Elektor Business News Roundup (April 19, 2018)

In the last installment we built a small stand-alone device using the ESP32 Pico Kit, an RGB LED and an LDR, which we used to measure the ambient brightness level and send them to a Cloud platform. We can also send commands from the Cloud platform to control all sorts of actuators connected to our device...

The STM32L4R9I-EVAL board from STMicroelectronics is intended as a demonstration and development platform for their Arm-Cortex-M4-based STM32L4R9AI microcontroller. Besides the size of the board and the many components that populate it, the user’s attention and curiosity are immediately drawn by the unusual 30 mm (1.2”) circular smartwatch display just below the centre. This is more or less the star of the board, while the MCU itself is so unobtrusive that it is easy overlooked.

With the term endoscope, what you probably think of first, is an instrument for medical applications, but in this case it is a handy device that, through a thin flexible tube with a camera built into the end, lets you look into difficult to access places. Applications that come to mind are awkward spaces around the engine in a car or inspecting the input hose to a washing machine. This is a device for anyone who would like to look in difficult to access places.

At the heart of this Wi-Fi controlled relay sits an ESP-12F module built on the famous ESP8266EX, flanked by a 4 MB memory. The ubiquitous Highly Integrated Wi-Fi-Capable System-on-Chip takes care of everything. If you prefer to think of the integrated web server and WiFi functionality as more than "black boxes", this project is a great way to learn about the intricacies of the communication between the main program and the webpage that provides the user interface on the remote device.

The next issue of Elektor Magazine will feature this new project that scrolls text on a pretty row of eight 8 × 8 LED matrix displays. Its ESP-12F Wi-Fi module (based on the ESP8266) is easily programmed with the Arduino IDE. So, from your mobile phone or any other Wi-Fi device, it suffices to send the text to display and the speed and brightness controls to an ESP8266 webserver.

Compared to 3D printing, CNC milling may look rough but it is often faster. Final accuracy and surface smoothness are usually much better. Here now is the first demo of a new bold and promising Elektor.LABS project where our logo is milled into a piece of 10-mm thick MDF board. Our new hero is an affordable 3-axis CNC machine built around easy-to-get parts and materials. Soon available as a kit by Elektor.LABS in our online store.

If you don't have the time to watch this video all the way, here's the conclusion: "The acquisition of this device is satisfactory despite minor details. For this price, what's remarkable is not only the fact that you hold a true dual display LCR meter in your hand, but also that you get several measurement frequencies, and a test RMS voltage of your choice of 0.1 V or 0.5 V. [...] The Mastech MS8911 has its rightful place in the toolkit of serious amateur and even semi-professional electronics engineers." Click if you want to learn more.

Elektor Business Edition (EBE) offers innovators, electronics engineers and startup companies essential information and insights into the latest products, research and intelligence from the industry. Elektor Business Edition 2/2018 for April and May has a focus on Industry 4.0 and Automation.

Depending on their location, Elektor GOLD members may already have received their copy of Elektor Magazine edition 2/2018 covering March and April. This news item is to announce that the new edition is also available for non-members to purchase.

Elektor Business Edition (EBE) offers innovators, electronics engineers and startup companies essential information and insights into the latest products, research and intelligence from the industry. EBE issue 1/2018 for January and February has a focus on Embedded, Microcontrollers and Tools, and is a special edition for the embedded world show in Nuremberg.

The first edition of the electronica Fast Forward Award (e-ffwd) powered by Elektor in 2016 drew 35 participants from 16 countries and was a resounding success. It will thus be continued and expanded in 2018: The start-up-platform becomes the start-up-week giving all target groups the crucial added value they need.