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Due to the coronavirus crisis, the electronics industry is in a state of transformation. Engineers and programmers are working remotely and supply chains have been disrupted. With this news round-up, we aim to keep you informed about important industry happenings and trends.

On April 2, 2020 Arduino organized an online conference about open-source medical equipment and especially the equipment needed for fighting COVID-19 or the Coronavirus.

Using the RFID starter kit from Elektor provides a good basis to carry out numerous electronic experiments with the Arduino Uno. We show just how simple it can be to realize an application.

Software defined radio (SDR) allows receiving and decoding of radio signals using relatively simple hardware and a computer. The 'SDR Hands-on kit' from Elektor contains all the necessary parts to make a start with this modern form of radio reception. Here we give an impression of the features of this affordable kit and our initial experience with SDR.

When I was asked to review the STEMTera I had absolutely no idea what it was. The website, of the type that does not clearly mention what it is about, left me a bit puzzled, but when I opened the box, the product’s purpose became immediately clear and I loved the idea.

In microcontroller projects, developers often face the problem that many processor tasks need to be performed at a time. ESP32 and Arduino IDE make task programming easy, as the popular FreeRTOS is already integrated into the core libraries [1]. In this second part of the series we are especially dealing with task priorities.

It happens to all of us — you’re at home and there’s a caller at the door but for some reason or other you do not hear the doorbell buzz or ring! No problem if the person at the door has your phone number handy as he or she will be able to get hold of you. In all other cases, Catch-22 governs, which is especially annoying when you stayed home desperately waiting for a parcel delivery within a certain time frame. Here now comes a DIY project to end such inconvenience.

Convinced of the combined power of open-source hardware and software, Elektor smashes the myth that LoRa is for pros only. This article not only tells the story of persistence in electronics design in the face of real challenges, but also of a 3-element LoRa Node you can easily replicate for reliable on/off control with status feedback and covering distances 10 to 20 times those of consumer-level WiFi and 433-MHz ISM LPR.

With the compliments of the Elektor Labs and Editorial teams, here comes another back article that's free to download by all registered Elektor e-zine readers. "Free Back Articles" are published at two-weekly intervals in the Elektor e-zine, alternating with "Free Fresh Articles".

Sensors are a worthwhile topic to write about: They bring electronics projects in contact with the real world and facilitate all kinds of practical applications. Dogan Ibrahim describes more than 40 projects in this comprehensive book.