four-part blog series, I examine how I translated my existing knowledge and experience with MCUs into FPGA development. In Part 4, I delve into the bridges that compose the FPGA fabric.

In the last few years, open source and crowdfunding have become a joint force multiplier, leading to new product innovations and a deeper expansion of open source into business.

Combine cloud-based services with open-source software and hardware to prototype a working vocal assistant.

Recently I was given a project that required me to transition from MCU to FPGA development. In this four-part blog series, I examine how I translated my existing knowledge and experience with MCUs into FPGA development. In Part 2, I explored example code and discovered additional useful resources. Now in Part 3, I learned about OpenCV and simple data transferring from the FPGA to the MCU.

The Politecnico di Torino, one of the leading academic institutions in in Italy, recently inaugurated their new laboratory, CLIK (Contamination Lab & Innovation Kitchen), a space where students can work together in an informal way. As an interface between academia and entrepreneurship, CLIK provide students not only with the opportunity to develop electronic systems, but also opportunity to learn how to present them in an appropriate way. A hackathon started the new installation, and Mouser Electronics as a sponsor sent its EMEA specialists.

PID controllers are a popular method for including a feedback as a mechanism to help efficiently control industrial processes. Short for “proportional, integrative, derivative,” PID controllers keep the output of a system constant based on user provided setpoint. Tuning the PID controller parameters, though, requires a bit of math to maximize efficiency and minimize adjustments and corrections based on feedback.